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- 🌯 WTF is up with Chipotle’s portion sizes?
🌯 WTF is up with Chipotle’s portion sizes?
Consumers are fed up with Chipotle’s portion shrinkage, but the company’s financials show strong customer loyalty.
Kieran Ryan
May 27, 2024
It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who has noticed Chipotle’s portion-size problem. On social media, Chipotle is currently getting flamed (maybe my favorite TikTok of all time), and some customers are calling for a boycott.
But has the market decided that portion shrinkage at Chipotle isn’t as important as many of us thought?
Wall Street loves Chipotle, and customers do, too, despite the portion-size problem.
Chipotle is the gold standard when it comes to restaurant-level operating margins. Since 2020, its restaurant-level operating margin has increased yearly from 17.4% to 26.2%. During that same period, Chipotle’s market cap has increased from ~$38 billion at the start of 2020 to ~$86 billion today.
Same-store sales are an important indicator of customer loyalty: In Q1 2024, the company’s same-store sales increased by 8.4%, which is incredibly impressive in an environment where other restaurant chains like Starbucks report declining same-store sales.
Chipotle’s operating rigor and financial health paint a much different reality than what people are saying on social media. So, maybe the market has decided that it doesn’t give a hoot about whether or not you and I got enough steak in our burrito.
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