Chipotle CEO Details Why His Company Is Better Than Other 'Irrelevant' Fast Food Chains

Most mega fast food chains are being pulled in two directions these days — trying to satisfy those consumers who want quality ingredients and healthier options, while also pushing bottom-dollar value menu items to diners whose primary goal is to eat something fast and cheap. It would seem like one of these would have to win out in the long run, and according to the co-CEO of Chipotle, the cheap and easy route will soon be a thing of the past.

In an interview with The Street, Chipotle co-CEO Monty Moran says the company is taking down traditional fast food, which he deems “irrelevant,” by opening more locations and showing customers that the other chains don’t care as much about the consumer or their employees.

“By traditional fast food I mean where the predominant goal is the cheapening of the raw ingredients, the automation of the work such that anyone could do it that you don’t need training so that they turn over their employees without any care for them, where it’s a game of value meals and cheapening and cheapening the food experience,” he says.

Another reason Chipotle will contribute to the downfall and replace traditional fast food chains is its emphasis on where food comes from.

“Get suppliers to start thinking how they raise food differently because there are more folks like Chipotle, they will have to do things according to our protocols,” he says. “A fifth way is changing customer perception so that customers are aware where their food comes from and start making demands of grocers and restaurants to provide food in a way that makes sense to them.”

It’s hard to imagine how fast food is irrelevant considering McDonald’s alone is 20-times larger than Chipotle. But even with such a wide gap, Moran says Chipotle will continue leading the way – through its own locations or imitations – in changing the face of fast food.

Chipotle’s Monty Moran Unwraps the Restaurant’s Success Story [The Street]

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Customer Data May Have Been Exposed By Malware At UPS Stores In 24 States

Some customers of The UPS Store may have had their credit and debit card information exposed by a computer virus found on systems at 51 stores in 24 states.

A spokeswoman for UPS says the information includes names, card numbers and postal and email addresses from about 100,000 transactions between Jan. 20 and Aug. 11.

United Parcel Service Inc. said Wednesday that it was among U.S. retailers who got a Department of Homeland Security bulletin about the malware on July 31. The malware is not identified by current anti-virus software.

The company is not aware of any fraud related to the attack, spokeswoman Chelsea Lee said.

Atlanta-based UPS said it hired a security firm that found the virus in systems at about 1 percent of the company's 4,470 franchised locations. At many stores, the intrusion did not begin until March or April.

Lee said that the problem was fixed by Aug. 11 and the company took additional steps to protect systems at other stores. She said the affected stores were not linked electronically, and UPS is still investigating how they were compromised.

UPS said it is providing identity protection and credit monitoring help to affected customers.

The affected stores were in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

From the company's description, the breach appeared far smaller than one that hit Target Corp. during the holiday-shopping season, when hackers stole credit and debit card information involving millions of customers. Fallout from the incident is still hurting profits. Target, which said Wednesday that second-quarter profit fell 62 percent, has spent $235 million related to the breach, partly offset by $90 million in insurance payments.

The UPS breach won't have a material financial impact on the company, Lee said.

Last week, Supervalu said that hackers might have stolen names, account numbers, expiration dates and other information from card holders who shopped at up to 200 of its grocery and liquor stores. Restaurant operator P.F. Chang's, Goodwill thrift stores and other retailers have been hit by data breaches.

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A list of the 51 locations of The UPS Store where malware was discovered is at www.theupsstore.com/security

Facing Historic Drought, California Lawmakers Vote To Place $7.5 Billion Water Plan On The Ballot

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Driven to action by the state's historic drought, California lawmakers on Wednesday voted to place a $7.5 billion water plan before voters in November.

The measure marks the largest investment in decades in the state's water infrastructure and is designed to build reservoirs, clean up contaminated groundwater and promote water-saving technologies.

It replaces an existing water bond that was approved by a previous Legislature but was widely considered too costly and too bloated with pork-barrel projects to win favor with voters.

After weeks of difficult negotiations, the ballot measure sailed through both houses of the Legislature: 77-2 in the Assembly and 37-0 in the Senate. Republican Tim Donnelly of Twin Peaks and Democrat Wesley Chesbro of Arcata cast the dissenting votes in the Assembly.

Gov. Jerry Brown signed the legislation, AB1471, shortly after the Legislature acted. Citing the overwhelming bipartisan support, the Democratic governor said he probably had never seen Democrats and Republicans so united in his lifetime.

"It's about water, it's about our future, it's about Californians coming together," Brown said.

The evening votes in the Assembly and Senate came after the Democratic governor and lawmakers from both parties were finally able to clear their main hurdle, a disagreement about how much money should be spent on new reservoirs and other storage projects.

A state with a population that exceeds 38 million and an agricultural industry that feeds the nation has been struggling to meet the increasing demands for water after three dry winters.

The push to revamp the 2009 ballot measure, which was $11.1 billion and had been delayed from statewide votes twice, gained momentum as the worst drought in a generation intensified throughout the state. It has forced farmers to fallow fields, led to double-digit unemployment in many rural areas, turned large expanses of reservoirs into mud flats and prompted local governments to mandate water-use restrictions and impose fines for water waste.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said water was something many Californians had previously taken for granted.

"The need is so great in California," he said, referring to the wide margin of support the spending measure enjoyed in the Legislature. "The time is now."

The relatively swift and overwhelming votes for passage in both houses of the Legislature were in contrast to the weeks of difficult negotiations to replace the existing and more costly water bond that already was on the November ballot.

Brown wanted a much smaller bond to attract voters and minimize state debt, while many Democratic lawmakers fought against money for reservoirs and sought strong environmental protections for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The proposal approved Wednesday includes $2.7 billion dedicated to storage projects, which likely would include a new reservoir in what is now a bucolic agricultural valley in Colusa County north of Sacramento and another in the Sierra Nevada northeast of Fresno.

That amount is more than Democrats and the governor had proposed for new reservoirs but less than the $3 billion included in the old ballot measure, which was approved by a previous Legislature in 2009.

The breakthrough on water storage was hailed by Republican lawmakers, who saw it as a top priority. Democratic lawmakers who represent agricultural areas in the Central Valley also pushed for the reservoir funding.

"This now offers us an opportunity to guarantee the future," said Sen. Jim Nielsen, a Republican who represents a largely agricultural region in Northern California that will be home to one of the proposed reservoirs. "This is not about us and not about the next election; it's about our grandchildren."

Numerous agricultural, environmental and business groups quickly endorsed the legislative compromise. The plan includes $7.1 billion in new borrowing and $425 million from previous bonds that would be redirected to the updated water priorities. Redirecting that money requires voter approval.

Provisions in the latest bond proposal involving water recycling and cleanup of contaminated groundwater could increase the availability of water during future droughts. The bond also includes other water projects not directly related to supply, such as watershed improvements and flood management.

Democrats needed Republican support in the Senate but not in the Assembly, where they hold a supermajority. Even so, the governor has said bipartisan support for the bond measure is crucial to show voters that it has wide support.

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, said lawmakers can show a united front and make a strong case to voters that the water plan is worth supporting.

"People should feel a sense of comfort that when you got the boat rowing in the right direction that we are going to be OK, we are going to succeed," she said. "I think we are all going to become cheerleaders for doing the right thing."

Wednesday's scheduled vote was timed to the secretary of state's deadline for printing voter pamphlets, which lawmakers had earlier pushed back by two days.

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Fenit Nirappil can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/FenitN.