Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc
Hopefully we can navigate inflation without price increases, says Chipotle CEO
Brian Niccol, Chipotle CEO, joins 'Closing Bell Overtime' and CNBC's Kate Rogers to talk quarterly results, the state of the consumer, impact of inflation and more.
About Brian Niccol
Brian Niccol, Chairman and CEO of Starbucks, discussed the company's recent performance and future plans in two interviews in early 2026. In a February 28 interview on Bloomberg Open Interest, Niccol said the company's growth was driven by an increase in transactions from both rewards members and non-rewards customers, and that the company had increased its market share in visitation. He stated that pricing would be "the last lever that we'll pull" and that the company had been able to hold off on price increases for over a year. Niccol also said the company aims to achieve a comp of 3% or better, revenue growth of 5% or better, and earnings growth that outpaces that, describing this as "world-class" results. In an April 29 interview on CNBC's Squawk on the Street, Niccol said the company is working to be "sharper on the cost side" and has line of sight on over $2 billion in cost savings. He stated that the company aims to reach a 13 to 15% margin range by 2028, with further growth possible beyond that. Niccol noted that Starbucks' drive-thru business is a "well over a $10 billion business" and that the company believes its partnership with Boyu could expand its coffee houses in China from over 8,000 to 15,000 or 20,000. He described the Starbucks experience as an "affordable luxury" and said the company's menu innovation, including the launch of its 1971 Dark Roast coffee, has been broad and successful.
Transcript (14 segments)
✨ AI-enhanced transcript with speaker attribution
B
Barbara Duran0:02
AI opportunities are emerging for them, and Chipotle is killing it. That is a stock to hold for the long term.
M
Morgan0:06
Barbara Duran and Victoria Greene, thank you very much to kick off a busy hour. You just heard it — Chipotle shares in the green, up about 4% right now after beating estimates on both lines and raising sales guidance for the full year. Joining us now in an exclusive interview is Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol and our very own Kate Rogers. Kate?
K
Kate Rogers0:34
Morgan, thank you very much. And Brian, thank you for joining us — great to see you.
B
Brian Niccol0:37
Yes, thanks, guys.
K
Kate Rogers0:38
I would like to start out with consumer wallets right now. We saw traffic grow for Chipotle again. I am wondering if you are seeing any pullback, given that grocery prices are still much lower than what we are seeing at limited-service or QSRs?
B
Brian Niccol0:54
Yeah, you know, we are not seeing that in our customer base. Fortunately for us, we are seeing transaction gains in every income cohort, whether it is sub-$50,000 to the north of $150,000. So we continue to see a lot of strength in our business with every income cohort and every customer that is coming in to Chipotle. That is not to say in some of our research we don't hear customers talking about concerns as it relates to inflation and also some of the higher prices they are dealing with in their daily lives. Fortunately, the value proposition that we are providing at Chipotle seems to really be cutting through and resonating with our customers. So we are happy to serve everybody that shows up to get in line to grab a burrito.
K
Kate Rogers1:29
And Brian, you just mentioned inflation. What does that look like in terms of Chipotle right now? I am wondering if you are planning price increases broadly, and more targeted in places like California where we are seeing wage increases and labor costs going up.
B
Brian Niccol1:48
You know, we just did take some prices up in California, as you mentioned. We just moved dramatically in the state, so we had to take some prices there. Other than that, we do not currently have any plans for taking pricing action. Obviously, we will keep a close eye on what happens with wage inflation and other costs, but our hope is we can continue to have great growth, and if we have more mild inflation we are dealing with, then hopefully we can navigate without a price increase in the near term.
M
Morgan2:22
Brian, it is great to have you back on the show. I want to stick with that for a second, because with those wage increases in California and with the labor market that continues to be pretty strong here, you have been adapting and implementing automation and AI — robots in some of your stores. Does this propel you to move more quickly with some of those capabilities?
B
Brian Niccol2:37
You know, obviously, we are going to continue to invest in and experiment with those areas. But the biggest lever for us is ensuring that we run the business correctly with the people that we have. I have talked about this quite a bit — we have been very focused on throughput in our restaurants, and I am happy to say that our teams have delivered in a big way. They are staffed better than they ever have been, we have more stability than we ever have. With that comes great practice, and then our teams are able to provide a great experience. We will obviously continue to invest in and learn about things like AvocadoBot, where we peel avocados, or where we use some robotics to help us build bowls for digital orders faster. We are also using technology around AI to help us with forecasting and scheduling labor. But look, nothing beats the fact that we have 120,000 employees that right now are, I think, dialed in, focused on giving the customer a great customer experience with great culinary. You are seeing results in our tracks and transactions.
K
Kate Rogers3:41
Brian, great to have you. What about the upsell at checkout? How much does technology have a potential to help with that, and continue to give you an advantage on the costs versus the upside you can find?
B
Brian Niccol4:01
Look, that is something we are always working on. We have a rewards program — we have about 40 million people in this rewards program. Now, about 35%, 40% of our business is digital, so it presents the opportunity for us to be smart about suggestive selling. We have seen that historically — we usually get chips and guac with your order, and if it is missing from your order, it makes a lot of sense for us to serve up chips and guac in that suggestive sale. And not surprisingly, we see a bigger uptake in those scenarios. So we are trying to be smart about our data to give people a better experience when they are checking out and give them access to the things they want as fast as possible.
K
Kate Rogers4:39
And Brian, there is a lot of focus on your U.S. growth, but Chipotle did open its first Middle East restaurant. I am wondering if you can say a little bit more about how international growth will factor into the company's continued trajectory here in the future.
B
Brian Niccol4:49
Yeah, I am very excited about this partnership — tremendous partner. We did open our first restaurant just this past week, and it is really exciting to see that we were able to deliver exactly the same culinary experience that you get here in the States over in the Middle East, specifically in Kuwait. The response has been tremendous. A lot of the feedback early on was, 'This tastes just like Chipotle.' And for other people that have never had the opportunity to experience Chipotle, they seem to really be enjoying it. So we love seeing the lines, we are proud of the partnership. The team has done a fantastic job of handling all the demands, and we are off to a great start. And then internationally, we feel like there is an opportunity for Chipotle to be much broader than we are in the U.S. and Canada. Over and over again, I hear people say, 'I love the idea of real ingredients, grown, cooked, and used culinary techniques that provide delicious food fast.' And when you end up with clean food really fast, with