I think it's really silly to make this about organic or sustainable ingredients. It's a simple matter of food safety, handling & cooking food correctly. All the talk about "smugness" smacks of ressentiment. Not a good look.
>"Contrary to popular wisdom, organic produce is not pesticide-free. Instead, it’s grown with primitive pesticides that can be significantly more hazardous to humans and to the environment. Organic agriculture also lacks the benefits of the many crops genetically improved with modern molecular techniques, like Bt-corn, which reduces the population of insects that allow toxic molds to infest corn. (Organic corn has higher levels of the toxins produced by these molds.)"
>"Chipotle rejects modern synthetic fertilizers in favor of suppliers who use manure on their crops. This approach may be “all natural” and “organic” and make some customers feel warm and fuzzy, but it should not come as a surprise that applying stool, feces and excrement to growing fruits and vegetables significantly raises the risk of spreading disease. Bruce M. Chassy, food science professor emeritus at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana scoured U.S. Food and Drug Administration data to conclude that organic food is four to eight times more likely to be recalled over safety concerns than conventionally grown products."
Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2015/12/14/chipotle-...
So, perhaps they use superior ingredients but it's immaterial if at the end of the day their food safety suffers. Additionally, it points out that on a good day, local (within 350 miles) supplies only account for 10% of their ingredients and they tend not to advertise the fact that they use the same supply chain economies of scale whereby their beans, meats and salsas are prepared by third parties then shipped to restaurants.
I think its more accurate to say that Chipotle makes a big deal about how its ingredients follow the latest food fashion trends.
Restaurants that process their ingredients in a central kitchen can put ingredients through more aggressive sanitation treatments, and deliver them to stores pre-processed. But, that doesn't come across as particularly fresh or local.
That said, the food IS more wholesome. As long as it stays that way, I will take my chances.
The notion that GMO food should be labeled?
Opposing roundup ready strains (and the like), because it causes super bugs?
Or objections to treating life as IP, because it enables rent seeking, enabling mega corps to further put the squeeze on independent, indigenous farmers?
Farmers whose crops get contaminated by GMO strains, forcing Big Ag to sue them into oblivion, should have done a better job controlling the weather and pollinators?
Maybe you think butterflys are a nuisance and the people that like them are nuts?
Plenty of restaurants, including large chains, are not. They choose to follow (and, at the same time, promote) it, they don't "have to".