Unreasonable Hospitality at Chipotle?
- 6 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Natalie K. Jackson August 17, 2026
They sang to my daughter for her 10th birthday on Saturday. I gave the manager, Robert, a heads up about 30 minutes before to let him know that my daughter and friends will be here for her birthday lunch soon, following their aerial yoga party (so San Diego). He said “We’d be honored!”.
She insisted on Chipotle for lunch for the 8 of them. The kids were chatting and eating when in walked 3 black-tee-shirt-wearing Chipotle team members with a birthday treat, glowing birthday candles, and sang "Happy Birthday 🎶!"
Their joy in doing this for her was what I noticed the most. They were inspired. Felt permission. Tried something. That was fun to watch. I help companies with this every day – "How do we get our employees to show up consistently and still have the time, space, and resources to make our consumers (or customers, members, patients, donors, partners, etc.) feel special?" and that's the magic. When leaders know they can.
That gesture meant even more because our overall experience was still what we’re used to at Chipotle, at least at the Chipotles we eat at. Welcoming, efficient, fresh, clean.
Bonus points for not rushing us out of the store. Thankfully the kids were well behaved, and we cleaned up after ourselves. But the birthday treat!? The song?! Very memorable.
As the consumer, not the CX/EX expert, I asked the manager, Robert, how I can help share how happy we are. He asked that I write a review using the code on the receipt [done, and despite the 20-digit code, it was only 3 questions] and email his boss, Valerie [done].
Turns out Will Guidara, author of Unreasonable Hospitality spoke at their Chipotle conference recently and inspired Robert. For Chipotle, to be consistent across such a massive footprint and empower teams to find this kind of memorable moment is not easy.
Well, it worked, here I am writing about it!