From Fax Machines To AI: How Chipotle’s CTO Revolutionized Its Digital Business

4 hours ago

Curt Garner, Chipotle’s president and chief technology officer, helped boost the burrito chain’s online sales from just 5% to more than a third of total revenue.

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/chloesorvino/2025/11/18/from-fax-machines-to-ai-how-chipotles-cto-revolutionized-its-digital-business/

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00:00Today on Forbes, From Fax Machines to AI, How Chipotle's CTO Revolutionized Its Digital Business

00:08When Kurt Garner became Chipotle's first chief information officer in 2015,

00:14he was shocked to learn that a staggering amount of online orders to the Mexican food chain's 2,000 restaurants

00:20were coming from old-school fax machines, a whopping $22.5 million in sales that year.

00:27Garner, who was 56 years old, recalled, quote,

00:31You'd go to our website and you'd download a fax form.

00:34You'd fill out the form and fax it to the restaurant.

00:37If you faxed an order in, you didn't get a confirmation that it was received,

00:40and you still had to stand in the line to pay.

00:43It was a pretty fragmented thing.

00:47Fax-based orders represented only 0.05% of the 1993 founded chain's total digital sales at the time.

00:54But in his quest to digitize Chipotle, Garner soon put a stop to it,

00:59starting a campaign to build its online business by architecting a digital transformation

01:04with app orders and rewards-based loyalty.

01:07In his decade-long tenure, first as CIO and now as president and chief strategy and technology officer,

01:14Chipotle's digital sales have skyrocketed from $225 million in 2015,

01:19only 5% of total $4.5 billion in revenue that year,

01:24to nearly $4 billion, topping 35% of 2024's $11.3 billion in revenue.

01:32Today, Chipotle's digital business has become what he calls, quote,

01:37a multi-billion-dollar growth engine,

01:39connecting 3,900 restaurants nationwide

01:41and a rewards program with 20 million active users,

01:45even at a time when customers are cutting back on spending at fast casual restaurants.

01:51Garner said, quote,

01:52We're one of the only public companies that has no debt.

01:55We've got a really strong balance sheet,

01:57and our growth is enabling us to change the way people eat.

02:01That track record helped Garner make Forbes' 2025 CIO Next list,

02:06featuring Corporate America's best and brightest chief information and technology officers.

02:12Chipotle's stock is still down 48% so far this year as of mid-November.

02:17And Jeffrey's managing director, Andy Barish, who covers Chipotle,

02:21said that as the chain struggles from declining traffic,

02:24Chipotle's CEO, quote,

02:25is putting a lot of responsibility on Garner.

02:29Barish added, quote,

02:31Kurt has been a huge part of the success.

02:33Garner has been compensated well for all his profit driving.

02:39Garner owns the third most Chipotle shares of any executive,

02:42worth more than $42 million, including $7 million in stock options.

02:47His total 2024 compensation topped $16 million in value.

02:54Chipotle's digital sales are the restaurant's highest margin orders.

02:57There are 1,100 Chipotle stores that prioritize digital sales in their design,

03:03like with a separate pickup lane called a Chipotle lane,

03:06and they typically have increased sales, margins, and returns,

03:09compared to traditional locations that haven't yet been retrofitted.

03:14Over 80% of new company-owned locations will have a Chipotle lane.

03:19A Columbus, Ohio native, Garner got his start in IT during a tough job market in 1991.

03:26Despite a degree in economics from Ohio State,

03:28he ended up in a temporary role answering phones for $6 an hour

03:32at the IT department of Burger Chain Wendy's.

03:35After Hurricane Andrew hit Florida in 1992,

03:3910 restaurants were damaged,

03:41and Garner volunteered to refurbish the cash registers and computers from those locations.

03:46After getting a few working,

03:48Garner drew up a list of the parts the other machines needed

03:51and found a colleague had drawn a cartoon poking fun at him.

03:54His boss not only fired the employee on the spot,

03:58he gave Garner his full-time job.

04:00And it taught Garner a valuable lesson that has stuck with him

04:03through four decades in the restaurant industry.

04:06He says, quote,

04:06Garner worked his way up to Wendy's Director of International IT in 1995,

04:20and two years later, the 28-year-old was recruited to join Starbucks,

04:23then a young coffee shop chain with 1,400 locations.

04:27During Garner's next 17 years there,

04:30he digitized the wildly successful business of Starbucks gift cards in 2011

04:35as Senior Vice President of Business Technology,

04:38and, after he was promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer,

04:43he launched Mobile Ordering in 2015.

04:46He landed at Chipotle later that same year.

04:50For full coverage, check out Chloe Sorvino's piece on Forbes.com.

04:56This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:58Thanks for tuning in.

05:05Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

05:06You

From Fax Machines To AI: How Chipotle’s CTO Revolutionized Its Digital Business

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