Chipotle Drive-Throughs Open a Window of Opportunity

When Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. reports earnings Tuesday afternoon, the burrito chain’s digital prowess will likely be on display, with strong online ordering helping it turn in another quarter of robust comparable sales growth amid an extraordinarily difficult time for the wider restaurant industry. But as much as Chipotle’s digital innovations have helped set it apart from rivals and drive gains, its future success may depend on something decidedly more old-school: the drive-through.

This familiar fast-food format hasn’t been a requisite of the fast-casual formula, and it is relatively new for Chipotle, with more than 120 such locations in a restaurant fleet that totaled 2,710 as of September. But the set-up doesn’t just shuffle burrito orders from one channel to another — Chipotle has said it adds to sales and helps with profitability. Indeed, an analysis in a recent research note from Sara Senatore, a restaurant industry analyst at Bernstein, deconstructs what sales and costs look like at an individual Chipotle location with a drive-through. While the company has said a drive-through lane adds $75,000 to $100,000 to the cost of building a new restaurant, the benefit of embracing the model is obvious. Chipotle’s per-store economics were already among the best in the business; adding drive-throughs can help keep it ahead.