Pawan “PJ” Badisa and Gators Football both won big Saturday.
The Gators kept their winning streak, and Badisa got free Chipotle burritos.
Badisa, a 19-year-old UF accounting sophomore, was one of three students who won a year’s supply of burritos after having his sign with his Chipotle order and Instagram username on ESPN’s College GameDay.
Their campaign initially said up to 10 people could win free Chipotle for showing a sign with their order on the show.
Badisa woke up at 6 a.m. and went to the Plaza of the Americas, where ESPN filmed. He held a sign with his usual Chipotle order written on it. Soon after he was on TV, Badisa received an Instagram message from Chipotle.
“Saw your sign on GameDay!” The message read. “What’s your order? We’ll have it ready for you after the game!”
Badisa responded to the message with his order and was told he won free Chipotle burritos for a year.
He immediately posted a screenshot of Chitpotle’s message on his Instagram, and his friends responded.
“Everyone started texting and joking to me about getting them free burritos,” he said. “I’m still in shock that I get free Chipotle for a year.”
He met with Chipotle employees by Century Tower who told him that the reward, 52 free burritos for the next year, was automatically added to his Chipotle account.
“I’ve been eating Chipotle every Sunday,” he said. “So I’ll probably continue to do that.”
This contest was to highlight Chipotle’s new delivery service, said Sara Putnam, an account executive at Burson Cohn & Wolfe, Chipotle’s public relations agency.
“By bringing delivery to college students who got their order signs on TV, it was a fun and engaging way to get the word out that Chipotle delivers,” she said.
The last free burrito giveaway the company did was through TikTok. Participants were asked to post a Chipotle related TikTok on Twitter, and the five most retweeted videos were awarded with free burritos for a year, said Putnam.
“Chipotle does its best to reward loyal customers as much as possible,” she said.
Pawan Badisa (right) poses with the Chipotle given to him at Century Tower after his sign was shown on ESPN's College GameDay. He received a DM from Chipotle letting him know his order was waiting for him at the tower and that he would be given free Chipotle for a year.
Nora O'Neill is a fourth-year journalism and philosophy student and the Enterprise Editor for The Alligator. She previously served as the Avenue Editor and the business and economics beat reporter. In her free time you can find her reading books with no plot and abusing her Chemex.
