Chipotle recently delighted its fans by bringing Carne Asada back to the menu. But the fast-casual chain's latest announcement is hardly likely to excite customers.
Soon enough, Chipotle will be raising its prices, making this the fourth price hike in just two years.
Chipotle’s chief corporate affairs officer Laurie Schalow confirmed the news, which was first reported by Insider, in an email statement to TODAY.com.
“For the first time in over a year, we will be taking a modest price increase to offset inflation,” Schalow said.
When asked how soon the new prices will go into effect and which items will cost more, a Chipotle representative declined to comment.
This will be the fourth price increase since June 2021, when the chain unveiled a roughly 4% price hike after announcing that it would be raising workers’ wages.
Flash forward to 2022, and Chipotle raised prices once again in the first quarte, followed by another increase in the summer, as reported by Insider.
In April 2023, Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol told CNBC that the chain was pausing any additional price increases. In July 2023, CNBC reported that the CEO reversed course and said that pricing changes weren’t off the table.
Chipotle also recently made headlines when the chain announced that it’s currently testing a robot named Hyphen. Also called a “collaborative robot,” Hyphen packs the restaurant’s burrito bowls and the plan is to have the robot work with Chipotle’s human employees.
“So with Hyphen on board, team members would be freed up to focus on guest experiences while increasing the number of digital orders during peak periods,” Chipotle’s Instagram post read.
The chain also recently unveiled a robot named the Autocado that can peel, cut and core the avocados used in its guacamole, as well as a robot named Chippy that makes — you guessed it — tortilla chips.