Chipotle lost investor confidence as much as 5% throughout trading on Feb. 8, the day after the Mexican burrito, bowl and taco empire quickly and casually announced its fourth quarter financial results. 2022 – during which sales volume was declining. “We started the quarter on a smooth note, and we ended the quarter on a smooth note,” Chipotle chief financial officer Jack Hartung conceded during an earnings call (via CNBC). Specifically, and among other disappointing numbers Hartung was referring to, same-store sales fell 5.6%, sharply from 7.6% in the third quarter, but also well below the company’s estimate. 6.9% from Wall Street in the fourth quarter.
Company CEO Brian Niccol denies that Chipotle’s fourth-quarter failure to “burst,” as Hartung described it, stemmed from customer resistance to menu price hikes; fellow C-suiters instead blamed bad weather and a limited-edition menu item that failed to meet expectations. And a financial analyst blamed the share price decline on “additional scrutiny” given the company in 2023 thanks to overall share price gains of 22%, Yahoo! Finance reported Wednesday. Additionally, Yahoo Finance notes that, at least unofficially, Chipotle’s same-store sales are doing very well, thank you very much, in 2023.
However, it’s hard not to speculate whether Chipotle’s third-quarter sales decline resulted from lower- and middle-income consumers’ unwillingness to pay more for the same food. Even like Chipotle talks extraordinary growth plans for 2023Hartung’s word is that Chipotle has placed a moratorium on menu price increases in 2023.