Chipotle "very interested" in Apple Pay
While some companies like McDonalds and Whole Foods have embraced Apple Pay with open arms, a few big-time companies have elected to take a "wait and see" approach with Apple's nascent mobile payments platform.
One such company is Chipotle. This past October, Chipotle Chief Marketing Officer Mark Crumpacker remarked during an earnings conference call:
Well, right now, we don't have imminent plans to roll out ApplePay support. It's something we're considering for 2015. There are considerable technological constraints to implementing it just based on the way payments are processed with our system. We are in the process of readying the launch of our new ordering app in November. And when we do a rev of that -- in the middle of next year is our anticipated time -- we might include ApplePay. It's just a little bit too early for us to tell just given that we haven't sorted out all of the back-end issues.
Now with 2015 well under way, Chipotle recently attended the ICR XChange conference in Florida. Reporting from the festivities, Jonathan Maze of nations Restaurant News relayed that Chipotle remains "very interested" in Apple Pay.
Chipotle: Only 1% of orders come through a smartphone. But company is "very interested" in Apple Pay and how that plays out. #ICRXChange
- Jonathan Maze (@jonathanmaze) January 13, 2015
At this point it remains unclear if Chipotle's interest in Apple centers primarily on POS machines within stores or if it extends to the Chipotle app where users can pre-order food and pick it up. It's worth noting that Chipotle isn't on board with CurrentC, the destined-to-flop competitor to Apple Pay that will likely launch later this year.
As anyone who's ever been to Chipotle can attest, the nationwide chain is prone to insanely long lines that sometimes stretch out the door and down the block. That being the case, the value proposition of Apple Pay, with it being an extremely quick payment option and all, would be an ideal fit for Chipotle, or any other type of high volume eatery for that matter.
