- Introduced in 2022 with $50
million in funds, Chipotle is increasing its commitment to
the Cultivate Next venture fund by an added $50 million
- Cultivate Next will continue to pursue new investments in
supply chain, agriculture, restaurant innovation, automation, and
other areas that support Chipotle's mission to Cultivate a Better
World
- Chipotle has made additional investments in Local Line and
Hyphen, both previously announced cohorts
NEWPORT
BEACH, Calif., Feb. 28,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:
CMG) today announced it is increasing its commitment to its
Cultivate Next venture fund by $50
million, which brings the fund's total investment pool to
$100 million. Introduced in 2022,
Cultivate Next makes early-stage investments into strategically
aligned companies that further Chipotle's mission to Cultivate a
Better World and help accelerate the company's aggressive longer
term growth plans to operate 7,000 restaurants in North America.
"Our decision to double our commitment to our Cultivate Next
venture fund is a clear indicator that we are investing in the
right companies that we can learn from and utilize to improve the
human experience of our restaurant teams, farmers, and suppliers,"
said Curt Garner, Chief Customer and
Technology Officer, Chipotle. "The parallel growth of Chipotle and
our partners will continue to further our mission to Cultivate a
Better World by increasing access to real food."
Cultivate Next Investments
To date, Chipotle has invested in a wide range of companies
innovating in areas such as farming, supply chain, advanced
robotics, and plant-based foods. The new $50
million commitment will expand the company's existing
portfolio, which currently features:
- Local Line
- Local Line is a leading local food sourcing platform for
regional food systems, serving farms, producers, food hubs, and
food buyers. In less than a year, Chipotle's investment has helped
Local Line digitize their operations, increase their retention rate
of customers, build their farm database, and expand to serve
international farms in Europe,
Australia, and New Zealand. In tandem, Local Line has been a
key partner in enabling Chipotle to meet its local produce sourcing
goals.
- Due to the early successes with the platform, Cultivate Next
has made an incremental investment in Local Line. Chipotle
will also leverage Local Line to fund grants to local farms within
350 miles of its new restaurants. The company plans to open 285 to
315 new locations in 2024.
- GreenField Robotics
- GreenField Robotics is a company founded with the vision of
making regenerative farming more efficient, cost-effective, and
sustainable by leveraging the latest advances in AI, robotics, and
sensing technologies. The company's autonomous agricultural robots
can weed crops both day and night, while reducing the need for
toxic herbicides. With its Cultivate Next investment, GreenField
will continue to build out its robotic fleets, which are currently
running on farms in several states, and release additional
capabilities for the robots including micro-spraying, cover-crop
planting, and soil testing.
- Nitricity
- Nitricity is a company seeking to tackle greenhouse gas
emissions by creating fertilizer products that are better for
fields, farmers, and the environment. Funding from Cultivate Next
will be used to scale up Nitricity's production of nitrogen, build
out the company's infrastructure, and support the launch of its
first commercial product within the next two years.
- Vebu
- Vebu is a product development company that works with food
industry leaders to co-create intelligent automation and technology
solutions. Chipotle is collaborating with Vebu to build and scale
Autocado, Vebu's proprietary avocado processing cobotic
(collaborative robot) prototype. Autocado is currently progressing
through Chipotle's stage-gate process and will undergo an
operational test in one restaurant this spring.
- Hyphen
- Hyphen is a foodservice platform designed to help
restaurant owners, operators, and budding chefs move their business
forward by automating kitchen operations. Chipotle is working with
Hyphen to build a new digital makeline that uses intelligent
automation to build bowls and salads while Chipotle employees
operate the top makeline to make burritos, tacos, and quesadillas.
In the coming months, Chipotle's Hyphen digital makeline will debut
in a single restaurant location as part of the company's stage-gate
process. Hyphen recently received an additional investment from
Chipotle through Cultivate Next.
- Meati
- Meati Foods serves nutrient-dense whole-food products made from
MushroomRoot™. Chipotle is continuing to explore opportunities to
bring real, fresh vegetables to the center of the plate with menu
innovations that uphold its Food with Integrity standards.
- Zero Acre Farms
- Zero Acre Farms is a food company focused on healthy,
sustainable oils and fats that is on a mission to end the food
industry's dependence on vegetable oils. The company has introduced
a new category of healthy oils and fats made by fermentation that
are more environmentally friendly. Chipotle is in the early
trials of testing Zero Acre Farms at its Cultivate Center test
kitchen in Irvine,
California.
"It is incredible to see the possibilities that exist when we
bring the right founders, startups or ventures into collaboration
with Chipotle," said Christian
Gammill, Cultivate Next Fund Manager. "Witnessing the
progress of our cohorts over the past two years has motivated us to
scale our efforts and drive real change in the supply chain,
agriculture, restaurant innovation, and automation sectors."
The Future of Cultivate Next
Chipotle will continue to
provide updates on the Cultivate Next venture fund in 2024 and
beyond. Companies interested in collaborating with Chipotle through
the Cultivate Next venture fund can apply by emailing
cultivatenext@chipotle.com.
About Chipotle
Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.
(NYSE: CMG) is cultivating a better world by serving responsibly
sourced, classically-cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients
without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Chipotle had
over 3,400 restaurants as of December 31,
2023, in the United States,
Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany and is the only restaurant company of
its size that owns and operates all its restaurants in North America and Europe. Chipotle is ranked on the Fortune 500
and is recognized on Fortune's Most Admired Companies 2024
list and Time Magazine's Most Influential Companies. With over
115,000 employees passionate about providing a great guest
experience, Chipotle is a longtime leader and innovator in the food
industry. Chipotle is committed to making its food more accessible
to everyone while continuing to be a brand with a demonstrated
purpose as it leads the way in digital, technology and sustainable
business practices. For more information or to place an order
online, visit WWW.CHIPOTLE.COM.
Forward-Looking Statements
Certain statements in
this press release are forward-looking statements as defined in the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including
statements about the number of new restaurants we plan to open, our
longer term plans to open 7,000 restaurants in North America, and the potential success of
our investments. The forward-looking statements in this press
release are based on currently available operating, financial and
competitive information available to us as of the date of this
release and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking
statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
described in the statements, including but not limited to the
impact of competition, including from sources outside the
restaurant industry; the financial impact of increasing our average
hourly wages; the impact of federal, state or local government
regulations relating to our employees, employment practices,
restaurant design and construction, and the sale of food or
alcoholic beverages; the costs and availability of suitable new
restaurant sites, construction materials and contractors; increases
in ingredient and other operating costs due to inflation, global
conflicts, climate change, our Food with Integrity philosophy,
tariffs or trade restrictions and supply shortages; and other risk
factors described from time to time in our SEC reports, including
our annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q,
all of which are available on the investor relations page of our
website at ir.Chipotle.com.
View original content to download
multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chipotle-doubles-its-commitment-to-the-cultivate-next-venture-fund-to-100-million-marking-its-two-year-anniversary-302073861.html
SOURCE Chipotle Mexican Grill