Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)

How Curt Garner Built Chipotle’s $5B Digital Commerce Engine

Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)

Show Notes

Most digital transformation stories begin with customer-facing technology. Chipotle’s began by redesigning operations.

In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Curt Garner, President, Chief Strategy & Technology Officer at Chipotle Mexican Grill. Curt shares how Chipotle evolved from accepting fax orders in 2015 to operating a $5 billion digital commerce engine today. He explains why solving operational challenges before customer adoption proved critical to scaling digital growth and how cloud architecture, dedicated digital kitchens, rewards, personalization, and AI-enabled supply chain capabilities continue to drive innovation across the business.

Key topics discussed include:

Building a digital commerce platform capable of operating at web scale

Scaling from 20% to 85% digital ordering during COVID

Designing dedicated digital kitchens to eliminate fulfillment friction

Using rewards and personalization to deepen customer engagement

Applying AI to forecasting, inventory management, and supply chain operations

Balancing technology innovation with human hospitality

This episode is presented by Celonis — Give AI the context it needs. Learn more at celonis.com/technovation

More from Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)

Oct 22, 2026

AI layered onto a broken process doesn’t fix the process; it just runs it faster. Prakash Kota spent his first 18 months at UKG consolidating two legacy companies into unified CRM, ERP, and data systems before any AI conversation began. Now, as Chief Transformation Officer, he is shifting the question from “what tools can we deploy?” to “what outcome are we trying to reach?” That discipline extends to the customer funnel, where AI-assembled signals travel with a prospect through every handoff, and to sales reps, where an autonomous assistant pushes pre-meeting briefs before a rep has to ask, reclaiming the 40–50% of call-prep time currently spent on research.

Oct 19, 2026

The binding constraint on AI adoption is not access to tools. It is the organizational fear and mindset shift required to reimagine work entirely.

Oct 15, 2026

Healthcare has accumulated friction that patients have come to accept as normal. Novant Health’s Chief AI Officer is systematically dismantling it.

Oct 12, 2026

Most generative AI programs stall at the pilot stage. Zoetis reached 95% computer-based colleague adoption.

Oct 9, 2026

The next generation of technology giants may not be built in software. They may be built in factories.

See all episodes →