Desert Moon-Fresh Mexican Grille vs Chipotle Mexican Grill Franchise Comparison

Below is an in-depth analysis and side-by-side comparison of Desert Moon-Fresh Mexican Grille vs Chipotle Mexican Grill including start-up costs and fees, business experience requirements, training & support and financing options.

Start-Up Costs and Fees
	Desert Moon-Fresh Mexican Grille Franchise	Chipotle Mexican Grill Franchise
Investment	$264,500 - $454,000	N/A
Franchise Fee	$25,000	N/A
Royalty Fee	5%	-
Advertising Fee	-	-
Year Founded	1992	1993
Year Franchised	1999	-
Term Of Agreement	15 years	-
Term Of Agreement	15 years	-
Renewal Fee	-	-
Business Experience Requirements
	Desert Moon-Fresh Mexican Grille Franchise	Chipotle Mexican Grill Franchise
Experience	Industry experience	-
Financing Options
	Desert Moon-Fresh Mexican Grille Franchise	Chipotle Mexican Grill Franchise
	In-House/3rd Party	In-House/3rd Party
Franchise Fees	No/No	-/-
Start-up Costs	Yes/No	-/-
Equipment	Yes/No	-/-
Inventory	No/No	-/-
Receivables	No/No	-/-
Payroll	No/No	-/-
Training & Support
	Desert Moon-Fresh Mexican Grille Franchise	Chipotle Mexican Grill Franchise
Training	-	-
Support	Newsletter, Meetings, Toll-free phone line, Grand opening, Internet, Field operations/evaluations, Purchasing cooperatives	-
Marketing	Co-op advertising, Ad slicks, Regional advertising	-
Operations	66% of all franchisees own more than one unit Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 10 Absentee ownership of franchise is allowed. (80% of current franchisees are owner/operators)	-
Expansion Plans
	Desert Moon-Fresh Mexican Grille Franchise	Chipotle Mexican Grill Franchise
US Expansion	Yes	-
Canada Expansion	No	No
International Expansion	No	No

Company Overviews

About Desert Moon-Fresh Mexican Grille

During a visit to Arizona, founder Kevin Rink fell in love with the area's Southwestern cuisine and decided to bring it back with him to New York. The company opened its first cafe in the Jefferson Valley Mall in Yorktown Heights, New York. The restaurants serve traditional as well as nontraditional Mexican fare at establishments throughout the East Coast.

About Chipotle Mexican Grill

We have been informed by Chipotle that they are Currently Not Seeking Franchisees

Founded by Steve Ells in 1993, Chipotle Mexican Grill is a Colorado-based chain of restaurants specializing in gourmet burritos and tacos. It is famous for its chunky guacamole, for its large burritos, and for being one of the first successful chains in the newer category of fast-casual dining establishment. Chipotle has an emphasis on quality, which results in slightly higher prices than other traditional fast food chains. Our menu is intentionally simple. By focusing on just a few menu items, we can concentrate our effort on doing a few things very well. We believe that by focusing on the details of quality, service and the Chipotle experience, we'll be able to bring great food and our vision to new customers and keep existing customers coming back. We believe that consumers' increasing concern about the food they eat will foster demand for higher-quality foods. We believe this, in turn, will attract the interest and capital investment of larger farms and suppliers, and help us make our food more accessible, although we'll continue to balance our interest in advancing "food with integrity" with our desire to provide great food at reasonable prices.