Operations

Chipotle wants to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with First Timers

This year's promotion taps users of the new event-planning platform Partiful, with BOGOs designed to bring in people who have never tried Chipotle before.
Chipotle First Timer Bowl
Chipotle's First Timer Bowl features chicken, white rice, black beans, salsas, lettuce, cheese and, of course, guac./ Photo courtesy of Chipotle.

This Cinco de Mayo, Chipotle wants to party with the people who don’t know yet that guac is extra.

Those people would be Chipotle First Timers, in other words, and there’s a buy one-get-one-free offer this week that targets them specifically. And this year’s Cinco de Mayo promotion also taps into the growing popularity of Partiful, a platform that allows users to organize an event, whether a large gathering or a few people meeting for a meal at Chipotle, and perhaps for the first time.

Starting May 1 through Cinco de Mayo, Chipotle is featuring a First Timer Bowl with the chain’s most popular combo: a Chicken Burrito Bowl with white rice, black beans, tomato salsa, roasted chili-corn salsa, sour cream, lettuce, cheese and guac.

This week, diners who create an event on Partiful to invite a Chipotle First Timer can win the BOGO code. The invite has to include #ChipotlePartyPromo in the description and Chipotle has to be invited by direct messaging @Chipotle on Instagram with a link to the event.

Each day this week, Chipotle will RSVP to the first 20 Partiful events with a BOGO code for each RSVP’ed guest (up to 25 per event).

Guests can also RSVP to the “Time to Finally Try Chipotle” event on Partiful. And Chipotle is offering $0 delivery with the promo code CINCO23 through May 5.

“We’re leveraging the Partiful platform to reward Chipotle superfans for celebrating Cinco de Mayo with those who are simply beginners with the brand,” said Tressie Lieberman, Chipotle’s vice president of digital marketing and off premise, in a statement. “Releasing the ‘First Timer Bowl’ on our digital channels is a way for us to engage with our audience and show newcomers how others navigate the customizable menu.”

Last year, Chipotle satirized its First Timers in a TikTok video that went viral. But TikTok offers a wealth of instructional content for first-time Chipotle visitors, like the benefits of shaking one’s bowl, new approaches to biting into a burrito and surprisingly neat techniques for enjoying a bowl with no utensils.

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