Chipotle Virtual Farmers’ Market will help the brand's food suppliers sell goods used in restaurants such as meat, dairy and grains.
Love Chipotle’s Queso Blanco or steak?
Now you can buy directly from Chipotle Mexican Grill’s meat supplier thanks to the chain’s new Chipotle Virtual Farmers’ Market program.
The fast-casual chain said Tuesday that it is supporting its food suppliers by creating e-commerce sites for them to sell goods. The online marketplaces will feature meat, dairy and grain products from Niman Ranch (pork and beef), Petaluma Creamery (Monterey Jack shredded cheese) and McKaskle Family Farm (organic white and brown rice) and Meister Cheese (Monterey Jack shredded cheese and Monterey Jack cheese for Queso Blanco).
Petaluma Creamery is selling cheese bundles through the online marketplace. The company supplies Chipotle with Monterey Jack shredded cheese.
The Niman Ranch site, for example, offers a $69.99 meat kit that features steak, Applewood smoked bacon, ground sausage, Canadian bacon and Apple-Cinnamon breakfast sausage links.Newport Beach, Calif.-based Chipotle has been working with each supplier for more than a decade. The company said it is crucial to help farmers and food suppliers, who have been hurt during the pandemic by decreased demand from restaurants, hotels and schools.
Chris Brandt, chief marketing officer, said the company is supporting suppliers by giving them the right tools to launch these online marketplaces. The brand is covering website hosting fees for two years. The sites are powered by Shopify.
"Our Food with Integrity values start with our farmers and helping them adapt to new technologies and ways of reaching the consumer is crucial for both the future of the farming industry and Chipotle,” Brandt said in a statement.
In December, Chipotle made a major commitment to support the next generation of farmers through various programs that include signing three-year contracts with farmers under the age of 40. Those farmers must meet the chain’s Food with Integrity standards for supplying beef, pork and dairy’s next generation of farmers.
Earlier this year, Chipotle created the Chipotle Aluminaries Project 2.0. The accelerator program offers eight months of personalized support to companies who are trying to find solutions to “top challenge areas faced by young farmers including access to land, finance, and labor,” Chipotle said.
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