Chipotle 2013 Annual Report Download - page 109

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• We also purchased over 5.0 million pounds of organically grown produce in 2013, including about
81% of our cilantro, about 35% of our oregano, and about 2.4% of our avocados.
• In late 2012, we signed an agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) to extend our
commitment to sustainable food to the CIW’s Fair Food Program.
And our commitment to sustainability is broader than simply focusing on food issues. For example, we also
have specific environmental initiatives in waste, energy and water. In 2013 we piloted a new front-of-house
waste program allowing compostable material to be diverted in 31 restaurants in 3 key markets. This is in
addition to our ongoing back of house composting program, currently in 11 markets, which diverted
approximately 6 million pounds of compostable material from the landfill in 2013. We’ve also opened three
restaurants registered with the United States Green Building Council, including one of the first ever restaurants to
receive LEED platinum certification, and have incorporated a number of other sustainability measures into our
restaurant design and construction as well.
Notwithstanding our commitment to sustainability, including through our Food with Integrity mission and
the direct benefits it confers, we simply do not believe that a separate effort to generate, distribute, and update
comprehensive reporting on our sustainability achievements represents an efficient or prudent use of our
resources. While we do report a number of key measures related to our Food with Integrity mission in press
releases and our filings with the SEC, and include much of the same information, as well as additional
information about other sustainability aspects of our business, on our web site, we believe that preparing a
sustainability report of the type proposed would require a sizeable expansion of the types and amount of
information we gather, analyze and disclose. This would involve significant expense and distraction, diverting
time and resources from activities that can have direct benefits on the sustainability and profitability of our
business, such as opening new restaurants, continuing to build and improve our supply chain, and making
improvements in our restaurant design and operations. Moreover, we believe we would gain little from such a
diversion of resources, as we do not believe that a report of the type requested by the proponents would provide
meaningful benefits to management or useful information to our shareholders.
Although we do not believe the reporting being suggested in this proposal would provide sufficient benefits
to Chipotle or its shareholders to justify the costs, that should not be misunderstood as an indication that our
Board or our company are not focused on environmental, social and governance issues. In resisting the proposal,
we are merely resisting the requirement to comprehensively gather data and publish a report that we do not
believe offers meaningful benefits. Instead, we believe our resources will be better devoted to continuing our
commitment to changing the way the world thinks about and eats fast food, and to continuing to build
shareholder value.
The Board of Directors recommends a vote AGAINST this shareholder proposal.
37
Proxy Statement