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Speaker unverified: belief

21 Apr 2026 Cheeky Pint The economics and trends of the restaurant industry, with Tony Xu of DoorDash

“Chipotle is not really franchised, but if you look at other types of brands where it is franchised, I think the economics become even trickier.”

— Speaker unverified

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Speaker
Speaker unverified
Attribution
Not verified from this transcript
Claim type
belief
Recorded
21 Apr 2026
Publisher
Cheeky Pint

Transcript context

…I think people maybe thought that big chains were going to do it more, where you're right, the billboard effect for an actual retail presence is hard to compete with, where you get this very cheap customer acquisition from the fact that people know your name from the high street or maybe have been to you, and as a ghost kitchen, you need to make up for that awareness gap. But if you're Chipotle, maybe people thought that the orders get fulfilled out of a dedicated Chipotle central factory, and then the retail space are separate. But also that hasn't really happened that much. That happens occasionally. I think these are not decisions where we're accounting for all of the variables. One variable we're not accounting for is "What else could I do with the space?" You have to remember for businesses like Chipotle who tend to identify real estate in fairly expensive areas, there's high opportunity cost of what you do with that space. Yes, you're right. One choice is to turn it into a kitchen or a delivery-only kitchen, and sometimes that happens, but there's also a massive opportunity to recoup the expense. If you start introducing, for example, franchises. Chipotle is not really franchised, but if you look at other types of brands where it is franchised, I think the economics become even trickier. There's a next best use math. Which restaurants have actually invented something that's hard to copy?…

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