Chipotle Launches New Installment of “Cultivating Thought” Author Series on Cups and Bags

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) today announced the second installment of its “Cultivating Thought” author series with 10 new and original essays written by influential writers, authors and thought leaders to be featured on its cups and bags. The series began in May 2014, in partnership with New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Safran Foer (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Eating Animals, Everything is Illuminated), who curated the series from the beginning. The stories published on Chipotle’s cups and bags are meant to entertain while exposing readers to some of today’s most creative, influential and thought-provoking writers. Each cup and bag will also include unique illustrations commissioned from a range of artists.

Chipotle launches new installment of Cultivating Thought Author Series (Photo: Business Wire)

Chipotle’s progressive approach to food and culture continues to disrupt the traditional fast food experience. This new installment of authors represent a global perspective, including Brazilian, British, Dominican and Spanish writers, as well as American writers whose families are of Chinese, Polish and Indian descent. This author group also boasts a Pulitzer Prize winner, a world-record holder, box office successes, and a sold-out stand-up comedy show at Madison Square Garden, among other distinctions.

“While typical fast food companies use their packaging to promote new menu items or sell the space to advertisers, we have always tried to use our packaging to engage with our customers wit and intellect,” said Mark Crumpacker, chief marketing and development officer at Chipotle. “Given the response we had to the first round of the ‘Cultivating Thought’ series, we are continuing the series with more authors we think our customers will enjoy.”

The list of contributors for the second installment of “Cultivating Thought” includes:

• Julia Alvarez – Poet and novelist, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, In the Time of the Butterflies
• Aziz Ansari – Actor and comedian, “Parks and Recreation”
• Augusten Burroughs – New York Times bestselling author, Running with Scissors
• Paulo Coelho – Novelist and world record-holder (most translated book by a living author), The Alchemist
• Jeffrey Eugenides – Pulitzer Prize winning author, Middlesex, The Virgin Suicides
• Neil Gaiman – Novelist, graphic novelist and screenwriter, The Sandman, The Graveyard Book, Coraline
• Walter Issacson – Author and biographer, The Innovators: How a Group of Inventors, Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution, Steve Jobs
• Barbara Kingsolver - New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist, The Poisonwood Bible, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
• Amy Tan – Bestselling author, The Joy Luck Club
• Carlos Ruiz Zafron – Novelist, El Príncipe de la Niebla (The Prince of Mist)

Each writer’s work will be featured on a cup or bag in Chipotle’s restaurants. The essays are themed as “two-minute” readings, and vary in topic and focus, representing the diversity of talent and range of perspectives of these 10 writers.

The new “Cultivating Thought” packaging will be available in Chipotle restaurants in the coming weeks, and all 10 stories are accessible online at chipotle.com/cultivatingthought.

ABOUT CHIPOTLE

Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO, started Chipotle with the idea that food served fast did not have to be a typical fast food experience. Today, Chipotle continues to offer a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla) and salads made from fresh, high-quality raw ingredients, prepared using classic cooking methods and served in a distinctive atmosphere. Through our vision of Food With Integrity, Chipotle is seeking better food from using ingredients that are not only fresh, but that—where possible—are sustainably grown and raised responsibly with respect for the animals, the land, and the farmers who produce the food. In order to achieve this vision, we focus on building a special people culture that is centered on creating teams of top performers empowered to achieve high standards. This people culture not only leads to a better dining experience for our customers, it also allows us to develop future leaders from within. Chipotle opened with a single restaurant in 1993 and operates more than 1,750 restaurants, including 17 Chipotle restaurants outside the US, nine ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen restaurants, and is an investor in an entity that owns and operates two Pizzeria Locale restaurants. For more information, visit Chipotle.com.

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