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Chipotle and The London Vegetable Orchestra record From Ground to Sound at Abbey Road with instruments made from vegetables

Writer: Thea Chippendale
Thea Chippendale
6 days ago
4 min read
Musicians in a recording studio play vegetables as instruments under microphones, wearing headphones and white shirts.

Key Takeaways

  • Chipotle has released From Ground to Sound, an original track recorded with The London Vegetable Orchestra in Studio Two at Abbey Road Studios.

  • Every instrument was carved from produce served in Chipotle restaurants, including corn flutes, jalapeño trumpets, lettuce percussion and an onion bass.

  • The composition was created by Beacon Street Studios with creative direction from the agency KIDS, after three months of experimentation.

  • The song is streaming on Spotify and Apple Music, with the full film on YouTube, and will continue as a signature sound in select Chipotle campaigns.

Abbey Road's Studio Two has hosted plenty of famous instruments over the decades, although probably none that needed to be recorded before they went soft. Chipotle has taken The London Vegetable Orchestra into the legendary London studio to record From Ground to Sound, an original track played entirely on instruments made from the fresh vegetables the chain serves in its restaurants.


The song is the latest expression of Chipotle's long-standing focus on real ingredients, and it arrives with a short film, a release on the major streaming platforms and a longer job as the brand's new sonic signature. Listeners who caught the end of Chipotle's 100 Creators ads in August have already heard a snippet, as the track was first teased in the final frames of that campaign.

Chipotle and The London Vegetable Orchestra record in Abbey Road's Studio Two with corn flutes, jalapeño trumpets and an onion bass


The London Vegetable Orchestra is a five-member ensemble of classically trained musicians who build and perform with instruments made from food. For this project the band worked only with produce from the Chipotle menu, turning corn into flutes, jalapeños into trumpets and bell peppers and an avocado pit into a horn, while lettuce provided percussion and an onion was used for the bass.


Getting there took around three months and dozens of iterations, with the team testing how corn, jalapeños and bell peppers could produce the right notes and textures. Because fresh produce changes in shape, texture and moisture, the instruments had to be built and played at peak ripeness and stayed usable for less than a day, which turned the Abbey Road session into something of a race against the vegetables themselves. Patrick Johns of The London Vegetable Orchestra explained the challenge by saying, "No two vegetables ever behave exactly the same way. You can carve two identical instruments, but they can respond very differently." He added that "part of the craft is learning not to force an ingredient to sound a certain way, but to find the sound that's already there and build the music around it."


The composition itself was created by Beacon Street Studios, with creative direction from KIDS, and draws its inspiration from the journey of vegetables growing from seeds into nourishment. Icaro Doria, founder and chief creative officer at KIDS, said, "Millions of people know Chipotle's ingredients by how they look, taste and smell. Very few have ever stopped to ask what they sound like. That question led us somewhere no one expected." From Ground to Sound is now available on Spotify and Apple Music, and the full film documenting the recording is on YouTube.


From Ground to Sound becomes Chipotle's signature sound under chief brand officer Fernando Machado after a tease in its 100 Creators ads


Chipotle says it uses 53 real ingredients with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives, and the track is designed to put that claim into an unexpected format. Fernando Machado, chief brand officer at Chipotle, said, "Real food has always been at the center of Chipotle. We use only 53 real ingredients, with fresh preparation happening every day in our restaurants. So we took this principle in a completely new direction, creating our own signature sound." He went on to say, "Any brand can release a song or develop a sound mnemonic. What made this worth pursuing was the chance to create a track that felt impossible to separate from Chipotle itself."


Machado joined Chipotle in April after more than seven years as chief marketing officer at Restaurant Brands International, where he worked on Burger King's Moldy Whopper and Whopper Detour, and Nation's Restaurant News places the song within a louder brand push under his leadership. The 100 Creators campaign that teased the track supported Chipotle's first ever dual limited time launch of Pollo Asado and Chili Lime Chips, handing cameras to 100 creators in restaurants across the US, the UK and Canada to film staff at work without scripts or shot lists.


The orchestra brings its own history to the partnership, having been founded by recorder maker Tim Cranmore after a bet to carve a recorder from a carrot. Active since around 2009, it has appeared on Countryfile and This Morning and performed at Windsor Castle, where King Charles joined in on a carrot recorder, giving the collaboration a musical story that extends well beyond Chipotle's kitchens.



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