Alex Tiso really wanted his college application essay to stand out and his English teacher advised him to write something that no one had done before. So the 18-year-old from New York decided to write about his favorite food - a burrito bowl from Qdoba. He used the layers of his go-to bowl order to describe different aspects of his personality in his essay to his dream school, the University of Delaware. And those 543 words must’ve been impressive because Alex landed a spot there and got the attention of the CEO of Qdoba, too.
After the teen got his acceptance letter to the college, he decided to thank Qdoba for the inspiration. Alex sent a note through the contact form on the restaurant’s website, thinking it would brighten someone’s day to know that their burrito bowls helped get him into his dream school. But he was totally shocked when he got an email back from Keith Guilbault, CEO of Qdoba, just a few hours later.
He congratulated him on being accepted at the school and invited Alex to a Zoom call, where they had a few surprises waiting for him. The CEO told him he wanted to make sure that he wasn’t a starving college student, so they’re giving him a year of free Qdoba bowls.
They’re also naming a burrito bowl after him that’s made with all the ingredients he gets.