Chipotle
The Mexican-American restaurant Chipotle has a fairly comprehensive code of conduct. According to the website, the first Chipotle opened in 1993 in Denver, Colorado. The store opened up several more Colorado locations before becoming a national chain (Chipotle, 2014). Chipotle is branded as, “food with integrity,” and social responsibility is a cornerstone to both the brand and the corporate culture. Their ingredients are organic and locally sourced and their meat and dairy is hormone free (Chipotle, 2014). Chipotle’s code of conduct reflects the company’s passion for healthy nutrition and its commitment to integrity.
Key Areas of Chipotle’s Code of Conduct
Everyone in the company must comply with Chipotle’s Code of Conduct, from store associates all the way to members of the board of directors. Employees are encouraged to notify superiors if they feel that someone within the organization is not following the code of conduct. The Chipotle code of conduct is divided into four parts including an: "Integrity Statement, and an Anti-Discrimination, Harassment and Sexual Harassment Policy,” as well as a section for legal requirements and a confidentiality agreement (Chipotle, 2014). The Anti-discrimination and harassment, legal, and confidentiality sections have standard, required codes of conduct that you’d see in almost any American Company.
The Integrity Statement states that employees should not accept gifts from competitors or give gifts to vendors or suppliers, excluding entertainment, which can be given and accepted in a business capacity. Employee should use good judgment and common sense in protecting the company and its assets, including confidential information. If an employee receives a job offer from a competitor or supplier, they must resign from Chipotle as soon as they choose to accept the offer.
Steps to ensure that the Code is followed
Chipotle’s policy that encourages people to speak up whenever they see another employee violating the Code of Conduct is a good first step in ensuring that the code is followed. In the article, Codes of Ethical Conduct: A Bottom-Up Approach, Hill and Rapp (2014) discuss the use of semi self-governing work-teams to ensure compliance. These teams answer to each other, which encourages communal integrity. So, the creation of these work teams is the second step. The third step is letting the employees collaborate to create and amend the code of conduct themselves. Employees will be much more invested, and they’re more likely to remember and follow rules they created themselves.
Community Engagement
Since Chipotle is so invested in nutrition, they could engage with the community by feeding the less fortunate. Donating food to homeless shelters or creating free food trucks that go into low-income areas would be a great way to feed the poor. Since they locally source food, the company has good relations with local farmers. Chipotle could sponsor a farmers market in areas where there is not as much access to fresh food. Finally, Chipotle should offer free catering for charity events that raise money for food and nutrition programs. This sponsorship would mean that the charities have to pay less for food, and more of their money would go to the good cause.
References
CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL, INC. CODE OF CONDUCT. (2014).
http://ir.chipotle.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=194775&p=irol-govConduct
Hill, R. R., & Rapp, J. j. (2014). Codes of Ethical Conduct: A Bottom-Up Approach. Journal Of Business Ethics, 123(4), 621-630. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-2013-7
