The Massive Amount Of Avocados Chipotle Goes Through Every Year
Who does not love Chipotle? When it comes to fresh Mexican-style food on the cheap, this fast-casual chain serving tacos, burritos, and burrito bowls has conquered the globe with more than 2,700 locations (via Statista). Customers love its spicy salsas, its antibiotic-free meats, and of course, its creamy guacamole, which has inspired a multitude of copycat recipes.
People get really, really serious about Chipotle's guac. Over on the subreddit r/Chipotle, users are constantly asking for the recipe. According to Today, the recipe is a pretty straightforward mix of ripe Hass avocados, lime juice, chopped cilantro, diced red onion, diced jalapeño, and kosher salt. And in its restaurants, the chain blows through a shocking 50 million pounds of guacamole each year, clearly blowing through a large amount of the avocados, red onions, and jalapeño peppers needed to make it (via USA Today). Which got us thinking, exactly how many avocados would Chipotle need to keep up with the sky-high guacamole needs?
Pounds and pounds and pounds of avocados
Chipotle customers really love their guac — enough to pay extra for it when ordering a taco, burrito, or bowl — and all those orders of creamy, chunky avocados really add up. But the precise amount of avocados needed might actually blow your mind. According to Nasdaq, that figure is 35 million pounds of the creamy green fruit per year, or 97,000 pounds per day. Chipotle restaurants make their guac in batches, each of which uses 60 avocados, according to Nasdaq.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Chipotle sources most of its avocados from Mexico, which is by far the world's largest supplier of the fruit. But in recent years, the prices of these coveted avocados has surged, leading the chain to expand its importation from areas including California, Chile, Peru, and Colombia. As for us, we're always happy to indulge in guac, whether we eat it out or make it at home.