Dive Brief:
- Chipotle will open its 1,000th Chipotlane at a store in the Kansas City metropolitan area on Thursday, the company said in a press release.
- Nearly 30% of the chain’s 3,600-plus restaurants now include a Chipotlane.
- Chipotlanes were first conceived in 2018 to let guests pick up mobile orders without leaving their cars. The chain said it takes an average of 30 seconds for guests to get their orders through these lanes.
Dive Insight:
Over five years after their debut, Chipotlanes have become a core part of the brand’s store operations. Next year, it plans to open 315 to 345 new restaurants, of which 80% will include a Chipotlane.
The fast casual chain is working on a real estate pipeline that will allow it to sustain new unit growth in the range of 8% and 10% annually. The chain opened 270 units last year at a growth rate of over 8.5%. Chipotle said it will open between 285 and 315 restaurants this year, marking record new unit count growth for the company.
Management is confident that the chain will continue to inch closer to a 10% growth rate, given its robust pipeline and a consistent development timeline of about 21 months, CEO Scott Boatright said in an October earnings call. The chain has also been working on improving throughput in its restaurants to improve the guest and employee experience, including adding expeditors between the salsa station and cashiers that help increase order volume during peak periods.
New restaurants that offer a mobile pickup lane typically have higher volumes and better returns than a traditional Chipotle, the company said. Chipotlanes are a “critical piece of our long-term growth goal of reaching 7,000 restaurants in North America,” Chris Brandt, Chipotle’s chief brand officer, said in a statement.
Chipotle’s system continues to outperform most of the rest of the restaurant industry with comparable sales growth of 6% reported for the third quarter, driven by a 3.3% bump in transactions and a 2.7% increase in average checks, according to an earnings release.
