WEBVTT - CEO Brian Niccol Says Chipotle Navigating Covid Headwinds 0:00:01.800 --> 0:00:04.440 This is Bloomberg Business Week. I'm Karl Masser and I'm 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:07.280 Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stanovik. We're here every day bringing 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:09.799 you the latest news from the world to business and finance, 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:13.680 plus technology, politics, economics, all purtnising the power of Business 0:00:13.680 --> 0:00:17.159 Week reporters and editors, not to mention our journalists and 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:20.000 analyst in more than one twenty countries. You can download 0:00:20.000 --> 0:00:23.239 Bloomberg Business Week and iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot com. 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:25.200 You can also listen to our radio show at two 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:27.760 pm Eastern Time on the Bloomberg Radio or watch us 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:31.360 on YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. Fights are saying the 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:34.240 Coven nineteen shot it's developed with bion Tech was that 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.040 ninety point seven percent effective against symptomatic cases and kids 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:40.920 ages five to eleven. Seven day moving average of DU 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.519 cases has dropped fift in the past week. That's good news, 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:46.160 very good news. That's very good news. In Europe, Germany 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.240 recorded its steepest one day increase though in new coronavirus 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:51.600 cases in more than five months. Meanwhile, a majority of 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.240 Swiss are seen backing a law allowing the government to 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.560 issue COVID nineteen certificates for entry into theaters and restaurants 0:00:57.600 --> 0:00:59.680 ahead of a national vote. All right, so let's get 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:02.040 to it. Let's get our weekly check with Dr Ian Lesbata, 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.040 clinical professor of medicine at n y U Lango's Medical Center. 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:07.600 He joins us now on the phone from New York City, 0:01:07.640 --> 0:01:09.959 Dr Lesbador, Happy Friday. It's good to have you back 0:01:10.040 --> 0:01:12.880 with us. The CDC backing boosters from J and J 0:01:12.959 --> 0:01:16.600 and MODERNA. Uh. We're also learning that people can choose 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:19.040 a shot that's different from their original one. Caroline, I 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:23.880 have been talking look full disclosure. We're emailing each other 0:01:23.880 --> 0:01:25.679 about like, Okay, what newser we're gonna get, How are 0:01:25.680 --> 0:01:29.200 we gonna do this? Help give us some guidance here hopefully. 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:33.280 Good Happy Friday, guys. Definitely, Uh, lots of news on 0:01:33.319 --> 0:01:35.759 all the fronts. Not safe to go to a party, 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:39.360 it seems, without without potential risk. That's a good point. 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:43.720 So be course. Delta, you know, has arrived and mutated 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:48.440 in the original Alpha VIC scenes, although pretty effective, over time, 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.560 have sort of waned. Obviously, there's been this whole debate 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:56.520 and studies, but finally the CDC has come out with recommendations. 0:01:56.520 --> 0:02:00.120 So certainly for the people who received the Fightser and 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:04.000 maderna two shot regimen. Uh. If it's been six months 0:02:04.040 --> 0:02:08.400 after those, uh, the second shot, you're eligible for a booster. 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:11.560 Those are people sixty five and older. Uh. Those are 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:16.279 people eighteen and older who have either underlying medical conditions 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:19.920 or live or work in a high risk setting like healthcare. 0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.320 You may consider your office a high risk setting possibly, 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:28.000 but officially we're talking you know, first responders, healthcare providers, 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:32.680 teachers in school, prison settings, manufacturing. There's really a very 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:34.880 wide list and there's a bit of a wide list 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:39.680 of the underlying medical conditions. So basically, de facto, most people, 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:43.000 if you're above eighteen, would be eligible after six months 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:47.119 for a booster, and J and J somewhat similar. That's 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:51.079 a two month window. Uh. That's eighteen and older. Uh, 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.960 that's about fifteen million people who are eligible because they 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:59.160 received the first shot, so uh, and the second shots. 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.160 Really that the third shots can be mixed and match. 0:03:02.280 --> 0:03:05.120 You know, the data is having two different kinds of 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:09.519 vaccines seems to really increase antibodies. So at this point 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.680 it's certainly reasonable to take a third vaccine of whatever 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.640 the first two you've had. UM, although if that's not available, 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.400 or for a variety of reasons you want to switch 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:22.480 to another one. It's probably perfectly fine to do that. Well, 0:03:22.720 --> 0:03:25.440 let's talk about that, should we. Some are saying that 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.120 there might be benefits to mixing and matching. Tell us 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:31.880 what's your take or what is the advice that you 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:33.919 guys are following so far? When it comes to that, 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:35.600 it sounds like they want to do mix and match 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.200 so that you don't feel like if if you've had 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:40.080 fiser and all, you can get access to as Maderna 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.160 as a booster to not walk away from it. Um. 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.680 But but what should we understand about mix and matches? 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:47.800 It a good thing to do or it doesn't really matter. 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:51.640 It probably is actually a good thing to do. It 0:03:52.560 --> 0:03:56.640 exposes your immune system to a slightly different UH in 0:03:56.680 --> 0:03:59.760 a sort of variant or vehicle. Certainly, the people who 0:04:00.200 --> 0:04:02.760 J and J, it does seem that getting a messenger 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:06.640 or an a vaccine really boost their immunity more vigorously. 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:08.720 So you if you had J and J and you 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:10.760 want another J and J, you could certainly do that. 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:12.720 But if you take any of the m R n 0:04:12.720 --> 0:04:16.039 A s you certainly get a bigger boost out of that, uh, 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:18.800 and that also looks like for the fiser and Maderna 0:04:18.880 --> 0:04:21.960 that if you do kind of switch those, it looks 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:23.920 like you may get a bit of a boost to 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.000 What we don't really have is long term data, right, 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:33.359 so we do know these uh improvements in protection certainly 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.160 go out about the study length, which is about fifteen 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.280 to twenty nine days, So certainly for a while you're 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:44.520 very protected, much decreased infection and transmissibility. We don't really 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.960 know six months from now what that will be. We 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:50.039 think it's going to be effective and there's probably some 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.599 T cell and memory cell boost. Hopefully COVID will be 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.520 winding down in the United States after the next six months, 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.240 so it will give you some protection along the way, 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:03.040 but also important to stay healthy, lose weight, control the diabetes, 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:06.440 control your blood pressure. You know, take supplements like vitamin 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:09.080 D if you're low. So there are other approaches, but 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:13.039 in general it would make sense to switch if you can, 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:15.400 but there's no harm in taking the third of what 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.680 you've already taken. Okay, some some very helpful information there. Hey, 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:20.880 Dr Lesbia, you said hopefully COVID will wind down over 0:05:20.880 --> 0:05:22.880 the next six months. What do you think it will 0:05:22.920 --> 0:05:25.320 look like it goes as it goes from pandemic to endemic. 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:29.400 You're exactly right, endemic. I think we'll be having cases 0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.960 UM sporadically. We do have some data about vaccines for 0:05:33.040 --> 0:05:36.480 kids five to eleven as well. Again, those are small studies, 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:39.200 two thousand studies. You know whether or not that will 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:41.880 make a big difference in in the endemic nature, we 0:05:41.920 --> 0:05:44.400 don't know, But I think hopefully we'll have either some 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:48.240 treatments UM and hopefully as resistant builds. From a herd 0:05:48.279 --> 0:05:51.520 immunity point of view, there may be cases of COVID 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:54.400 and obviously if we have home test kits that would 0:05:54.400 --> 0:05:56.520 be great. If you think you're sick and it turns 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:59.440 out positive, please don't go to work. So I think 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:01.640 we'll be able to live with this, and hopefully it 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:04.960 will be even less damaging than the flu, which does 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:08.720 have a mortality of about fifty per year. Yeah, all right, 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:10.680 I'm gonna leave it on that note. Hey, Ian, have 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:12.599 a great week. Dr Ian los pad Or, a clinical 0:06:12.640 --> 0:06:14.679 professor of medicine at and Why you land on medical 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:16.320 center on the phone from New York City? So what 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:19.200 would you do then? In a booster would you flip. Yeah, 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:21.760 I think I'd flip. You'd flip, Yeah, I mean I 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:26.680 got fier and modern is all the rage now with 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:30.720 the Delph Brake Maderna is all the brage. I'm gonna 0:06:30.720 --> 0:06:33.400 get T shirts printed up. All right, you're listening to Bloomberg. 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:38.160 This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:42.560 Quick Takes Tim Stinovich from Bloomberg Radio. Once we start 0:06:42.600 --> 0:06:44.440 talking about this story, you're gonna understand why it is 0:06:44.520 --> 0:06:46.640 the most right story on the Bloomberg Today. And if 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.680 you're looking for access to West Point General's confidential support 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.839 groups and private getaways, Tim, We've got the place for you. Yeah, 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:56.200 you probably should be a billionaire, pretty close to a billionaire. 0:06:56.320 --> 0:06:58.960 Well maybe not that might. It's not a guarantee. It's 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:01.720 not a guarantee. I won't not guaranteed. To get in 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:04.359 to give us all the details, is Suzanne Willie, personal 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:07.480 finance reporter at Bloomberg New She's with us in the 0:07:07.480 --> 0:07:12.880 Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio. It's called our three sixty. What 0:07:13.040 --> 0:07:18.960 is it. It's a very exclusive new membership organization for 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.600 people who have at least a hundred million in net worth, 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.240 although the average of the forty eight members right now 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.920 is about two hundred million UM. And it's this sort 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:30.800 of mish mush of things. It's a it's like a 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:34.600 pure to pair learning network, but it's also an investment network, 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:38.880 and it's it's sort of a taking more holistic view 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:41.080 of your wealth. And you go on this three year 0:07:41.200 --> 0:07:45.560 journey quote air quotes, journey that costs hundred and eighty 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:47.800 thousand dollars for you and your family. You know, that 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:51.840 doesn't seem that expensive considering if you're a million How much? Yeah, 0:07:51.840 --> 0:07:53.520 because if you think about it from the perspective, Okay, 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.440 well how much your expensive? Okay, Tim, Well, well, I 0:07:56.480 --> 0:07:58.400 mean how much I meet My mind when I was 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:00.280 reading this this morning, my mind to media started wise 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.880 right right, Yeah, And that's like you know their country 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:05.720 clubs that cost that much? Yeah, well, you do pay 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:07.120 more for if you want to go on, you know, 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:11.880 the private trip to Richard Branson's Necker Island or which happened? 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:16.760 Which happened? Tennis played some talis with Branson. Tell us 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:19.840 about the individual who who created this, what was the 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.440 idea of thinking, and how maybe it's kind of representative 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.800 of our times perhaps it's interesting UM. A man named 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:29.560 Charles Garcia started it UM. He's an entrepreneur and has 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:33.080 been in a lot of different networks UM, including Tiger 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.880 twenty one, which is a very well known network. And 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:39.480 he was at the Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative where you 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:41.200 go for ten months and you sort of create a 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:43.640 project and develop it with a lot of the professors there, 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:47.440 and he came up with this idea for our three 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:50.679 sixty as a way to sort of get together a 0:08:50.679 --> 0:08:52.960 lot of like minded people with a lot of wealth 0:08:53.200 --> 0:08:56.040 who can learn from each other because you know, the 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.200 rich do have different problems than you and me. But 0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:02.880 it's interesting too because it's isn't just professional problems? Is 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.640 it personal problems? Are they? It's three six it's everything 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.760 it is. You know, they talk about having like six 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:11.880 areas of capital that you're going to focus on over 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.960 that three year journey. So you have it spells fishes. 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:23.360 It's financial, intellectual, spiritual, human, emotional authority, and social um 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.360 fishes and so you sort of, UM, you're trying to 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:30.480 gain mastery over all these six areas, and you're doing 0:09:30.480 --> 0:09:33.800 that in workshops, would say, like meetings of fifteen of 0:09:33.840 --> 0:09:37.080 your like minded peers, none from the same company or 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.520 you know, industry, so that you can be very um open. 0:09:41.040 --> 0:09:42.920 But it is it's talking about you. I mean, it 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:44.520 could be work, it could be a lot of the 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:47.240 talk is about children people who have come into wealth. 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.600 A lot of these people are entrepreneurs who sort of 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:52.440 suddenly became wealthy, and they don't want their children to 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:56.480 be corrupted. One interesting thing about this was how this 0:09:56.559 --> 0:10:00.320 is set up as an entity, a limited partnership with 0:10:00.360 --> 0:10:03.600 partners contributing three thousand dollars each. But the idea is 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:07.800 that it'll never be sold. And as you report, they 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:10.920 want this to be around a century or two from now. Right. 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:14.240 They have very grand visions of what they hope to 0:10:14.280 --> 0:10:18.040 do with this group. Um it's forty eight members and 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.200 they own I guess about six of the of our 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:25.040 three sixty and um it's sort of unique and being 0:10:25.120 --> 0:10:28.000 member owned like that, and the members themselves are creating 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:31.200 the programming. Although they're also creating programming wing with a 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.040 lot of elite universities, you know, Harvard, Stanford, m I, 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:40.400 t UM, special programs made just for their members. UM. 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.240 But it's um, yeah, it's it's a unique it's a 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.440 unique structure. Well, and I'm curious about, okay, if it 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:49.839 is truly representative of our times. I mean, we we've 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:51.800 talked about how much wealth creation, but I think about 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.000 diversity inclusion, like, are they approaching I mean, if you 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.640 really want to get smarter thought, most people would say 0:10:57.640 --> 0:11:00.319 you have to have diverse thought and inclusive thought. That's true. 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:02.240 I mean, I think it is indicative of our of 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:04.680 our times, just because there's so much wealth and the 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:07.520 gaps between like the merely wealthy and the super wealthy 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:12.120 are growing. Um. And they do have a special focus 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:16.040 they say on women. Um, women will get a massive 0:11:16.120 --> 0:11:19.760 wealth transfer um in years from now. Um. So they 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:25.240 have there's a Women's committee, there's a Rising Generation Committee 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:30.240 of young you know leaders. Um. I think they have 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:33.360 a diversity of thought, but they're you know, they're all very, very, 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:36.640 very wealthy. Yeah, there's still a comic commonality. What about 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.680 when it comes to access to deals or deal flow 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:43.199 and actually having opportunities to get in on something. Yeah, 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:44.760 that's a big part of it. It's a big part 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.280 of any network, you know, Tiger twenty one, there's a 0:11:47.280 --> 0:11:49.480 lot of that there. And these are people who see 0:11:49.520 --> 0:11:52.360 a lot of deals, you know, So what they're doing 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:55.760 is there. You know, people can present deals, but they 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:58.160 want to be very disciplined about it, so they put 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:00.640 it through a very rigorous checklist. They are the members 0:12:00.679 --> 0:12:03.679 form an investment committee and they go through a checklist 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.200 of supposally a hundred different things, and then they send 0:12:06.200 --> 0:12:08.439 it out to an outside due diligence firm to look 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.800 at sort of operationally as you know, up to snuff 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:15.559 and financially, and then the member can propose a phone 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:18.000 call and any member who wants to can call in. 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.080 But they have, like many places, they have a really 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:25.000 an emphasis on non solicitation because people just hate being 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:26.800 I mean, you know, we'd love to get into some 0:12:26.840 --> 0:12:29.040 of these deals, right, but you know, if you're very wealthy, 0:12:29.040 --> 0:12:31.320 you're bombarded with deals all the time. Well, I also 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:33.240 like to you talked I think a little bit about 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:35.960 generational wealth, right, and you can actually make was it 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.320 a film or a book about that? To me is interesting. 0:12:39.480 --> 0:12:41.360 I think it's kind of cool. Yeah, you could. They 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.600 have a document they have a full time filmmaker on staff, 0:12:45.280 --> 0:12:48.160 and you get a documentary made. And the point is, 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.440 you know, you want influence to be a good sort 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:55.439 of capital there. They say, you want to influence generations 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.000 that are to come that our benefits, that will benefit 0:12:58.040 --> 0:13:00.079 from your wealth. But they will never know you, and 0:13:00.120 --> 0:13:01.760 they will never know where the money came from and 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.080 the work that it took and how many people were involved. 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.600 So it's partly, you know, a document to create your legacy, 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:12.400 and then you'll work on it over this three year journey, 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:14.880 and at the end of the journey, presumably you will 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:17.440 have a clear sense of your purpose in life and 0:13:17.600 --> 0:13:19.280 the good you want to do in the world, and 0:13:19.280 --> 0:13:22.079 you'll finish them. Perhaps somebody's listening right now, they're saying, 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.600 I got a few hundred million dollars. I'm interested in 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:29.160 the fishes idea. How do I get in? Sorry, you 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:33.320 can't get in because we're done, because well no they're not. 0:13:33.360 --> 0:13:35.800 You can get in, okay, but but it's invitation only. 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.000 So the fifty members that are there now they can 0:13:39.040 --> 0:13:41.280 each invite two people. They only want to get fifty 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:47.480 people a year. No offense forgive me. But so right 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:51.439 now it's just um, you know when you did, We've 0:13:51.480 --> 0:13:53.360 just got about twenty five seconds left. Suzanne. When you 0:13:53.360 --> 0:13:54.719 when you started working in the story what is it 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:57.720 that you really wanted to know about it? Guy just 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.960 wanted to know what they were going to learn from 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.360 each other, you know, and what was the real demand. 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.080 And it was interesting to hear a lot of it 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.800 just being about children, which isn't really surprising, but a 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:16.560 lot about as if to protect your children from sort 0:14:16.559 --> 0:14:20.440 of being I don't know, corrupted by my wealth. Yeah, right, 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:22.480 we've seen it. There's certainly been lots of real life 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:24.800 stories of it. Um great read most right story on 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:27.200 the Bloomberg sits Annualie, thank you so much. She's personal 0:14:27.240 --> 0:14:30.800 finance reporter here at Bloomberg News in our interactive broker's studio. 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:38.200 I'll do it. It's just saying you're listening to Bloomberg 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:41.920 Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:45.920 Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, I mentioned to Potle, Mexican 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.440 grill stocks down about three point two percent today. Company 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:52.800 reported earnings after the close last night's sales last quarter, 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:56.240 topping Alice estimates to Potle benefited from price increases and 0:14:56.280 --> 0:14:59.040 digital ordering, along with vaccination efforts that really help bring 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:02.120 customers back into the stores. Let's get to it. Stuck 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:05.720 by the way up about so far in one great 0:15:05.760 --> 0:15:07.680 to have back with us the chairman CEO of Chipotle, 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:11.400 Brian nicol. He is joining us from Newport Beach, California. Brian, 0:15:11.440 --> 0:15:12.560 you know what we all want to know is did 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.640 you just have a smoke brisket sandwich because they seem 0:15:14.720 --> 0:15:19.160 to be so in demand. Well, actually, I just had 0:15:19.200 --> 0:15:24.560 a smoke brisket case. We knew it, and we're jealous. 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:27.720 We're gonna talk. We're gonna talk about this. Listen. What 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:30.080 I love about talking to you is you have been 0:15:30.120 --> 0:15:33.200 in the consumer space, the restaurant space for a while. 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:36.240 You are at Procton Gamble for ten years. You uh 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:40.120 moved up the channel at Taco Bell, eventually becoming president CEO. 0:15:40.160 --> 0:15:43.680 You really repositioned that company. You understand this space. What's 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:45.640 it like to be a CEO in this space when 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:48.920 you're still dealing with the pandemic, You're dealing with labor inflation, 0:15:49.000 --> 0:15:52.400 wage inflation, and commodity inflation. How tough is it and 0:15:52.440 --> 0:15:57.680 how tough is this environment? Well? Look, you know one 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.360 thing that's I've learned early in my career and still 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:03.800 stands today is you've got to have a strong brand 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.920 that stands for something in the consumer's mind to navigate 0:16:07.960 --> 0:16:11.440 all those headwinds that you just mentioned. And we're pretty fortunate. 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:14.880 You know, Chipotle has always stood for food with integrity, 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:17.160 and then when you peel that back, you know, we 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:22.680 provide great culinary, tremendous customization really you know, I think 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.920 world class access, and then you know, you roll that 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:28.480 all together and we've got a really strong value proposition. 0:16:28.560 --> 0:16:31.640 So our brand has stayed really strong throughout all this, 0:16:31.840 --> 0:16:34.520 and we're really fortunate that, you know, we've got a 0:16:34.520 --> 0:16:38.400 brand that really resonates with consumers and resonates with our employees. 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:40.440 But if I had to ask you to characterize the 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:43.280 environment what we're what we'd would you use? Brian? Is 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.880 it tough? Yeah, it's tough. You know, it's definitely tough. 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.640 You you've got to make sure that you know, you've 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:52.520 got clear strategies. You have to make sure that everybody's 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:56.680 executing on all cylinders. And I'm really proud of our team. 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:59.359 You know, I think our results speak for our strategies 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.120 and our execute and the caliber of the people that 0:17:02.200 --> 0:17:04.800 we have across our organization. Um, it's and I don't 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.200 think it's gonna get any easier here going forward. Well, Brian, 0:17:07.240 --> 0:17:09.800 you mentioned the power of the Chipotle brand when it 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:12.640 comes to how consumers think about it. How much pricing 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:16.520 power do you have to actually pass along higher costs 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.960 that your experience, whether they're labor costs or commodity costs 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:23.840 onto consumers. Yeah, you know, we we look at that 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:27.280 both in the past, right, We have had to take 0:17:27.320 --> 0:17:30.280 some price recently, um, and we were fortunate to have 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.520 such a strong value proposition that we didn't really see 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:37.520 any resistance from consumers. We continue to attract closely what 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:41.040 our value proposition looks like, and we continue have a 0:17:41.080 --> 0:17:45.240 really strong value uh score with consumers. And you know, 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:46.920 a lot of people ask me, what does that really mean? 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.240 You know, the way I bring it to light, a 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.840 chicken burrito or a chicken bowl, which is the number 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:55.640 one thing we sell, it's still less than eight dollars. 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:58.439 And so when you stop and think about the you know, 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:02.320 the culinary, the quality you of those ingredients, the customization 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.240 of the meal for less than eight dollars, you're hard 0:18:05.240 --> 0:18:07.879 pressed to find that anywhere else. And that is what 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:09.840 we mean by hey, we get we've got a tremendous 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.520 value proposition, and we still have lots of pricing power 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:17.159 moving forward. So you know, as I've said many times before, 0:18:17.560 --> 0:18:19.480 it's really the last thing we like to pull. We 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:23.600 prefer you get the growth, find ways to cut costs 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.360 to really be efficient. But if we need to use 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.119 the pricing lever, we do it. We've done it in 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.640 the past. We're pretty judicious with it, uh and fortunately 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.280 we've navigated it really well well given the challenging environment 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.840 that you describe to us, when realistically could you see 0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:43.480 yourself raising prices again, you know, it's something that we're 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:47.040 looking at right now. We traditionally always evaluate near the 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:49.119 end of the year what do we think inflation is 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:52.440 gonna look like for you know, wages and a lot 0:18:52.480 --> 0:18:55.800 of our other input costs, So we always look at that. 0:18:56.000 --> 0:18:58.720 And then obviously in this environment right now, there's a 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:02.199 lot of things that have been unexpected. Right Freight is 0:19:02.240 --> 0:19:06.879 really high. We believe that's going to be temporary. Versus wages, 0:19:07.160 --> 0:19:09.119 I think are going to continue to have some additional 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:11.639 upward movement. Um, so we've got to figure out how 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:13.800 to balance that. But you know, we're trying to figure 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:15.200 out what is the priceing we want to take to 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:18.560 cover things that are permanent versus the things that are temporary, 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:21.400 and then balance that with you know, we have tremendous 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:22.639 growth in front of us, so we want to make 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:25.240 sure we're leveraging the growth to offset some of these 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:27.440 costs to UM, because at the end of it comes 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:29.959 back to I want people feeling great about the chicken 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:31.840 burrito that they buy from us. You know, I want 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:33.800 them all we're saying, well, I got a lot more 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:37.040 for my money than any place else when it comes 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.480 to picking a great meal. Hey, if we may just 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:41.680 when we're question on prices, Brian, I mean, I think 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:43.919 you guys raise prices menu prices by as much as 0:19:43.920 --> 0:19:45.960 four percent earlier in the year. So if we think 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:48.600 about what you might raise prices by, do you have 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:50.919 a number that's kind of being talked about at the 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:53.240 at the company that you guys are just bouncing around. 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:57.040 You know, I think we've been pretty consistent. We we 0:19:57.119 --> 0:20:00.760 usually take about two to three percent UM, and you know, 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:03.120 we take a look at as I mentioned, all those 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:07.640 other variables to help us inform what that should look like. UM. 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:09.879 You know, whether or not it's gonna be necessary to 0:20:09.920 --> 0:20:13.040 go beyond that that's what we're waiting to try and understand. So, 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:15.800 you know, the good news is we've got the strength 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:19.360 of you know, a really powerful brand with I think 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.280 excellent results. That gives us the flexibility on the timing 0:20:22.440 --> 0:20:24.720 of how we phase in pricing if we need to 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:27.520 go beyond the two or three percent that we've taken historically. 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:29.919 One of the challenges that many companies like yours are 0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:32.240 facing right now is labor. We talked about it so 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:34.199 much at Bloomberg and our audience is really familiar with 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:37.280 the challenges that companies are facing. How is staffing right now? 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:39.320 What percent are you staffed? If you think about open 0:20:39.320 --> 0:20:43.040 positions that you have at restaurants throughout the country. Yeah, 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.520 we're we're pretty fortunate. Um, you know, back in I 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:50.320 guess it was like March April earlier this year, staffing 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:53.000 was really challenging. Uh, you know, it kind of was 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:56.720 one of those scenarios where as our dining rooms reopened, 0:20:56.720 --> 0:21:00.280