Chipotle’s new brand chief gave fast-food burgers buzz. Now he’s coming for fast-casual burritos

FastCompany: Chipotle Mexican Grill needed to do something. In February, the fast-casual restaurant brand reported that traffic to its restaurants fell for the fourth straight quarter to end 2025, and it was projecting flat same-store sales growth for 2026. At that point, the company’s stock had dipped by about 33% over the last year. The brand needed a boost, and it just made a major move to get it. Chipotle named award-winning marketer Fernando Machado as its new chief brand officer. Machado’s last CMO role was with plant-based food company NotCo, which he joined in 2023 after two years as CMO at Activision Blizzard.

But he’s best known for his epic run of success—and industry accolades—at Burger King from 2014 to 2020 (the last three years as global CMO for BK parent company Restaurant Brands International). On Chipotle’s latest earnings call on April 29th, CEO Scott Boatwright highlighted Machado as an award-winning, globally-recognized brand leader.

“His proven track record of building iconic brands, driving category-defining innovation and leading customer-centric marketing strategies is exactly what we need as we continue to elevate our brand, deepen guest loyalty, highlight the value of our real food, and accelerate our long-term growth,” said Boatwright. At first glance, hiring a proven and celebrated marketer to reverse a sales slide looks like a no-brainer. But there’s also an argument to be made that Machado’s stunt-heavy strengths are a mismatch for Chipotle’s largely earnest brand image.

Combining the sensibilities that tried to usurp the Belgian monarchy and promote moldy burgers with a brand that makes sincerely sweet animated short films is definitely a risk that Chipotle is hoping will pay off. Let’s break it down. Pushing boundaries Machado believes the greatest risk a marketer can take is producing “flat” or generic work. He has argued that because people are now so good at ignoring the “sea of sameness” across most advertising and marketing, a brand’s first job is to ensure it isn’t ignored. Rule number one: Don’t be dull. To do that, he views risk-taking as a necessity.

For Machado, the biggest barrier to success is not a lack of money, but a company mindset that is afraid of uncertainty. He argues that to achieve significant results, marketers must push boundaries and be willing to fail or face pushback. This approach is clear in past Burger King work that was specifically designed not only to make people laugh but also to attract earned media attention and amplify its reach.

The creative tech utility of 2018’s “Whopper Detour” encouraged people to download the Burger King app by using geofencing to target customers within 600 feet of McDonald’s locations and sending them coupons to neighboring BK locations for a 1 cent Whopper. It got more than 1.5 million app downloads in nine days . The visuals of “Moldy Whopper” in 2020 to promote the chain’s removal of preservatives from its menu; using an ad in 2017 to hack Google Home devices; and putting backyard grills of former McDonald’s execs in 2018 print ads all fit this bill perfectly.

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The appointment of a high-profile brand chief with a proven track record in the fast-food industry is significant for Chipotle's brand strategy, offering fresh insights and approaches that are highly relevant to brand professionals.