Chipotle has a history of supercharging its superfans through content, products, and actions that make fans feel seen. And in 2023, Chipotle zeroed in on the ultimate fan truth:

Everyone steals Chipotle napkins.

Literally.

Everyone.

From mukbangers to office workers, if you walk into a Chipotle restaurant, odds are you’re walking out with a stack of Chipotle napkins.

Rather than ask fans to stop taking more than they need, we created the Chipotle Napkin Holder: a sustainable, vegan cactus leather Napkin Holder. This limited edition sun visor retailed for $30 USD, and included a free meal, giving fans an excuse to come in and restock their supply.

We set out to make fans feel seen and supported. And our Napkin Holder did just that—selling out the full run of 1,000 units in just under an hour, creating unprecedented demand and driving additional hype on social.

Chipotle has a history of supercharging its superfans through content, products, and actions that make fans feel seen. And while in the past we’ve created products that celebrate fans’ unique tastes and behaviors, this year we gave fans the one thing they didn’t know they needed: The Chipotle Napkin Holder. A custom designed limited edition sun visor designed to hold their stolen Chipotle Napkins, getting them out of the glove compartment and putting them within reach.

We launched this product exclusively on social, primarily targeting TikTok and Instagram, putting it alongside the influencers and fans who needed it most: mukbang creators and Chipotle superfans. Within under an hour, we had sold out of our initial run of 1,000 Napkin Holders.

Chipotle fans are constantly seen enjoying Chipotle in their UGC TikTok mukbangs and tagging the brand in photos of stolen napkins on social media.

And with more than 3.5 million Mukbang posts, TikTok is the home of the mukbang. So we partnered with the queen of mukbangs, Shari Dyonne. She went live for 20 minutes on Chipotle’s account, filming a mukbang with her go-to Chipotle order and showing off her brand new Chipotle Napkin Holder, gifting Napkin Holders to lucky fans in the comments.

Additionally we built on existing Chipotle UGC featuring a real fan stealing a fat stack of Chipotle napkins. We stitched that video, showing another hand grabbing their own stack of napkins and bringing them to the car to reveal their Chipotle Car Napkin Holder.

We launched on social, keeping focus on Chipotle fans by stitching an existing piece of Chipotle UGC featuring a real fan stealing a fat stack of Chipotle napkins. For the announcement post, we created content continuing that story, seeing another hand grab their own stack of napkins and bring them to the car to reveal their Chipotle Car Napkin Holder. This video was posted on both Instagram and TikTok, outperforming benchmarks on both platforms.

Furthermore, we announced that the Napkin Holder was on sale with a lifestyle photo shoot carousel on Instagram, clearly showing off the Napkin Holder’s function as well as educating potential buyers on how to use it. Within 55 mins of posting, we were completely sold out.

We created a product that seamlessly integrated Chipotle into the ongoing mukbang trend on TikTok, putting the Chipotle brand front and center for future mukbang content as well as driving consideration and sales for future meals. Our Chipotle Napkin Holder sold out within 55 minutes of launch and our announcement post explaining the product was Chipotle’s highest performing social media post of 2023, collecting more than 1 million likes.

From comments to replies to eBay relistings, fan demand has been a constant reminder of brand love. By creating this insight-driven product, we reinforced that Chipotle not only sees its fans but knows what will excite them, giving them new ways to express their Chipotle-love—and keeping our brand in the spotlight in their UGC content and leaving them with an appetite for more.