As if 2020 couldn’t get any stranger, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) just opened a brand-new location in New York.
All while coronavirus cases surge again.
The catch?
It doesn’t want you to eat there. There’s a large kitchen … but no dining area. No spacious room filled with tables and chairs inviting you to sit back and enjoy your burrito. In fact, employees in the kitchen can’t even take orders.
It sounds absurd — opening a restaurant that no one will ever eat at. But it could soon be our new normal.
You see, this new location is “digital-only.” That means it’s solely for customers or delivery drivers from DoorDash and GrubHub to run inside and pick up to-go orders. In place of the dining area, there’s a waiting room and plenty of shelves to hold completed orders.
Chipotle did this for three reasons:
- Price: This layout is much smaller than a traditional restaurant. So, it’s a more cost-efficient model in urban areas where real estate and rent is expensive.
- Safety: More importantly, it eliminates the complications of indoor dining during COVID-19. It keeps employees and customers safer since there’s no ordering process with face-to-face contact.
- Demand: And then, there’s just plain demand. About half of all Chipotle sales came from its app or website last quarter. That’s triple the amount of digital orders from the same time last year. More and more people are choosing not to dine in.
Welcome to the next wave of American innovation.
As we like to say, Americans are nothing if not resilient. And this new style of restaurant is a prime example of us adapting to the times. In fact, this is exactly the kind of company we’ve told you to look out for in this pandemic.
And it’s a game-changer for investors who know what to look for…
Chipotle Is Doing All the Right Things
COVID-19 drastically changed the business landscape.
But as we’ve said before, the best way to make money in the markets now is to find the businesses set to adapt and thrive — and avoid the ones set to fail.
Now, as Charles Mizrahi’s managing editor, I have talked to him about this a lot. And he’s told me all about the kinds of businesses that would tank.
Ones needing foot traffic and daily transactions to survive won’t be able to keep up. Neither will ones that provide non-essential products to keep their recurring customers.
Restaurants — like Chipotle — check all these boxes.
Even with positive vaccine news lately, people aren’t going to rush out to dine at restaurants again at the same level as before the pandemic.
And in the meantime, online delivery has quickly become our new normal. Food delivery has become 300 times more popular since the pandemic started.
That’s why Chipotle’s new “digital” restaurant is a vital development. It could be a game-changer that shifts chain restaurants from businesses that fail to ones that survive and thrive.
By adapting to these trends, Chipotle is maximizing its profit potential. It expects to make over $2.5 billion in digital sales by the end of the year — more than double that of last year.
You can expect this kind of growth to bode well for its stock, too. It’s up 48% on the year already. At its peak after being publicly listed in 2006, it made gains of about 3,000%.
However, with shares trading for over $1,000 today, Chipotle isn’t a bargain anymore. So, we don’t recommend buying it now.
But what if I told you there’s a way to get in on the next Chipotle?
And better still … what if I told you that you could get every share of stock in this “next Chipotle” for free?
Sound crazy?
Well, the truth is that you could’ve done exactly that when Chipotle became publicly traded. At the time, it was a special situation. And as we said, the people who got in then could’ve made an absolute fortune.
But for those of us that missed out on that opportunity … the good news is that Charles Mizrahi has found three new ones just like it.
And he wants to share them with you…
Get in on the Next Chipotle
The kinds of stocks I’m talking about — where you can get shares essentially for “free” — are those special situations. They’re not the typical stocks we see in the Alpha Investor portfolio.
But we could possibly see record numbers of these special situations in 2021. So Charles has been curating them for a special project he’s working on…
It’s no easy task. In fact, Wall Street’s elite investors know how hard it is to spot these stocks. They keep them to themselves so they can profit while keeping Main Street investors in the dark.
But Charles wants to help you turn the tables and level the playing field.
That’s why he’s put together an important project called the Profits of a Lifetime Summit. During this event, he’ll show you how to spot special-situation stocks — and how they can make you life-changing gains in five years or less.
He’ll also reveal the three best special-situation stocks to buy today. Once you get your “free” shares, all you have to do is sit and let time do the heavy lifting.
This is all happening tomorrow, November 19. So, you’ll need to reserve your spot now for exclusive access.
Charles and I don’t want everyday investors like you to miss out on the chance to pick up these “free” shares and the profits they can bring you. Be sure to check it out.
Regards,
Managing Editor, Alpha Investor