Chipotle's Digital Dominance Is a Mixed Blessing
The burrito chain’s prowess at handling online orders has kept sales humming. The bump is worth any short-term profit pinch.
Chipotle’s sales gains are a return to form, but don’t mistake that for a return to normal.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
The headline number from Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.’s latest earnings report is, in some ways, a return to form. The burrito chain on Wednesday reported robust comparable sales growth of 8.3% from a year earlier, a result that is in the ballpark of what the company routinely recorded on this metric before the pandemic rocked the dining industry.
But don’t mistake that for things being back to normal at Chipotle or anywhere else in the wider restaurant world. Chipotle was able to notch those gains because it has transformed into a dramatically different business in recent months, one where digital ordering has gone from a promising growth area to a critical component of sales.