With the theme of “bringing everyone to the table,” the PHS Pop Up Garden on Walnut Street (between 19th and 20th) inspires us to think about growing food in sustainable and environmentally friendly ways—making Chipotle Mexican Grill an ideal partner.
Chipotle is the perfect fit for the garden because the organization consistently seeks better ingredients that are sustainably grown with respect for the animals, the farmers, and the land—and they try to source these ingredients locally as much as possible. Chipotle plans to serve at least 50% of at least one produce item from local farms (within 350 miles of participating restaurants) when it is seasonally available (more than 50% and more than one item when possible). For example, in the Philadelphia area…
- Frank Donio supplies bell peppers
- Consalo & Sons supplies bell peppers and romaine
- Rigo Produce supplies bell peppers, jalapeños, romaine, and oregano
- Satur Farms supplies oregano
- K&M supplies red onions
In 2011, Chipotle sourced more than 6,869,893 pounds of organically grown black and pinto beans. It also sourced an additional 1,231,624 pounds of sustainably grown beans in 2011. The reason the company cannot say the beans are “organic” is because it uses “nonorganic transportation” methods. There were a number of benefits from using these beans, including a reduction of more than 140,000 pounds of chemical pesticide since 2005
According to their website, Chipotle says that organic produce is not always appropriate for the food they serve. Sometimes they find farmers who focus on responsible or sustainable practices but aren’t certified organic—calling that process market-by-market, ingredient-by-ingredient, but always keeping the big picture in mind.
We invite you to visit the Chipotle Mexican Grill at 15th & Walnut (or one of the many other locations) and support them as they support PHS and the City Harvest program.
Rachel Winograd
July 11, 2012
Honestly, I’m surprised and disappointed that PHS would partner with Chipotle considering the company’s history of not cooperating with farmworker rights groups to ensure social justice on the farms they buy from. Local and organic food is one thing, but ensuring that the people who actually cultivate and harvest the food are treated fairly and with dignity and respect is apparently another for Chipotle. You can read more about recent developments in this article:
http://www.ciw-online.org/Chipotles_farmworker_problem.html
Daniel
July 18, 2012
Hi, Rachel. Thanks for your comment. Below is a message from Chipotle Mexican Grill regarding your concern.
“Since 2009, Chipotle has paid CIW’s “penny-a-pound” premium for all of the tomatoes we have purchased from Florida and have worked exclusively with growers in Florida who have signed on to CIW’s Fair Food Program.
The creates the same result: Workers receive the better wages the CIW’s program offers; growers are bound by CIW’s protocols and codes of conduct and CIW has the right to audit growers to ensure that they are compliant with CIW’s system based on the agreement between CIW and the growers.
It is important to note that when CIW began its efforts, the group originally targeted tomato growers in Florida, pressing them to improve practices on their farms. Unable to get traction against the growers directly, CIW switched gears and began targeting large-scale tomato buyers (chiefly restaurant chains and supermarkets) to push those buyers to use their economic influence to bring about change among the growers. This effort has worked extremely well and now more than 90% of tomatoes grown in Florida are grown under CIW’s program. In short, they have tipped the entire industry. Today, anyone who wants to can participate in CIW’s program and we have done that since 2009; but, we simply don’t have a contract with CIW.
Chipotle has a long and well-established track record of driving change in the nation’s food supply. Beyond working only with Florida tomato growers who have signed on to the Fair Food program, we are the only national restaurant company to serve 100% naturally raised meat in our restaurants (all of which come from animals that are raised in a humane way, fed an all vegetarian diet and never given antibiotics or added hormones) and are the only national restaurant company with significant commitments to local and organically grown produce.
That is a record we would stack up against anyone else in the industry.”
Chris Arnold
Chipotle Director of Communications