10 Chipotle SQL Interview Questions (Updated 2024)

Updated on

October 31, 2024

At Chipotle, SQL is used to analyze customer order patterns to optimize their menu offerings based on what people are actually craving. It also helps in managing supply chain data, allowing them to accurately predict what ingredients they will need to keep their kitchens running smoothly, that is why Chipotle asks SQL query questions during interviews for Data Analytics, Data Science, and Data Engineering jobs.

Thus, to help you prep for the Chipotle SQL interview, we've collected 10 Chipotle SQL interview questions in this blog.

Chipotle SQL Interview Questions

10 Chipotle SQL Interview Questions

SQL Question 1: Identify VIP Customers of Chipotle

Chipotle wants to identify its top customers, or "whale users", who frequently order high amounts. Write a SQL query to identify customers who have made total orders above $500 in the last 12 months.

We will use two tables, and , which have the following schema.

Example Input:

order_idcustomer_idorder_datetotal_amount
101108/10/2021100
102211/15/2021150
103309/20/202180
104107/25/2022250
105107/27/2022200
106308/01/202290

Example Input:

customer_idnameemail
1John Doejohndoe@email.com
2Jane Smithjanesmith@email.com
3Robert Paulrobertpaul@email.com

Answer:


This SQL query first joins the orders and customers table on . It then limits the data to orders from the last year. It then calculates the total amount spent by each customer within that period. The condition ensures we only return customers who have spent more than $500.

To work on a similar customer analytics SQL question where you can solve it interactively and have your SQL solution instantly graded, try this Walmart SQL Interview Question: Walmart Labs SQL Interview Question

SQL Question 2: Department Salaries

You're given a table of Chipotle employee and department salary information. Write a SQL query to find departments where the departments average salary is higher than the company's average salary.

You can solve this problem and run your code right in DataLemur's online SQL environment:

Department vs. Company Salary

The solution is LONG – 30+ lines of SQL. You can find a step-by-step solution here: Department Salaries.

SQL Question 3: How is a foreign key different from a primary key in a database?

To explain the difference between a primary key and foreign key, let's inspect employee data from Chipotle's HR database:

:

employee_idfirst_namelast_namemanager_id
1AubreyGraham3
2MarshalMathers3
3DwayneCarter4
4ShawnCarter

In this table, could be a primary key. It is unique for each row in the table and cannot contain null values.

could be a foreign key. It references the of the manager of each employee in the table, establishing a relationship between the employees and their managers. This foreign key allows you to easily query the table to find out who a specific employee's manager is, or to find out which employees report to a specific manager.

It is also possible for a table to have multiple foreign keys that reference different primary keys in other tables. For example, the table could have additional foreign keys for the of the department where each employee works, and the l of the location where each employee is based.

Chipotle SQL Interview Questions

SQL Question 4: Find Out Monthly Top-Selling Menu Item

You are provided with the sales data of Chipotle restaurants. The data contains each sale's transaction ID, the date of the transaction, the menu item sold, and the number of units sold in each transaction.

Write a SQL query to find out the top-selling menu item for each month.

Example Input:

transaction_idtrans_datemenu_itemunits_sold
716201/04/2022Chicken Burrito12
541201/24/2022Steak Burrito8
128701/30/2022Chicken Burrito10
485102/15/2022Steak Burrito11
659202/21/2022Veggie Bowl13
391803/08/2022Chicken Burrito15
714503/22/2022Steak Burrito10

Answer:


This SQL query groups sales data by month and menu item to calculate the total number of units sold for each menu item in each month. Then, it uses a window function to assign a row number to each row in each partition (i.e., each month), with the ranking ordered by the total number of units sold in descending order. Finally, it only selects the rows where the row number is 1 (i.e., the menu item with the most sales in each month).

Example Output:

monthmenu_itemtotal_units_sold
1Chicken Burrito22
2Veggie Bowl13
3Chicken Burrito15

Pro Tip: Window functions are a frequent SQL interview topic, so practice every window function problem on DataLemur

DataLemur Window Function SQL Questions

SQL Question 5: What's the SQL command do, and when would you use it?

The SQL command merges the results of multiple statements and keeps only those rows that are present in all sets.

For example, say you were doing an HR Analytics project for Chipotle, and had access to Chipotle's employees and contractors data. Assume that some employees were previously contractors, and vice versa, and thus would show up in both tables. You could use operator to find all contractors who also show up in the employees table:


SQL Question 6: Design Chipotle Ingredients and Orders Database

Chipotle is renowned for its build-your-own style burritos, bowls, salads, and tacos. As its Database Engineer, you are to design a database structure to store and handle data about customers, their orders, and ingredients. Furthermore, you've been tasked with writing an SQL query that would provide the top 3 most popular main dish (burrito, bowl, salad, taco) ordered at Chipotle.

The database should contain the following tables;

  1. : keeps track of each customer's data.
  2. : stores information on each order, including the customer ID of the customer that placed the order, and the order date.
  3. : stores the details of each order, including the main dish, and the ingredients included in the order.
  4. : stores data on every ingredient available at Chipotle.

Additionally, implement the necessary relationships among these tables.

Example Input:

customer_idfirst_namelast_nameemailregistration_date
1001JohnDoejohn.doe@example.com01/01/2022
1002JaneDoejane.doe@example.com02/02/2022

Example Input:

order_idcustomer_idorder_date
5001100103/01/2022
5002100203/02/2022

Example Input:

order_idmain_dishingredients
5001BurritoChicken, White Rice, Black Beans, Cheese
5002BowlSteak, Brown Rice, Pinto Beans, Guacamole, Cheese, Sour Cream

Example Input:

ingredient_idingredient_namecalories
2001Chicken180
2002Steak220

Answer:

To find the top 3 most popular main dishes:


The above query will get the count of each unique main dish in the table, order them in descending order, and get the top 3. It will provide Chipotle with insights on their most popular main dishes based on order data.

SQL Question 7: Can you explain the distinction between a left and right join?

A join in SQL combines rows from two or more tables based on a shared column or set of columns. To demonstrate the difference between a and , say you had a table of Chipotle orders and Chipotle customers.

LEFT JOIN: A retrieves all rows from the left table (in this case, the table) and any matching rows from the right table (the table). If there is no match in the right table, values will be returned for the right table's columns.

RIGHT JOIN: A retrieves all rows from the right table (in this case, the table) and any matching rows from the left table (the table). If there is no match in the left table, values will be returned for the left table's columns.

SQL Question 8: Find the average order price at Chipotle

Below is a hypothetical scenario: You are working at Chipotle as a data analyst and asked to calculate the average price of orders for each day of a specific month. Here's some sample data for the problem:

Example Input:

order_idorder_dateprice
101/01/202215.90
201/01/20229.50
301/02/202212.75
401/02/202217.40
501/02/202211.20
601/03/202214.30
701/03/202210.75

Example Output:

order_dateaverage_price
01/01/202212.70
01/02/202213.78
01/03/202212.52

Answer:

We can solve this problem in PostgreSQL using the function to compute the average price over the . Here is a SQL query that would return the desired result:


This query is grouping rows by and then for each group calculates the . The result set will contain a row for every unique with the average price of orders for that day.

To practice a very similar question try this interactive Amazon Highest-Grossing Items Question which is similar for calculating top items by sales or this Alibaba Compressed Mean Question which is similar for calculating averages.

SQL Question 9: Analyzing Click-through-rates for Chipotle's Digital Advertisements

In the context of Chipotle, an acclaimed food chain, imagine they're running a variety of digital advertisements on various platforms. They are interested in understanding the effectiveness of these ads in attracting potential customers to their online ordering platform.

Specifically, they want you to calculate the click-through-rate (CTR) for each ad, which is the number of times an ad is clicked divided by the number of impressions (times the ad is shown). Furthermore, they want you to calculate the conversion rate, which is the number of times an ad click results in an actual purchase.

Two tables are presented below - , representing each time an ad is shown, and , representing each time an ad is clicked and potentially leads to a purchase:

Example Input:

impression_idad_iddate
110108/01/2022
210208/01/2022
310108/01/2022
410308/01/2022
510208/01/2022

Example Input:

click_idimpression_idpurchase
11true
22false
31true
44true
52false

Example Output:

ad_idctrconversion_rate
10166.67100.00
10266.670.00
10333.33100.00

Answer:


This query combines the and tables using a on the . The CTR is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions per ad and multiplying by 100 to get a percent. The conversion rate is calculated by dividing the number of purchases ('true' in the column) by the number of clicks per ad, and again multiplying by 100 to get a percent.

To solve a similar SQL problem on DataLemur's free interactive SQL code editor, try this SQL interview question asked by Facebook:

Facebook Click-through-rate SQL Question

SQL Question 10: Could you provide a list of the join types in SQL and explain what each one does?

In SQL, a join retrieves rows from multiple tables and combines them into a single result set.

Four JOIN types can be found in SQL. For an example of each one, suppose you had a table of Chipotle orders and Chipotle customers.

  1. INNER JOIN: Rows from both tables are retrieved when there is a match in the shared key or keys. An between the Orders and Customers tables would return only rows where the in the Orders table matches the in the Customers table.

  2. LEFT JOIN: A retrieves all rows from the left table (in this case, the table) and any matching rows from the right table (the table). If there is no match in the right table, values will be returned for the right table's columns.

  3. RIGHT JOIN: A combines all rows from the right table (in this case, the table) and any matching rows from the left table (the table). If there is no match in the left table, values will be displayed for the left table's columns.

  4. FULL OUTER JOIN: A combines all rows from both tables, regardless of whether there is a match in the shared key or keys. If there is no match, values will be displayed for the columns of the non-matching table.

How To Prepare for the Chipotle SQL Interview

The best way to prepare for a Chipotle SQL interview is to practice, practice, practice. Besides solving the earlier Chipotle SQL interview questions, you should also solve the 200+ DataLemur interview questions which come from companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and smaller tech companies.

DataLemur SQL Interview Questions

Each interview question has hints to guide you, step-by-step solutions and crucially, there is an online SQL code editor so you can instantly run your SQL query and have it graded.

To prep for the Chipotle SQL interview it is also a great idea to solve SQL problems from other hospitality and restaurant companies like:

But if your SQL foundations are weak, forget about jumping right into solving questions – refresh your SQL knowledge with this free SQL for Data Analytics course.

SQL interview tutorial

This tutorial covers things like joining a table to itself and Union vs. UNION ALL – both of which come up routinely in Chipotle interviews.

Chipotle Data Science Interview Tips

What Do Chipotle Data Science Interviews Cover?

Beyond writing SQL queries, the other question categories to practice for the Chipotle Data Science Interview are:

Chipotle Data Scientist

How To Prepare for Chipotle Data Science Interviews?

To prepare for the Chipotle Data Science interview have a firm understanding of the company's values and company principles – this will be clutch for acing the behavioral interview. For the technical Data Science interviews, prepare by reading Ace the Data Science Interview. The book's got:

  • 201 Interview Questions from tech companies like Google & Microsoft
  • A Crash Course on Stats, SQL & ML
  • Great Reviews (1000+ reviews, 4.5-star rating)

Ace the Data Science Interview Book on Amazon

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