At the Scripps National Spelling Bee near Washington, D.C., in late May, Chipotle brought back the Chipotle Bee, For Real, a fun spelling showdown where kids proved the superiority of real ingredients as the backdrop for the brand’s latest commercial.
In the Chipotle Bee, For Real, young spellers faced off with two very different word lists. One featured complicated, artificial ingredients commonly used by other national restaurant brands —words like sorbitan monostearate, non-chlorofluorocarbon propellant, and pentosanase. The other? Only 53 real, nourishing ingredients found in Chipotle’s food — worlds like cilantro, avocado, tomato and red onion.
“Consumers shouldn’t need a dictionary to understand what’s in their food,” said Chris Brandt, President, Chief Brand Officer, Chipotle. “We use real ingredients you can recognize and feel good about eating because the hardest thing to pronounce at Chipotle is chipotle.”
The Chipotle Bee, For Real included words from Chipotle’s 53 real ingredients and over 50 words of ingredients found in other national restaurant brands with definitions, origins, and sample sentences, echoing the educational spirit of the national competition. Participants earned exclusive Chipotle swag, including custom notebooks wrapped in the brand’s iconic foil, commemorative pins and medals, plus free entree cards to fuel their post-spelling bee celebrations.
This activation is a natural extension of Chipotle’s long-standing commitment to serving food made without artificial flavors, colors or additives, and supports its broader mission of cultivating a better world through real ingredients and real transparency.
The Chipotle Bee, For Real commercial will air across online video and social media channels.
