Chipotle Mobile Ordering Comes to iPhone

[MacRumors]

Burrito restaurant chain Chipotle has launched a new free iPhone application, Chipotle Mobile Ordering [App Store], which builds upon their online ordering system launched in December 2005 and revamped this past October. The application allows iPhone and iPod touch users to customize orders from Chipotle's full menu, pay for their food via credit card, and find directions to their nearest location. The app also allows users to save their orders as "Favorites" to simplify future orders.

Apple's interest in the iPhone as a platform for wireless ordering extends back to a patent application filed by Apple in July 2006 and published in December 2007. The first widely-publicized concept images of how an online ordering app might work were published at about the same time by designer Phil Lu, whose mockups of a Starbucks iPhone ordering app drew significant media attention. While a number of restaurants and third-party ordering systems have deployed web applications compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch, Chipotle Mobile Ordering appears to represent the first major release of a native application for this purpose deployed through the App Store.

Article Link: Chipotle Mobile Ordering Comes to iPhone

[Avaj]

I saw that

Pretty cool, hopefully more restaurants will follow suit

[ArtOfWarfare]

Now if only, you know, Chipotle's food was, you know, eatable? Seriously, they may be okay if you're in an area with absolutely no other mexican restaurants, but really, On the Border and Loco Coco's Tacos both blow them away.

... I'd love it is LCT offered something like this.

[Slovig]

I am going to abuse this. I work next to Chipotle, and there is always a line out the door. And I always order food, almost every night I work.

[puckhead193]

Originally Posted by ArtOfWarfare

Now if only, you know, Chipotle's food was, you know, eatable? Seriously, they may be okay if you're in an area with absolutely no other mexican restaurants, but really, On the Border and Loco Coco's Tacos both blow them away.

... I'd love it is LCT offered something like this.

granted its a fast food chain that is also owned by mc'donalds, i think the food is quite good. Granted its a not a real restaurant with waiters and waitresses...

[plumbingandtech]

Nice. Looking forward to more places using a system like this.

[scotty588]

Wirelessly posted (iphone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

I love this place. Their food is a bit expensive though.

[Applecababra]

Originally Posted by puckhead193

granted its a fast food chain that is also owned by mc'donalds, i think the food is quite good. Granted its a not a real restaurant with waiters and waitresses...

Chipotle isn't owned by McDonald's. They were once a majority owner of Chipotle shares however they sold 100% of their stake in 2006.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle_Mexican_Grill

And since it's not a 'real' restaurant, I guess I've been eating my meals at a fake restaurant all this time.

[tclary]

I think I'm going to cry.

[Koodauw]

This is going to be a great feature. Hopefully more places will adopt this technology.

[tobefirst]

Hmmm...I'm a bit conflicted about applications like this.

One part of me sees tremendous potential. I like the ability to have "favorite" orders and to pay via the application.

The other part of me thinks about how often I go to any single restaurant (and I do eat out quite a bit) and whether downloading the app would be worth it. In fact, how many different applications from different restaurants would I need *just* to cover the ones I eat at regularly?

The best thing would be a single application endorsed by and containing a wide variety of restaurants with the ability to "favorite" and pay via the application. I might even pay for such an application if it were done well.

[pcm128]

This app = EPIC WIN. I'm going to use it every time from now on.

[Jpoon]

Oh my....

I can't wait until I move to Southern Cal this summer..... I'll abuse the heck out of that.

[longofest]

this is too good...

::shudders with delight at thought of steak burrito entering mouth after ordering via iPhone::

EDIT: hmm... their food is definitely better than their programming skills. This one needs more work.

[rockstarjoe]

Mmmm... food baby... <drool>

[dashiel]

Originally Posted by ArtOfWarfare

Now if only, you know, Chipotle's food was, you know, eatable? Seriously, they may be okay if you're in an area with absolutely no other mexican restaurants, but really, On the Border and Loco Coco's Tacos both blow them away.

... I'd love it is LCT offered something like this.

on the border is garbage and about as authentic mexican as olive garden is authentic italian. it's literally a mexican chili's - not a good thing.

chipotle isn't and doesn't claim to be mexican, but they have far better base ingredients than on the border. for instance they only use thigh meat (tastiest part of the chicken) and sell the rest to panera bread. their beans are organically grown, most of their meats are also organic raised.

having said that though the sodium content in a chicken burrito is so absurdly high i won't eat there anymore (2411mg of sodium or 100% of your RDA is way over the top and that's without sour creme or guac). of course anything from brinker's (chili's, on the border, et. al.) is a death wish on a plate too. brinker hasn't met a food substance they don't think can be made better with a shaker's worth of salt.

[MacTraveller]

Chipotle's is good eatin.

[dgouldin]

Have you guys actually tried to *use* the app? It's a horrible user experience. A cheap web shim with UI problems and bugs galore. I'm not even really sure why it's an app since they make you type in a zip code to choose a store to order from.

[kingtj]

A new Chipotle opened up near my house, just a few months ago. I'll probably grab this app, in case I find the occasion to use it. I've only eaten there twice though, and I agree that they're really a little too expensive.

One of my buddies works for a place that installs and maintains those touch-screen cash register systems for restaurants, and we were recently talking about all the potential for linking those up with iPhone ordering support. (The big chains like Starbucks or Chipotle might be able to afford to hire developers to build apps like this just for them. But the "mom and pop" restaurants, diners, and bars that serve food aren't likely to do this unless it's pre-packaged as a feature built into their point-of-sale system.)

Rest assured, these things are being worked on, so this is the "tip of the iceberg", really.

Originally Posted by scotty588

Wirelessly posted (iphone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

I love this place. Their food is a bit expensive though.

[BruinEcon08]

Please, people, find yourself some Mexicans and eat yourself some real Mexican food.

Restaurants that charge for chips are just wrong on so many levels.

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by dashiel

on the border is garbage and about as authentic mexican as olive garden is authentic italian. it's literally a mexican chili's - not a good thing.

chipotle isn't and doesn't claim to be mexican, but they have far better base ingredients than on the border. for instance they only use thigh meat (tastiest part of the chicken) and sell the rest to panera bread. their beans are organically grown, most of their meats are also organic raised.

having said that though the sodium content in a chicken burrito is so absurdly high i won't eat there anymore (2411mg of sodium or 100% of your RDA is way over the top and that's without sour creme or guac). of course anything from brinker's (chili's, on the border, et. al.) is a death wish on a plate too. brinker hasn't met a food substance they don't think can be made better with a shaker's worth of salt.

I've started going w/ the bowl because of the extra sodium from the tortilla - it's just as good if not better so if you're craving one you might go that route. Of course I get extra rice w/ no beans so I'm fairly certain that blows the sodium content out of the water but, ooo, it's soo good.

As for another comment about it being a good place if there's no other mexican I live in freakin' Texas and Chipotle is still very good. You're right about On The Boarder, it's nothing but a chain and not even a very good one at that. There's also Free Birds burittos down here but Chipotle beats them hands down - FreeBirds rice is awful and their steak is dry.

Anyway - the user experience is kinda blah since you seem to have to enter your e-mail and password everytime you fire it up and you can't just click on a restaurant and hit order, you have to enter a zip. Now, it will tell you what's closest and will link you to the google maps app but having to enter a zip to be able to order is kinda lame. The having to enter user info everytime is much more annoying however.

[jackiecanev2]

Once they get the bugs worked out, I foresee a lot of Chipotle in my future....

[Tastic Bycrom]

Are we seriously almost starting a flamewar about the quality of the food, when the article is about the ability to order it?

C'mon people, on topic. I would like to say why bother. I eat a Chipotle regularly and don't spend time trying to think of a more convenient way to order it. They're already pretty fast. However, I have also tried to eat a Chipotle in Las Vegas and waited for far too long just due the amount of customers in line. Is the the true purpose of this?

[Applecababra]

Originally Posted by BruinEcon08

Please, people, find yourself some Mexicans and eat yourself some real Mexican food.

Easy to say for someone who lives in Los Santos, California. Although not as easy when you live in nowheresville, Minnesota.

[rickdollar]

Originally Posted by dgouldin

Have you guys actually tried to *use* the app? It's a horrible user experience. A cheap web shim with UI problems and bugs galore. I'm not even really sure why it's an app since they make you type in a zip code to choose a store to order from.

I tried using it the day it came out and I couldn't believe how F'd up it is to use. I gave up. It takes longer to order a burrito than it does to fill out a mortgage application.
I like the restaurant but I think the cooks should stick to cooking and contract out for a real developer.