DENVER INC.: Grazing in Spain with Chipotle

Gil Rudawsky and Jane Hoback

Friday, May 16, 2008

Watershed School

Sixth-graders from Watershed School visit Google campus.

Together at last: Celebrity chef Mario Batali. The New York Times food critic Mark Bittman. Actress and former macrobiotic food fanatic Gwyneth Paltrow. And . . . Chipotle Mexican Grill.

The Denver-based chain is a main sponsor of Spain . . . On the Road Again scheduled to debut on PBS this fall, according to AdAge.com. The show follows Paltrow, Batali and Bittman as they eat their way across Spain.

The series marks Chipotle's first foray into television advertising, but don't look for Paltrow - or Batali or Bittman, for that matter - to show up in any TV commercials. "We've been very careful not to do celebrity endorsements," Jim Adams, executive vice president-marketing, told AdAge.com.

Still, sponsoring a tony program on public television could be a smart move for the chain, which touts its naturally raised meat, organic beans and rBGH-free dairy products.

Bush's last bottle

The historic Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs can lay claim to many things, not least of which is the collection of 1,142 bottles dating to 1801 in the hotel lobby, according to Virtuoso Life magazine. Many of the bottles were signed by the guests who drank from them.

Among them: "George W. Bush's signature on a bottle from his 40th birthday, reportedly the last time he imbibed," the magazine said.

Ogling Google

Don't tell sixth-graders at Boulder's Watershed School that Google is turning into a lumbering corporate giant.

The nine students at the private school were in the Bay Area to attend a conference and were invited to the Googleplex campus. They were given free lunch in exchange for offering their take on Google Apps technology, which handles everything from inter-office communication and attendance to document creation.

Videotaped interviews showed the students with product managers from Google Docs, Google Apps, Google Apps for Education and Product Marketing.

"One of our sixth-grade students even alerted the product manager for Google Docs of a yet-unknown bug in the software, and we should see the bug fixed on his behalf soon," said Watershed technology coordinator Cory Pavicich.

The students got a taste of corporate life, Google style. They received Google T-shirts and a behind-the-scenes Googleplex tour - complete with "awesome employee perks," including a swimming pool, full-size bronze T-rex skeleton, high-tech toilets and a cafeteria providing free food for the asking.

Assistant Business Editor Jane Hoback and Deputy Metro-Business Editor Gil Rudawsky write about local business news that doesn't necessarily end up in quarterly reports. They can be reached at business@RockyMountainNews.com.