Chipotle Mexican Grill (CMG)
Serves customizable burritos and bowls through company-owned restaurants and digital pickup channels.
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Chipotle is overwhelmingly a company-run restaurant business: nearly every dollar comes from selling made-to-order meals. New openings are carrying growth while visits to established restaurants recover, and the network is becoming easier to use through online ordering, pickup lanes and group meals. Partner-run restaurants are beginning to take the same formula abroad, but they remain a tiny piece of the whole.
Item facts: FY2025 · year ended Dec 31, 2025, from filings, earnings calls and company pages.
Judgment weights, not filed revenue
The band summarizes business focus and direction. ~ marks estimates.
8 in detail · 9 more below
Food and Beverage Revenue
Burritos, bowls, tacos, salads and quesadillas produced $11.866B in FY2025—nearly every sales dollar. New openings kept the total growing even as visits at established restaurants weakened; food safety, labor and ingredient costs remain the watchpoints.
Competes with Customizable entrées (QDOBA) · Bowls and pitas (CAVA)
In plain English
A customer walks down a counter, chooses a base, protein and toppings, then pays for the finished meal. That simple exchange—repeated across thousands of company-run restaurants—is Chipotle's business, whether the food is eaten there, picked up or delivered.
Owning the restaurants means Chipotle keeps the full meal price, but it also pays for ingredients, workers, rent and day-to-day operations. More restaurants lifted total sales in FY2025 even though existing locations served fewer transactions. The engine therefore depends on opening good sites while keeping meals safe, service quick and costs under control.
Digital Sales
App, website and delivery-app orders made up 36.7% of FY2025 food sales and reached 38.3% in Q2 2026. Convenience is gaining ground, but kitchens must absorb those orders without slowing everyone else.
Competes with Digital ordering and kitchens (CAVA) · Go Mobile (Taco Bell)
In plain English
Think of digital ordering as a second front door. A diner builds a meal on Chipotle's app or website—or through a delivery app—pays before arriving, and chooses pickup, a dedicated pickup lane or delivery. The purchase is still a food sale, not a separate online business.
Chipotle benefits when easy ordering wins occasions that might otherwise go elsewhere, and its own channels also identify the customer. Delivery apps extend reach but stand between Chipotle and the diner. The practical limit is the kitchen: online orders only help if workers can make them without creating a crowd or delaying in-person orders.
Chipotle Rewards
The free points program had 23 million active members in Q2 2026 and was tied to 32% of Q1 2026 sales. It can turn occasional diners into known repeat customers, provided rewards cost less than the extra visits they encourage.
Competes with Taco Bell Rewards (Taco Bell) · QDOBA Rewards (QDOBA)
In plain English
Every dollar spent earns ten points, and saved points can be exchanged for food. There is no membership fee. Instead, the program gives a diner a small reason to return and gives Chipotle a way to recognize purchases that would otherwise look anonymous.
The strongest connection is online, where roughly nine out of ten orders are linked to a member; in restaurants, only about one in five transactions is identified. Chipotle makes money when reminders and rewards bring people back more often and meal sales rise. The trade is worthwhile only when that extra spending exceeds the food and discounts given away.
Chipotlane
A dedicated lane hands over meals ordered in advance; it is not a place to order from the car. Roughly 1,400 lanes were implied by reported openings, and about four-fifths of planned FY2026 company openings are expected to include one.
Competes with Go Mobile (Taco Bell) · Digital pickup (CAVA)
In plain English
Picture the pickup shelf moved to the outside wall. The customer orders and pays ahead, drives into a narrow lane, collects a sealed meal and leaves—Chipotle says the handoff takes under thirty seconds. Unlike a normal drive-through, nobody studies a menu or places an order at the window.
The lane does not create a new kind of revenue; it makes the same restaurant meal easier to collect. Chipotle says restaurants with one tend to sell more and produce more cash for what they cost to build. Expansion depends on finding sites with enough space, securing permission to build and keeping the order sequence smooth at busy times.
Catering
Catering and Build-Your-Own kits together reached about 2–3% of sales in Q2 2026, up from roughly 1–2% in 2025. Group orders are small today but can fill larger occasions; accuracy matters because one miss affects many meals.
Competes with Hot Bars and boxed meals (QDOBA) · Centralized catering (CAVA)
In plain English
One office lunch can replace dozens of separate counter visits. Workplaces, schools, families and event hosts order trays or boxed meals ahead of time, while Build-Your-Own Chipotle offers smaller meal kits for four to six people through the app and website.
These orders put a large, scheduled ticket through an existing restaurant kitchen. Chipotle earns from the food rather than from a separate subscription, and advance notice helps workers plan. The opportunity is to win occasions that an individual meal cannot serve. The risk is multiplied too: late delivery, missing items or poor packaging disappoints an entire group at once.
Limited-Time Offers
Short-run menu additions give people a reason to return: Honey Chicken appeared in about one-quarter of Q2 2025 orders. The watchpoint is whether novelty adds visits without complicating kitchens or straining ingredient supply.
Competes with Spicy Tequila Lime Steak and Churro Chips (QDOBA) · Tajín menu collaboration (Taco Bell)
In plain English
A familiar menu gets one temporary new reason to visit. Chipotle rotates featured proteins and sides, promotes them through restaurants, online ordering and Rewards, then removes them after a limited run. Honey Chicken and Chicken al Pastor both lifted transactions; Pollo Asado and Chili Lime Chips arrived together in August 2026.
The money still lands inside ordinary food sales. A popular special can bring back someone who has not visited lately or add something to an existing order, and ingredient suppliers benefit when it catches on. But every addition must work at thousands of counters without slowing preparation or running short of what kitchens need.
Partner-Operated Restaurants
Local partners fund and run the overseas restaurants while Chipotle receives a small cut of sales. About twenty sites are verified across the Middle East, Mexico and Seoul; the model is still tiny, and its test is consistent execution far from home.
Competes with QDOBA franchise system (QDOBA) · Restaurant expansion (CAVA)
In plain English
Outside its company-run network, Chipotle can hand the restaurant playbook to a local partner. The partner pays to open and operate the site, hires the team and serves local diners; Chipotle supplies its methods and earns a small cut of the partner's sales.
That arrangement lowers the cash Chipotle must put into entering a new country, but it also gives another operator responsibility for the experience. The footprint is only about twenty restaurants today. More locations are planned in Mexico, Korea and Singapore, so the question is whether partners can reproduce the food, service and ingredient standards as the map widens.
Delivery Service Revenue
Customers paid $59.6M in FY2025 for delivery arranged through Chipotle's own app or site, down 10.4% from the prior year. The fee is tiny and can be lower than what delivery itself costs.
Competes with Delivery and setup (QDOBA) · App and third-party delivery (CAVA)
In plain English
This is the charge for bringing an online order to the customer's door, not the price of the meal inside the bag. Food remains food revenue; only the separately collected delivery charge appears here. Orders placed through outside delivery apps often carry higher menu prices instead.
Couriers and ordering services take part of the money from each order. Chipotle earns the customer fee but warns that it may not cover the delivery cost, so more delivered meals do not guarantee more fee profit. The line's job is convenience and reach, while its health depends on courier availability, accurate handoffs and what customers will tolerate paying.
Food and Beverage RevenueBurritos, bowls, tacos, salads and quesadillas produced $11.866B in FY2025—nearly every sales dollar. New openings kept the total growing even as visits at established restaurants weakened; food safety, labor and ingredient costs remain the watchpoints.Burritos, bowls, tacos, salads and quesadillas produced $11.866B in FY2025—nearly every sales dollar. New openings kept the total growing even as visits at established restaurants weakened; food safety, labor and ingredient costs remain the watchpoints.
In plain English
A customer walks down a counter, chooses a base, protein and toppings, then pays for the finished meal. That simple exchange—repeated across thousands of company-run restaurants—is Chipotle's business, whether the food is eaten there, picked up or delivered.
Owning the restaurants means Chipotle keeps the full meal price, but it also pays for ingredients, workers, rent and day-to-day operations. More restaurants lifted total sales in FY2025 even though existing locations served fewer transactions. The engine therefore depends on opening good sites while keeping meals safe, service quick and costs under control.
Competes with Customizable entrées (QDOBA) · Bowls and pitas (CAVA)
Digital SalesApp, website and delivery-app orders made up 36.7% of FY2025 food sales and reached 38.3% in Q2 2026. Convenience is gaining ground, but kitchens must absorb those orders without slowing everyone else.App, website and delivery-app orders made up 36.7% of FY2025 food sales and reached 38.3% in Q2 2026. Convenience is gaining ground, but kitchens must absorb those orders without slowing everyone else.
In plain English
Think of digital ordering as a second front door. A diner builds a meal on Chipotle's app or website—or through a delivery app—pays before arriving, and chooses pickup, a dedicated pickup lane or delivery. The purchase is still a food sale, not a separate online business.
Chipotle benefits when easy ordering wins occasions that might otherwise go elsewhere, and its own channels also identify the customer. Delivery apps extend reach but stand between Chipotle and the diner. The practical limit is the kitchen: online orders only help if workers can make them without creating a crowd or delaying in-person orders.
Competes with Digital ordering and kitchens (CAVA) · Go Mobile (Taco Bell)
Chipotle RewardsThe free points program had 23 million active members in Q2 2026 and was tied to 32% of Q1 2026 sales. It can turn occasional diners into known repeat customers, provided rewards cost less than the extra visits they encourage.The free points program had 23 million active members in Q2 2026 and was tied to 32% of Q1 2026 sales. It can turn occasional diners into known repeat customers, provided rewards cost less than the extra visits they encourage.
In plain English
Every dollar spent earns ten points, and saved points can be exchanged for food. There is no membership fee. Instead, the program gives a diner a small reason to return and gives Chipotle a way to recognize purchases that would otherwise look anonymous.
The strongest connection is online, where roughly nine out of ten orders are linked to a member; in restaurants, only about one in five transactions is identified. Chipotle makes money when reminders and rewards bring people back more often and meal sales rise. The trade is worthwhile only when that extra spending exceeds the food and discounts given away.
Competes with Taco Bell Rewards (Taco Bell) · QDOBA Rewards (QDOBA)
ChipotlaneA dedicated lane hands over meals ordered in advance; it is not a place to order from the car. Roughly 1,400 lanes were implied by reported openings, and about four-fifths of planned FY2026 company openings are expected to include one.A dedicated lane hands over meals ordered in advance; it is not a place to order from the car. Roughly 1,400 lanes were implied by reported openings, and about four-fifths of planned FY2026 company openings are expected to include one.
In plain English
Picture the pickup shelf moved to the outside wall. The customer orders and pays ahead, drives into a narrow lane, collects a sealed meal and leaves—Chipotle says the handoff takes under thirty seconds. Unlike a normal drive-through, nobody studies a menu or places an order at the window.
The lane does not create a new kind of revenue; it makes the same restaurant meal easier to collect. Chipotle says restaurants with one tend to sell more and produce more cash for what they cost to build. Expansion depends on finding sites with enough space, securing permission to build and keeping the order sequence smooth at busy times.
Competes with Go Mobile (Taco Bell) · Digital pickup (CAVA)
CateringCatering and Build-Your-Own kits together reached about 2–3% of sales in Q2 2026, up from roughly 1–2% in 2025. Group orders are small today but can fill larger occasions; accuracy matters because one miss affects many meals.Catering and Build-Your-Own kits together reached about 2–3% of sales in Q2 2026, up from roughly 1–2% in 2025. Group orders are small today but can fill larger occasions; accuracy matters because one miss affects many meals.
In plain English
One office lunch can replace dozens of separate counter visits. Workplaces, schools, families and event hosts order trays or boxed meals ahead of time, while Build-Your-Own Chipotle offers smaller meal kits for four to six people through the app and website.
These orders put a large, scheduled ticket through an existing restaurant kitchen. Chipotle earns from the food rather than from a separate subscription, and advance notice helps workers plan. The opportunity is to win occasions that an individual meal cannot serve. The risk is multiplied too: late delivery, missing items or poor packaging disappoints an entire group at once.
Competes with Hot Bars and boxed meals (QDOBA) · Centralized catering (CAVA)
Limited-Time OffersShort-run menu additions give people a reason to return: Honey Chicken appeared in about one-quarter of Q2 2025 orders. The watchpoint is whether novelty adds visits without complicating kitchens or straining ingredient supply.Short-run menu additions give people a reason to return: Honey Chicken appeared in about one-quarter of Q2 2025 orders. The watchpoint is whether novelty adds visits without complicating kitchens or straining ingredient supply.
In plain English
A familiar menu gets one temporary new reason to visit. Chipotle rotates featured proteins and sides, promotes them through restaurants, online ordering and Rewards, then removes them after a limited run. Honey Chicken and Chicken al Pastor both lifted transactions; Pollo Asado and Chili Lime Chips arrived together in August 2026.
The money still lands inside ordinary food sales. A popular special can bring back someone who has not visited lately or add something to an existing order, and ingredient suppliers benefit when it catches on. But every addition must work at thousands of counters without slowing preparation or running short of what kitchens need.
Competes with Spicy Tequila Lime Steak and Churro Chips (QDOBA) · Tajín menu collaboration (Taco Bell)
Partner-Operated RestaurantsLocal partners fund and run the overseas restaurants while Chipotle receives a small cut of sales. About twenty sites are verified across the Middle East, Mexico and Seoul; the model is still tiny, and its test is consistent execution far from home.Local partners fund and run the overseas restaurants while Chipotle receives a small cut of sales. About twenty sites are verified across the Middle East, Mexico and Seoul; the model is still tiny, and its test is consistent execution far from home.
In plain English
Outside its company-run network, Chipotle can hand the restaurant playbook to a local partner. The partner pays to open and operate the site, hires the team and serves local diners; Chipotle supplies its methods and earns a small cut of the partner's sales.
That arrangement lowers the cash Chipotle must put into entering a new country, but it also gives another operator responsibility for the experience. The footprint is only about twenty restaurants today. More locations are planned in Mexico, Korea and Singapore, so the question is whether partners can reproduce the food, service and ingredient standards as the map widens.
Competes with QDOBA franchise system (QDOBA) · Restaurant expansion (CAVA)
Delivery Service RevenueCustomers paid $59.6M in FY2025 for delivery arranged through Chipotle's own app or site, down 10.4% from the prior year. The fee is tiny and can be lower than what delivery itself costs.Customers paid $59.6M in FY2025 for delivery arranged through Chipotle's own app or site, down 10.4% from the prior year. The fee is tiny and can be lower than what delivery itself costs.
In plain English
This is the charge for bringing an online order to the customer's door, not the price of the meal inside the bag. Food remains food revenue; only the separately collected delivery charge appears here. Orders placed through outside delivery apps often carry higher menu prices instead.
Couriers and ordering services take part of the money from each order. Chipotle earns the customer fee but warns that it may not cover the delivery cost, so more delivered meals do not guarantee more fee profit. The line's job is convenience and reach, while its health depends on courier availability, accurate handoffs and what customers will tolerate paying.
Competes with Delivery and setup (QDOBA) · App and third-party delivery (CAVA)
Named in filings, launches and programs
- Build-Your-Own ChipotleService · RampingApp- and website-only meal kits for four to six people, counted together with catering in the growing group-order business.
- High-Efficiency Equipment Package (HEEP)Platform · RampingA standard kitchen equipment package installed in more than 1,000 restaurants by July 2026, with about 2,000 targeted by year-end.
- Augmented Digital Makeline (Hyphen)Product · RampingAutomated meal-assembly equipment backed by a Chipotle investment valued at $31.8M in June 2026.
- Autocado (Vebu)ProductVebu's avocado-processing machine, supported by Chipotle investment and board participation.
- Produce SlicerProduct · RampingIn-restaurant produce preparation equipment included in the broader kitchen upgrade rollout.
- Cultivate NextEcosystemChipotle's strategic investment vehicle; its other private holdings were valued at $36.5M in June 2026.
- Tractor BeveragesEcosystemA beverage-company investment in which Chipotle held 13.5% and a board seat at FY2025 year-end.
- BrassicaEcosystem · AnnouncedA passive minority restaurant investment announced in 2024; Chipotle's current ownership was not separately confirmed.
- Gift CardsProductPrepaid restaurant value becomes sales when customers redeem it; some unused balances eventually become revenue based on past redemption patterns.
Build-Your-Own ChipotleService · Ramping
App- and website-only meal kits for four to six people, counted together with catering in the growing group-order business.
High-Efficiency Equipment Package (HEEP)Platform · Ramping
A standard kitchen equipment package installed in more than 1,000 restaurants by July 2026, with about 2,000 targeted by year-end.
Augmented Digital Makeline (Hyphen)Product · Ramping
Automated meal-assembly equipment backed by a Chipotle investment valued at $31.8M in June 2026.
Autocado (Vebu)Product
Vebu's avocado-processing machine, supported by Chipotle investment and board participation.
Produce SlicerProduct · Ramping
In-restaurant produce preparation equipment included in the broader kitchen upgrade rollout.
Cultivate NextEcosystem
Chipotle's strategic investment vehicle; its other private holdings were valued at $36.5M in June 2026.
Tractor BeveragesEcosystem
A beverage-company investment in which Chipotle held 13.5% and a board seat at FY2025 year-end.
BrassicaEcosystem · Announced
A passive minority restaurant investment announced in 2024; Chipotle's current ownership was not separately confirmed.
Gift CardsProduct
Prepaid restaurant value becomes sales when customers redeem it; some unused balances eventually become revenue based on past redemption patterns.