BigRobSA said:

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Kvetch said:

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, Corporations have a duty to their shareholders to maximize profit. If Chipotle thinks they can accomplish that by raising prices, they're free to try it. If you had any fundamental understanding of economics other than CEOs are evil, you would understand that raising prices does not automatically increase profits, especially in a competitive market.

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They should first go as lean as possible and get rid of their many layers of "management".

Like all corporations, there are tons of layers that have no intrinsic value. I ran 24 states as a Regional Manager. Had hundreds and hundreds of direct reports. Was easy to do. There's no reason for all of the layers upon layers of "management" in most, if not all, corporate structures. That is a TON of freed up revenue.

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Me too. Used to have about 130 or so retail locations as a Regional Director. Our District Managers had 8-12. Regional VPs had three regional directors. They cut all of my level, half the DMs and one of the 4 VPs.

This was ten years ago now and triggered by an acquisition. And according to my old coworkers who survived thy say it took about two years for everything to settle down but once it did things were fine.

Colonel Kurtz said:

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Chipotle is horrible now and has been sliding downwards for years. I say let them gouge the few customers they have left and drive themselves into bankruptcy.

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Chipotle has been mediocre at best from its inception.

Chiptole CEO sounds like a well educated MBA with no understanding of Economics....

https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottboatwrightmba/

Georgia State University - J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), International Business
2014 2016

Georgia State???

Ragoo said:

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Torchys at the boardwalk?

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Yep. Less than a mile from the Chipotle on Barker Cypress.

BusterAg said:

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Ragoo said:

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Torchys at the boardwalk?

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Yep. Less than a mile from the Chipotle on Barker Cypress.

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nice. Torchys in general is better than chipotle. And the chipotle on tuckerton by HEB is better than the one on barker. That's my post swim at lifetime late night need food now spot.

please get some help for your weird CEO obsession.

Ag In Ok said:

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That really puts the phrase "lean into it in a more meaningful way" in a whole new context. That's one way to treat your customers, though i agree he is just using economics to maximize profit, he needs to drop the buzzword lovefest.
I'm sure his Board and whoever the Exec VP of marketing is, will be leaning into him in a more meaningful way. If he keeps his job.

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That's my main takeaway. Just say what you mean instead of this weird dancing around language. Transaction performance? Lean into? Stfu.

"We learned that 60% of our core users are over $100,000 a year in income, in average household income. That gives us confidence that we can lean into that group in a more meaningful way to really drive meaningful transaction performance in the year"

Logos Stick said:

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CEO makes logical, sound business decision based on data and analysis.

Infinity demonizes the CEO, per usual, and predicts doom.

The end.

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Depends on what you consider a sound, logical business decision. He's right that most of these decisions are geared entirely around maximizing profits in the immediate future. The CEOs of these massive chains often don't give a **** about how the company will look in 10 years.

That's not all the CEO's fault. They're not being given incentive to care about the long run, because large shareholders by and large don't care about the long run either. They want to pump and dump and leave your average 401K holding the bag.

When I worked in Richardson in the 90s I used to go to Qdoba @ Coit and Campbell or burritos (liked them over Freebird's). It may still be there.

Recently saw a newer location on 380/University in Little Elm (?) ... need to check them out to see if they're still worthy.

What's y'alls feeling about Qdoba . As good or better than Chipotle? Q seems a bit more expensive - but the internet tells me Qdoba is much cheaper if you're adding sides like queso or guac, as there is no upcharge at Qdoba for this.

Good for him. The food is so bad I can't believe this place is open. When clientele doesn't care what you serve they probably don't care what you charge.

Price elasticity is a thing. Always has been. Always will be. Anyone stating the obvious out loud is just a soundbite. Would it be better if he referenced analytics and reports to come to the same conclusion?

Selling at a price the market will bear is literally how this all works.

People are putting Chipotle orders on buy now, pay later installment loans and you are saying the Chipotle CEO is bad?


We've rightly pointed to the involvement of infinite government money as having led to the deleterious increase in public education cost.

Now it's just Chipotles' fault they can charge more and people will pay it?

Try aiming your ire at Sezzle, Klarna, Zip etc...

Hey Nav said:

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What's y'alls feeling about Qdoba . As good or better than Chipotle? Q seems a bit more expensive - but the internet tells me Qdoba is much cheaper if you're adding sides like queso or guac, as there is no upcharge at Qdoba for this.

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Qdoba > Chiptole

A location in Humble recently opened, so hopefully more will follow in the Houston area soon.

Mr. Awesome Time said:

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Hey Nav said:

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What's y'alls feeling about Qdoba . As good or better than Chipotle? Q seems a bit more expensive - but the internet tells me Qdoba is much cheaper if you're adding sides like queso or guac, as there is no upcharge at Qdoba for this.

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Qdoba > Chiptole

A location in Humble recently opened, so hopefully more will follow in the Houston area soon.

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Agree. Last few stops at Chipotle have been inconsistent and disappointing.

Had mall food court Qdoba and it was better, lower cost, and free guac. Their honey Cholula chicken was very good.

Wife and I will be sticking with Qdoba now.

javajaws said:

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In reality the ceo probably wants to chase away the low income riff raff to keep their stores intact.

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I've got Walmart on line Juan to talk about how the riff raff is where the money is, especially when the country goes further and further into the K-shaped economy.

i refuse to believe chicken rice and tortillas should be this controversial

BigRobSA said:

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Ragoo said:

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BigRobSA said:

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Kvetch said:

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, Corporations have a duty to their shareholders to maximize profit. If Chipotle thinks they can accomplish that by raising prices, they're free to try it. If you had any fundamental understanding of economics other than CEOs are evil, you would understand that raising prices does not automatically increase profits, especially in a competitive market.

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They should first go as lean as possible and get rid of their many layers of "management".

Like all corporations, there are tons of layers that have no intrinsic value. I ran 24 states as a Regional Manager. Had hundreds and hundreds of direct reports. Was easy to do. There's no reason for all of the layers upon layers of "management" in most, if not all, corporate structures. That is a TON of freed up revenue.

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you did 100s and 100s of year end reviews???

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I did everything. Payroll, onboarding paperwork, etc. So, yes.

It's not hard, if you're not lazy.

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Someone's got their Mexican half working in overdrive.

Chipotle isn't what it used to be 10 years ago. Wildly inconsistent and the quality has noticeably gone down. When you get competent workers and the ingredients are fresh, it's still really good. But that's becoming increasingly rare. Sadly this is the evolution of most business models in this country in the constant quest to increase shareholder value. Cut corners, raise prices, while simultaneously cutting costs by switching to lower quality, and more pre-made, pre-packaged ingredients. Gut rewards programs and require more money spent for less of a reward. It's a race to the bottom and the driver is usually private equity firms.

https://qdobafranchise.com/in-the-news/qdoba-to-enter-houston-with-15-restaurants/

There used to be a commitment to the community, customers and employees from businesses. That's now gone, in large part with massive consolidation. That also certainly has it's benefits, can drive down costs, creates standards and reliability. But the commitment to everyone around them is gone. And it will fray the social structure and society until equalibrium is achieved for a time. Rough out there.

I'm in pricing and I get this. But we will because we can should be accompanied by and we will provide this benefit, accelerated score growth, increased staffing to meet demand in needed markets, menu innovation, etc. But not so much. That said it's off the cuff so not sure. Not a good look though.

Hey Nav said:

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https://qdobafranchise.com/in-the-news/qdoba-to-enter-houston-with-15-restaurants/

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There used to be one by Home Depot on Spring Cypress near 290, but it's been a Chipotle for the last decade or so. After recently having Qdoba again in Indy, this is great news.

Pollo Tropical and Del Taco are similar chains I also liked, but I don't think either are in Texas anymore.

WinTheWholeDamnThing said:

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It's a race to the bottom and the driver is usually private equity firms.

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To an extent, but I always blame consumers. If people are willing to spend $20 or more for a burrito & a soda, that's their call.

javajaws said:

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In reality the ceo probably wants to chase away the low income riff raff to keep their stores intact.

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Chipotle IS riff-raff food.

Hey Nav said:

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Chipotle opened 334 company owned stores in 2025, to cross the 4,000 store mark worldwide. Revenue for the year was up 5.4%

However, same store sales were DOWN for the year 1.7%. Not a good sign. 4th qtr same store revenue was DOWN 2.5 %

Sometimes folks at the main office can do some not-so-bright things.

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Sometimes? No always.
Because they put themselves ahead of the business. Not sure how this can be fixed but nowadays it is rampant and blatant, and only the bootlickers refuse to see it.

My wife and I used to eat at Chipotle regularly back when it was $25 tops for the both of us. Once we started getting charged like $32-33 for the exact same stuff, we haven't been back. That ain't worth it.

Muktheduck said:

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Logos Stick said:

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CEO makes logical, sound business decision based on data and analysis.

Infinity demonizes the CEO, per usual, and predicts doom.

The end.

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Depends on what you consider a sound, logical business decision. He's right that most of these decisions are geared entirely around maximizing profits in the immediate future. The CEOs of these massive chains often don't give a **** about how the company will look in 10 years.

That's not all the CEO's fault. They're not being given incentive to care about the long run, because large shareholders by and large don't care about the long run either. They want to pump and dump and leave your average 401K holding the bag.

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You are one of the few people who got exactly what my point was.

I am trying to open the eyes of the CEO-bootlickers and fake conservatives. Mostly Boomer types who lived at a time when the world was a better place and expect things to have not changed. Undoing decades of brainwashing isn't very easy but I will continue to try.

Chipotle has already been caught cutting portion size and cost themselves a rather large amount of profit for the backlash. Now, when revenue has already decreased, their marketing team thinks raising prices on what many consumers see as an already poor value is a recipe for growth?

Sometimes I really wonder if marketing people don't live in an alternate reality. .

Pizza said:

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WinTheWholeDamnThing said:

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It's a race to the bottom and the driver is usually private equity firms.

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To an extent, but I always blame consumers. If people are willing to spend $20 or more for a burrito & a soda, that's their call.

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People paying $20 isn't the problem. PE's playbook is debt-heavy takeovers, cost-cutting, cheap ingredients, and understaffed, overworked teams. That's what tanks quality

Chipotle
Cabo Bob's
Cava
Freebird

When it comes to protein and carbs in a bowl, I have choices where I live

I've just never understood how Chipotle survives in a place like Texas where there are approximately 3 million other options for Mexican food almost all of which are cheaper and better.

Maybe their core group is higher income because they already priced out the other groups with their current prices.

/He's not wrong

If people continue to buy their product at a higher price, then they can continue to raise those prices until they find the number where people stop