Newport Beach, California, April 29, 2026, 14:03 PDT
Chipotle Mexican Grill delivered a surprise boost in first-quarter comparable sales, snapping its streak of sluggish demand. Protein-loaded menu options appear to have brought customers back through the doors. The stock jumped roughly 7% after hours following the announcement.
Timing’s a factor here. Restaurant chains are dealing with hesitant diners, and Chipotle faced the quarter with investors eyeing not so much new locations but whether customers would still shell out for bowls and burritos after a string of price increases. Comparable sales at Chipotle restaurants dropped 2.5% in the fourth quarter, with a 1.7% decline for all of 2025, according to the company’s February release.
Comparable sales at company-owned restaurants—those open at least 13 full calendar months—ticked up 0.5% for the quarter ending March 31. Total revenue reached $3.09 billion, up 7.4%, driven by new locations and a modest 0.6% uptick in transactions, though the average check slipped 0.1%. Digital orders accounted for 38.6% of total food and beverage sales.
Turns out, Wall Street’s worries didn’t pan out. Analysts had been bracing for a 0.8% drop in comparable sales, with revenue pegged at $3.07 billion, LSEG numbers showed, per Reuters. Bloomberg flagged that sales at established locations actually topped projections for nearly a 1% slide.
Profit took a hit. Operating margin slipped to 12.9%, down from 16.7% in the same period last year. Adjusted restaurant-level operating margin also retreated—to 23.7% versus 26.2% before. Adjusted diluted EPS landed at 24 cents, a 17.2% drop year over year.
Chief Executive Scott Boatwright described the quarter as one that “exceeded expectations,” pointing to “tangible progress” in areas like operations, digital, menu innovation, staffing, and development. Chipotle reported 49 new company-owned restaurants opened during the period, with 42 featuring Chipotlanes—its drive-through lanes dedicated to digital-order pickups. Chipotle InvestorRoom
Menu refresh carried most of the gains. Placer.ai data, picked up by Reuters, put total visits up 5.8%. Chicken al Pastor stood out as the top recent traffic pull. Chipotle is betting once more on Honey Chicken—that item came back on April 28 in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France and Germany, after it became their best-performing limited-time option in 2025.
Chipotle’s interim chief marketing officer, Stephanie Perdue, said Honey Chicken “set a new standard” for limited-time offers—and that requests for its return poured in almost right away. Now, for the first time, it’s part of the High Protein Cup lineup, linking this release to the ongoing push for higher-protein choices in the fast-casual space. MediaRoom
No letup in pressure on pricing. Yum Brands, which runs Taco Bell and KFC, topped first-quarter expectations on Wednesday, crediting more value deals for bumping up demand. McDonald’s and Burger King are also rolling out offers to lure back cost-conscious diners. “Offer good value while still keeping things fresh”—that’s how brands stand out, according to Lale Akoner, global market strategist at eToro. Reuters
Chipotle isn’t budging from its 2026 forecast. The company’s target for full-year comparable restaurant sales remains roughly flat, with 350 to 370 new locations still in the pipeline. That includes 10 to 15 international restaurants run by partners. Company-owned builds? About 80% are set to launch with a Chipotlane.
Still, there’s a real possibility that the recent pickup in traffic fizzles out—or gets offset by rising expenses. Chipotle flagged that food, beverage and packaging expenses ate up a bigger slice of revenue, squeezed by beef and freight inflation and more produce in the mix. Labor costs also inched higher, pinched by wage inflation, lighter average restaurant sales and pricier benefits. Lower-income consumers are still feeling the pinch, and a single quarter of upbeat transactions doesn’t erase that challenge.
Chipotle gets a bit of relief this quarter. The company didn’t deliver a major sales surprise, and margins slipped. Still, after a year dominated by worries about lost diners, that 0.5% bump in comparable sales seems more significant than it first appears.
