Chipotle is partnering with Palantir on a food safety risk platform, according to screenshots reviewed by WIRED. The system runs on Palantir's flagship software platform, Foundry. It appears to weigh factors including a store's health department scores, pest incidents, and employee illnesses to produce a food safety score representing that location's risk level. Chipotle spokesperson Erin Wolford confirmed the initiative but declined to comment further, and Palantir did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is not known when the partnership began or how broadly the platform has been deployed. The arrangement surfaces during a difficult stretch for food safety in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration has identified more than 12,800 illnesses tied to foodborne outbreaks so far this year, most of them from a large cyclospora outbreak linked to iceberg lettuce.
Chipotle was not directly affected by that outbreak or the recall that followed, because it does not serve iceberg lettuce. In July, the chain proactively stopped serving jalapenos from a specific supplier tied to a salmonella outbreak that ultimately sickened more than 430 people.
Palantir already has a substantial food-and-beverage business. Its customers include poultry and beef supplier Tyson, cereal maker General Mills, and the independent purchasing cooperative for the fast-food chain Wendy's. Foundry can be used to manage inventory, automate ordering and delivery, and track supply chains. At Wendy's, the software is used to identify possible ingredient shortages before they happen.
Corporate clients now generate nearly half of Palantir's US business. In August, the company reported US commercial revenue of $764 million in its most recent quarter, a 149 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. Palantir has also taken on government supply chain and food safety work, including a $22 million contract with the FDA in 2022.
Palantir is still best known for other government contracts, among them work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. Last year, ICE awarded Palantir a $30 million contract to build a surveillance platform that provided visibility on people self-deporting. That history could prove sensitive in the restaurant industry, where immigrants make up roughly a fifth of the workforce. Chipotle fired hundreds of workers who were ineligible to work in the US in 2010 and 2011, after an ICE audit.
In 2025, Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright said it would be naive to think the Trump administration's immigration crackdown would not affect the chain's employees, whether directly or psychologically. He described it as an important moment to check in with everyone in the organization and ask how they were doing and whether there was anything the company could do to help or support them.
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