Whether Chick-fil-A or Domino's Pizza, quick-service restaurants (QSRs) use automation to keep up with demand and operate efficiently.

Chipotle, a brand known for both its commitment to both quality and speed, is an automation pioneer too. The QSR uses technology to support back-of-house operations for Chipotle employees while providing customers with a smooth, predictable experience both digitally and in-person.

(At least, it's smooth and predictable so long as the technology works.)

With more than one-third of its revenue coming from online orders, Chipotle's progressive use of technology is key to success. For example, Chipotle’s use of automation, their Digital Makeline (or “DML”), and their rollouts of new, proprietary technology — like their drive-thru pick up window "Chipotlanes" and “Autocado” guacamole-making robot — demonstrate how the fast-casual giant is a pioneer in QSR food services.

In this article, we’ll examine how Chipotle has taken advantage of these technologies. Plus we’ll share a few speed bumps they’ve hit along the way.

Finally, you’ll learn just how much Chipotle loves assigning silly names to their restaurant tech.

Chipotle’s Automation Capabilities, From Avocados to Tortilla Chips

Chipotle's automation efforts aim to improve the accuracy, speed, and consistency of its operations. Chipotle partners with Hyphen, a company that specializes in automating meal assembly, and in 2024, Chipotle began testing an automated makeline in stores to prepare bowls and salads while employees build burritos, tacos, and quesadillas. Approximately 65% of Chipotle's digital orders are bowls or salads, so automating these dishes helps improve both employee efficiency and the accuracy of digital order fulfillment.

Here’s a look at the automated makeline in action:

The automated makeline is expected to streamline the assembly process, reducing human error and enabling quicker service for digital orders. This ensures customers who place digital orders receive the same high-quality meal as in-store customers, providing a comparable experience regardless of how the food is ordered or who prepares it.

Chipotle debuted its Autocado robot in September 2024. The Autocado robot is a machine designed to streamline the process of making guacamole. The Autocado robot cuts, cores, and peels avocados before they are hand-mashed to create the brand’s signature guacamole. This robot helps reduce the time and labor involved in preparing this popular side, while also ensuring a more consistent product. As Chipotle’s Chief Customer and Technology Officer Curt Garner said, "These cobotic devices could help us build a stronger operational engine." The Autocado can remove the fruity flesh of the avocado in around 26 seconds, which is a 50% savings in time. Given Chipotle expects to use over five million cases of avocados a year, that’s a lot of time saved.

The Autocado builds on success seen with other automations, as with “Chippy,” Chipotle’s tortilla chip making machine.

By boosting efficiency in key areas, Chipotle’s automation strategy improves the work experience for employees. According to the company, many of its automation initiatives stemmed from working closely with restaurant managers to identify time-consuming tasks or those that were unpopular with crew members, using strategic automation to make employees' jobs simpler and less stressful.

Ensuring Chipotle’s Online Orders Stay in the Fast Lane

Online ordering skyrocketed during the last five years, and Chipotle was quick to embrace serving digital customers. 

Chipotle restaurants have a Digital Makeline (DML), a dedicated assembly line for online orders. (Online orders bring in more than a million in revenue per restaurant per year.) The DML helps each restaurant avoid delays for in-store customers and a cluttered front line. This allows the restaurant to separate digital order fulfillment from in-store meal preparation, ensuring service for both groups remains efficient and organized.

There’s also the Chipotlane, a drive-thru-style mobile pickup lane that allows customers and drivers for third-party delivery services to easily grab digital orders without leaving their cars. Chipotle's Chipotlanes have contributed to the increase in volume of digital orders, allowing the company to handle high demand while improving the experience for customers who prefer a contactless and swift pick-up option.

Now, Chipotle’s advancements haven’t come without controversy. For example, in 2022 there was a viral wave of TikTok videos suggesting Chipotle employees were “half-scooping” orders (distractify.com).

Why were portions so inconsistent? One source suggested it had to do with incentives around throughput, “This is the number of entrees sold in a 15-minute window … Every day, there is a goal to hit. My store's goal is around 30-35 depending on the day. This means we need to move the customer down the line and complete each entree within 30 seconds to meet this goal.”

In order to meet throughput goals, Chipotle employees must make orders quickly by correctly scooping portions on the first try. Fast forward and other Chipotle employees on Reddit confirmed that, yes, portions had become a focus for restaurants. In fact, Chipotle rolled out training to support consistent portions. The Redditor wrote, “[Back in mid-2024] when this blew up they forced all crew to take updated training courses on how to make all of our menu items, and stressed the same portion sizes (and how to scoop them) during the videos. Nothing has changed. Portion sizes have not increased. They simply attempted to stop "skimping" by making sure all employees know exactly how much to actually give you” (Reddit).

While the emphasis on correct portioning was designed to ensure consistency and prevent waste, it has led to frustration among some customers, who continue to express dissatisfaction with what they perceive as smaller servings.

However, Chipotle acknowledged the problem and is continuing to refine its processes. Employees who were trained on portion control are now more consistent in their approach, and the company is actively working on ensuring that customers get the right portions at the right price.

POS Problems Stall Progress

For any QSR restaurant, the Point-of-Sale (POS) system is essential to daily operations. 

Chipotle uses the Aloha POS system to process its digital and in-store transactions. However, like any technology, it's not without its challenges. In fact, one Chipotle employee mentioned frequent POS crashes on Reddit, especially during busy periods, causing disruptions and delays in service. 

The poster even lamented that they were expected to resolve the tech issues themselves instead of receiving in-person help from IT: “What will it take for corporate to finally internally fix the problem? Does anyone else’s store/patch deal with “band-aid” fixes from IT? At this point I feel like the company is losing more money by making temporary fixes instead of actually addressing whatever the problem is:”

This issue underscores the importance of ensuring the POS system is running smoothly, as it can cause a ripple effect across the entire restaurant. When the POS goes down, other systems like credit card processing and Chipotle’s Digital Makeline are also affected. 

As reliance on technology in the restaurant industry increases, Chipotle might benefit from offering more robust training for managers on handling technology issues, along with a standardized procedure for how to operate without a functioning POS. Smart alerts, i.e., via remote monitoring and management/RMM, could alert Chipotle’s staff to issues so they can be fixed with more efficiency — or automatically troubleshoot and resolve issues before employees notice.

At present, experienced Chipotle employees share their tips for handling POS problems online. Top tips include:

• Rebooting the POS to get around a credit card processing error.
  
  
• Closing the program to circumvent admin errors on the digital makeline.
  
  
• Rebooting the back-of-house (BOH) computer to remove an unspecified error on login. Note that the BOH computer in Chipotle restaurants is the hub for the entire system, so rebooting it can cause the whole system to go down.
  
  
• Soft rebooting the POS, DML, and credit card machine when takeout orders stop coming into the restaurant to be made.

(Reddit is a common hub for Chipotle employees to solve technology issues. If you’re a Chipotle employee in search of help, bookmark these posts demonstrating how to manually enter card payments or solve common POS issues — and good luck!)

Balancing Innovation With People

Chipotle's use of technology and automation undergirds their culture of efficiency, innovation, and customer satisfaction. The brand's strategic use of automated systems for meal assembly, avocado processing, and digital order fulfillment highlights technology’s ability to complement human labor and enhance both in-person and digital dining experiences.

Yes, as any company expands its digital and automated service offerings, challenges are bound to occur. 

Chipotle is no different. 

Overcoming these challenges is a process that requires continued employee training as well as refining the use of technology, all while paying close attention to the back of house experiences of employees and front of house experiences of Chipotle customers.

For other restaurants looking to explore automation, Chipotle’s example offers valuable insights. Or study how Chick-fil-A has advanced edge computing or Domino's Pizza evolved their Pulse POS.

With the right balance of technology and people — and perhaps a scoop of support from remote monitoring and management tools (like Canopy), progress-minded QSR restaurants like Chipotle and others are sure to continue their leadership positions in the industry.