Nick Geissler ’16 pitched Chipotle Mexican Grill to the the Student Managed Investment Fund (SMIF) on February 24, 2106. Chipotle is a fast-casual Mexican food chain that serves a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls, and salads using fresh and locally sourced ingredients. Chipotle optimizes transparency and customization by employing traditional cooking methods and utilizing an assembly line mode of production. Chipotle was a pioneer of fast-casual dining and has been one of the most successful restaurant brands in the S&P 500 for the last ten years. Nick leveraged the company’s recent price drop, from their food-borne illness scare, as a catalyst for investing in a historically successful company. Citing competent management and the company’s history of responding to customer concerns, Nick advocated that Chipotle would likely return to their former success, given time. In addition, the class enjoyed a catered Chipotle lunch in order to better experience and understand the product being presented. In the end, the SMIF decided to wait temporarily to reevaluate Chipotle’s price closer to their 1Q16 earnings report. The SMIF expressed confidence but decided to postpone a vote on the position until a later time.