February 11, 2006
Usability, Experience, and the Art of Burritos
Posted by Kevin | Print This Article
Using their websites, it’s easier to find a BajaFresh than a Chipotle restaurant. David Gammel cited these examples in a demonstration of the importance of website usability during a session at ASAE’s technology conference. He wrote:
Both sites have a store locator feature. Only BajaFresh makes it easy to find and use that key functionality. I asked the people in the room, “Who has the more usable site?†Answer: “BajaFresh!†Then I asked, who probably paid more for their web site? “Chipotle!†A usable burrito site doesn’t have to be an expensive one.
David makes a good point, but it’s not the whole point. It would be the whole point if the purpose of these websites were simply to push burritos. And it’s easy to think that that must be the whole point, because that’s what these restaurants do, right?
Well, not really. Saying Chipotle sells burritos is like saying Starbucks sells coffee.
Chipotle, while it starts with a tasty product (I’m an admitted fan), doesn’t sell burritos — it sells an experience. Chipotle is the “hip” burrito joint, with the funky interiors and the loud music and the margaritas and the busy lunch crowds and the rapid, friendly service that preserves quality by offering a really limited menu. If the only purpose of its website was to help you find the one nearest you, it could just Googlefy itself with a simple text box in the middle of the screen ready to look up your zip code.
But no, the Chipotle website is part of the Chipotle experience. That burrito zeppelin they’ve got flying around right now is kind of annoying but it’s definitely eye-catching (and won’t last forever because they change their page around relatively frequently). The whitespace, the funky Flash-driven circular menu you have to decipher — David is right, it’s a usability nightmare, but it’s fun in a way that the straightforward corporate-looking BajaFresh site most definitely isn’t.
By the time you find the Chipotle nearest you, you’ve already gotten immersed in the Chipotle experience, which is in fact its “brand.”
What has providing that experience gotten Chipotle thus far? Well, it has devoted fans all over the world as you can see at sites like ChipotleFan.com (where you can find your “burrito soulmate”) and ChipotleLovers.com. There are no sites for BajaFresh fans that I could find in the first few pages of a Google search. And Chipotle gets blog mentions galore — kind of hard to gauge this comparison-wise because “chipotle” doesn’t have to mean the restaurant, but using links, Google Blogsearch finds 719 links to chipotle.com and only 100 links to bajafresh.com.
Numbers-wise, Chipotle just had a very successful IPO last month, and it exceeded BajaFresh’s market share in 2003.
David raised a very good point about the importance of making key functionality usable. I’m just saying it’s not the only point. The purpose of a website is not just to make it easy to find things. It’s representative of the whole experience offered by an organization or company. It is, in fact, your organization. As we are giving our organzation’s website a much-needed redesign, that point is very much on my mind.
UPDATE: Just noticed that David responded, and I think we agree more than he thinks: I agree that Chipotle could also have changed its website to showcase its locator more than it does without losing its “hipness.” However, I stand by my contention that in any comparison between these two sites — a comparison that I didn’t choose but am merely commenting upon — Chipotle wins, hands down. The BajaFresh site, any way you look at it, simply sucks.
On a related note, I’m somewhat bemused by the commenter on David’s post who points out that a search for “Chipotle locations” brings a link to a volunteer, fan-driven site — and seems to think that this is somehow a problem. Oh, if only associations had those kinds of fans.
Mmmmmm Chipotle.
I almost called you from a Chipotle yesterday while I was having lunch! The hip music was a bit too loud though.
BF’s design could certainly be improved as well.
I keep waiting for a burrito executive (do they have an association?) to chime in on one of these posts but nada so far.
Hell, the only reason I kept this conversation going was so someone would send us some free coupons! These burrito people are slow on the uptake. Don’t they read Technorati?
You can be bemused all you want - what happens when that domain (chiptolefan.com) expires or that person loses interest and takes down the site? It will be more difficult to find Chipotle locations. Period.
Hate Flash sites. Hate ‘em. Always have, probably always will.
I’ll give credit to McDonald’s for at least trying to be cool with their Chipotle project (something they can’t pull off for Ronald). But IMO, it still comes off as plastic (the “ask joe” bullshit).
What’s most disappointing to me is, having lived in Mexico, Baja Fresh is actually not bad in terms of authenticity, especially for a chain. Chipotle is a freaking abomination. There is no need for a burrito the size of two fists. It’s all quantity over quality. Too much rice, too much grease. And the guac sucks.
This somehow gets back to the generational thing that you association guys have been kicking around. 40-somethings like myself obviously don’t understand why younger people are so readily accepting of putting this vomit in their mouths AND creating fans sites for it.
I suppose same could be said for Starbucks, but if you’re ordering their varietal coffees instead of the milkshakes, you actually are getting something decent.
I fear for the day when we have no food choices except “marketable” fast food and that everywhere in the country will look like Route 4 in New Jersey.
I forgot to mention my theory on “make your own” establishments like Chipotle, Starubucks, Cosi and others: it’s not really the food.
It’s being able to order around a minimum wage server to make whatever the hell you want them to, even if the combinations make no sense and are guaranteed to taste awful.
Sort of like having temporary indentured servants. It must make people feel better, otherwise they wouldn’t keep coming back.
Just my thought. Hopefully some research firm with lots of money and nothing to do with it will examine this phenomenon.
Meantime, I’m working on a plan for a chain called Phee Phi Pho Phun. We’ll make Pho. We’ll put whatever the hell you want in it, from sprouts to cabbage to cottage cheese and ketchup. So you make your Pho as “exotic” and “healthy” as you want.
And we’ll have a blog. So you can ask executive chef Dat questions about whether the stew meat is really Bichon Frise and why Water Buffalo is only on the menu seasonally.
It’s a winner, I’m telling you. Kids will love it.
Welcome back, Rich. Always hilarious to hear from you! But you are…WRONG OH GOD SO WRONG. BajaFresh food sucks almost as much as their website. Chipotle burritos are giant chunks of heaven.
I suppose it is a generational thing. But you’ll notice that Chipotle is winning. So you may have a shot with your Phee Phi Pho Phun concept after all.
Anyway, enough with all the burrito crap. I blame David for bringing it up when I was hungry.