Dive Brief:
- Chipotle posted comparable sales growth of 5.4% during the fourth quarter and 7.4% during the year, the company said Tuesday in an earnings release.
- Same-store sales growth was largely driven by a 4% boost in transactions for the quarter and a 5.3% bump for the year.
- Continued improvements to throughput, and the Smoked Brisket and Chicken Al Pastor limited-time offers, helped lift traffic during the year. Both LTOs surpassed expectations and drove incremental transactions and spend, CEO Scott Boatwright said Tuesday during an earnings call.
Dive Insight:
The chain will continue its current strategies of launching LTOs and improving efficiencies in the back of house. Chipotle Honey Chicken, its newest LTO, will hit restaurant menus in the near future and could be even more successful than its predecessors.
“It was our best-performing limited-time offer, both in early sensory testing as well as the broader market tests,” Boatwright said. While a launch date wasn’t specified, Boatright said the chain typically launches LTOs in mid- to late-March.
Chipotle's same-store sales from Q1 2023 through Q4 2024
Smoked Brisket, which returned to the menu in the fourth quarter after an absence of several years, successfully piqued customer interest. Many guests switched from other proteins, such as steak, barbacoa and chicken, to the LTO, CFO Adam Rymer said during the earnings call.
“It’s an extraordinary product,” Boatwright said. “The teams in the restaurant did a really remarkable job delivering that experience with excellence this time around and the consumers voted with their wallets, and the incidence remained strong throughout the entire promotion.”
Boatwright said the chain would like to offer Smoked Brisket as an annual LTO, and maybe permanently if there was adequate supply, but “unfortunately, that’s not the case.” At this time, the chain plans to bring it back at some point, he said.
It took Chipotle’s supply chain team over two years to bring Smoked Brisket back after its initial debut in 2021 by locking in supplier contracts 18 to 24 months in advance. Customers weren’t phased by the premium price attached to the menu item, either, in another example of diners being willing to pay more at fast casual chains for food quality even though lower prices are available at fast food brands.
