The Chain Gain

Chipotle Raising Prices Soon; Chains Profits From Skinny Menu

Chipotle
Chipotle Photo: Soundman1024/Flickr

After weathering rising commodities costs most of last year, this week Chipotle revealed it will most likely raise prices mid-2013 to the tune of $0.20 to $0.30 per burrito. Of course the blame is being placed on the poor cows, but the 1.3% rise in food costs at the end of 2012 also included higher tomato, corn, and dairy prices. While Chipotle only wants to apologize to its customers once for jacking up the price of its assembly line produced burritos, it intends to increase the conversation with its customers through an onslaught of new traditional advertising venues throughout 2013. [NRN]

In case anyone is doubting the success of Chipotle’s pseudo-healthy burritos, LA Times reports a study by a think tank has confirmed the dubious: LA, along with the rest of America, falls fast and hard for menu bubbles sporting lower calories. In the study, seventeen out of 21 restaurants with low-calorie menus reported same-store sales growth between 1996 to 2011. Overall, the restaurants doled out extra 472 billion servings of skinny items, while regular items decreased by 1.3 billion portions. Sadly, the extra earnings from the skinny menus do not translate to skinnier diners – obesity rate has not declined since 1990. [LAT]

Chipotle Raising Prices Soon; Chains Profits From Skinny Menu