Chipotle Mexican Grill, the US-based burrito concept, is looking to raise brand awareness in the UK, after a survey carried out by the group found that only 1% of those questioned knew about the brand without prompting.
The study by the group, which recently opened its sixth site in the UK in Wimbledon, found that this compared with 16% for Pret A Manger and 23% for McDonald’s. The chain scored 34% when the participants were prompted about the brand.
Bloomberg said that in a recent earnings call the group suggested “that Londoners have been slow to warm to its oversized burritos and that awareness of the brand has remained low in the three years since Chipotle arrived”.
“It looks likely that London will be a developing market for a while, until our awareness is raised there,” said co-chief executive Steve Ells.
Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said that the chain’s approach has been “to build up the business organically, [which] gives us a chance to build up our crews and operations in a new location”.
