Please welcome back today’s poster, Stefanie.

Photo credit: www.insidesocal.com

You wouldn’t know this unless you happen to have access to the Google calendar that houses the Allie’s Answers guest posting schedule, but today is the day you’re supposed to be reading about environmentally friendly cleaning products. Alas, I am a mere two posts into this guest posting gig and already I am veering from my assigned beat. Why? Because I have burritos on the brain. Specifically, big-as-my-head Chipotle burritos.

Admit it: you love them too. Yes, yes, on principle I’m supposed to eschew any chain establishment with nearly 900 locations or lose my progressive cred. But that guacamole is perhaps the best anywhere! And that cilantro-lime rice! And the roasted chili-corn salsa! What? I’m just supposed to make those things myself? (Ha.)

Lucky for me (and you), Chipotle is one fast food chain that we can visit with principles intact. I didn’t really know this until recently. Yes, I knew that when you walk into Chipotle, you get seemingly fresh, made-from-scratch food. But I’ll admit I didn’t know where that food came from. And that “Food with integrity” tagline they’ve been using always seemed a little disingenuous to me, given that Chipotle was owned by the fast food giant largely responsible for the loss of the food industry’s integrity in the first place. (Have you seen Food Inc. yet? You should. Chipotle thinks you should, too, which is why they’ve sponsored free screenings of it all over the country this summer.)

Note, though, that I said WAS owned. True, McDonald’s was Chipotle’s major shareholder for a good many years, and without that financial support, the burrito chain likely wouldn’t have been able to get where it is today. But McDonald’s has held no ownership share since 2006, and amazingly (to me), even before then, Chipotle operated with CEO Steve Ells’s vision intact.

What is that vision? I learned quite a bit about it when Local Store Marketing Guy (yes, that is his official business card title) Michael Fuller showed me around the Minnetonka, MN Chipotle recently. My food blogging friend and I were invited to that location in particular because it is one of Chipotle’s two LEED-certified stores in the nation (the other is in Gurnee, IL). That certification may set the Ridgedale Mall’s Chipotle apart from other locations, but everything else I saw there is in line with what we would have seen at any other Chipotle restaurant anywhere.

We started our visit with a tour of the kitchen. Do you know what was notably absent from that kitchen? A freezer. Not a single Chipotle has one. No microwaves, either. They don’t use them. We stepped into the walk-in cooler, though, and guess what I saw. Whole, actual jalapenos. Onions, too. The only produce chopped up off site and shipped in plastic bags is tomatoes. (Apparently the efficiencies in pre-chopping tomatoes are significant.) Maybe it’s bizarre to be wooed by whole, intact produce, but I’ve seen Supersize Me. I know that just because a restaurant serves French fries doesn’t mean there’s an actual potato in the store. Chipotle doesn’t want to be that restaurant.

And not only is Chipotle using whole, actual produce, but it is buying it locally as much as it can. This summer, they’re sourcing 35 percent of at least one bulk seasonal produce item from local farmers (a 10 percent increase over last year). Currently, 30 percent of Chipotle’s beans are organic, and they’ll increase that percentage as soon as supply can meet the demand.

As for the meat, it’s all naturally raised and hormone- and antibiotic-free. Or rather, all of the pork and chicken is. Currently over 50% of Chipotle’s beef is as well, and they’re working towards 100% as quickly as they can. Ells believes that the highest quality meat comes from farmers who treat their animals, their land, and their communities with respect, and that’s something socially conscious omnivores can appreciate.

In addition, the dairy products Chipotle uses are rBGH free. Did you know that Daisy sour cream is the best-tasting sour cream on the market? Chipotle thinks so, at least, and according to Fuller, they told Daisy so, but said they could keep buying from the company only if they removed the growth hormone from their supply. Apparently I am something of a documentary junkie, because when I heard that, I thought immediately of the Wal-Mart documentary I saw a while ago, and I realized I am well aware that companies use their size and buying power to influence how their suppliers do business, but it isn’t every company that uses that power for good instead of merely profit.

I could go on, but I am well aware I’ve begun to sound like Chipotle is paying me for this endorsement. In truth, I did get a free meal out of that visit, but I would happily share with you the benefits of Chipotle’s business model whether that burrito had come out of my pocket or The Man’s. I’ve always felt a degree of calorie-related guilt whenever I’ve polished off one of Chipotle’s crammed-to-capacity burritos, and that guilt has not changed. Knowing that “Food with Integrity” actually means something, however, makes those calories feel significantly more worthwhile.