In an earnings call this week, Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright said 2025 was a year of progress and resilience for the QSR.
In the fourth quarter, revenue rose 4.9% to $2.98 billion, topping analyst estimates of $2.96 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported. According to the company, the increase was driven by new restaurant openings and higher gift-card breakage revenue. Chipotle opened 132 company-owned restaurants and seven international partner-operated locations.
However, Chipotle also experienced a 2.5% decline in same-store sales due to lower transactions, partially offset by a higher average check.
“Going forward, the company said it is working to drive growth by accelerating its menu innovation, using artificial intelligence to modernize its business model, relaunching its rewards program and scaling in its markets as well as new regions,” WSJ wrote.
“We are deploying these initiatives and beginning to see results,” Boatwright said, pointing to early success with Chipotle’s high-protein menu, as well as benefits from its high-efficiency equipment.
According to Placer.ai, same-store visits turned slightly positive for Chipotle in November, with the growth continuing into December. The momentum stems from a growing share of short visits (under ten minutes), which accounted for 42.2% of total chain traffic in 2025—up from 41.2% in 2024.
“Importantly, the rise in short visits does not appear to be coming at the expense of longer ones. From July through October 2025, average per-location visits lasting under ten minutes remained essentially flat even as longer visits continued to lag; by December, however, both short and longer visits were growing on a per-location basis. This pattern indicates that the shift toward convenience is not cannibalizing traditional visit occasions, but may instead be lifting overall engagement with the brand,” the research company wrote.
Late last year, Chipotle said that diners between the ages of 25 and 35 are cutting back on dining at the chain because they’ve stopped eating out altogether.
“This group is facing several headwinds, including unemployment, increased student loan repayment and slower real wage growth,” said Boatwright. “We’re not losing them to the competition. We’re losing them to grocery and food at home.”