Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc: Form 10-Q for the period ended Sep 30, 2025

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this report are forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements about the number of new restaurants we expect to open in 2025 and 2026, and the number with Chipotlanes,the number of new international partner-operated restaurants we expect to open, our anticipated comparable restaurant sales for 2025, the expected impact of tariffs on our food, beverage and packaging costs during the 2025 fourth quarter and on an ongoing basis, our expectation to generate positive cash flow for the foreseeable future, our expectations for utilization of cash flow from operations, our ability to manage prices, risks and volatility in our supply chain, our plans for continuing stock buybacks and the volume of buybacks,and the period of time during which our cash and short-term investment will fund our operations. We use words such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “could”, “should”, “may”, “approximately”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “project”, “target”, "goal" and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions, to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this report are based on currently available operating, financial and competitive information available to us as of the date of this filing and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the statements, including but not limited to: increasing wage inflation, including as a result of state or local regulations mandating higher minimum wages, and the competitive labor market, which impacts our ability to attract and retain qualified employees and has resulted in occasional staffing shortages; the impact of any union organizing efforts and our responses to such efforts; risks of food safety incidents and food-borne illnesses; risks associated with our reliance on certain information technology systems and potential material failures, interruptions or outages; privacy and cyber security risks, including risk of breaches, unauthorized access, theft, modification, destruction or ransom of guest or employee personal or confidential information stored on our network or the network of third party providers; the impact of competition, including from sources outside the restaurant industry; the impact of federal, state or local government regulations relating to our employees, employment practices, restaurant design and construction, and the sale of food or alcoholic beverages; our ability to achieve our planned growth, such as the costs and availability of suitable new restaurant sites, construction materials and contractors and restaurant equipment; the expected costs and risks related to our international expansion, including through partner-operated restaurants in the Middle East, Asia and Mexico; increases in ingredient and other operating costs due to inflation, global conflicts, severe weather and climate change, our Food with Integrity philosophy, tariffs or trade restrictions; intermittent supply shortages relating to our Food with Integrity philosophy, rapid expansion and supply chain disruptions; the uncertainty of our ability to achieve expected levels of comparable restaurant sales due to factors such as changes in guests' perceptions of our brand, including as a result of negative publicity or social media posts, increased consumer uncertainty and decreased consumer spending (including as a result of higher inflation, unemployment rates, fear of possible recession and higher energy prices), or the inability to increase menu prices or realize the benefits of menu price increases and the risk of guest responses; risks associated with our digital business, including risks arising from our reliance on third party delivery services and the IT infrastructure; litigation risks, including possible governmental actions and potential class action litigation related to food safety incidents, cybersecurity incidents, employment or privacy laws, advertising claims, contract disputes or other matters; and other risk factors described from time to time in our SEC reports, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, and in other reports filed with the SEC, all of which are available on the investor relations page of our website at ir.Chipotle.com.

As of September 30, 2025, we owned 3,822 Chipotle restaurants throughout the United States and 94 international Chipotle restaurants. Additionally, we had seven international partner-operated restaurants. We manage our U.S. operations based on 11 regions and aggregate our operations to one reportable segment.

Throughout “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” we discuss the following key operating metrics which we believe will drive our financial results and long-term growth model. We believe these metrics are useful to investors because management uses these metrics to assess the growth of our business and the effectiveness of our marketing and operational strategies:

• Comparable restaurant sales
• Food, beverage, and packaging as a percentage of total revenue
• Labor as a percentage of total revenue
• Occupancy as a percentage of total revenue
• Other operating costs as a percentage of total revenue
• New restaurant openings

Third Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights, year-over-year:

• Total revenue increased 7.5% to $3.0 billion
• Comparable restaurant sales increased 0.3%
• Diluted earnings per share was $0.29, a 3.6% increase from $0.28

Sales Trends. Comparable restaurant sales increased 0.3% for the three months ended September 30, 2025. The increase is attributable to a 1.1% increase in average check, partially offset by lower transactions of 0.8%. Comparable restaurant sales represent the change in period-over-period total revenue for company-owned restaurants in operation for at least 13 full calendar months. Digital sales represented 36.7% of total food and beverage revenue. For full-year 2025, management is anticipating comparable restaurant sales declines in the low-single digit range.

Restaurant Development. During the three months ended September 30, 2025, we opened 84 restaurants, which included 64 restaurants with a Chipotlane. We remain on track to open approximately 315 to 345 company-owned restaurants in 2025 and expect to open approximately 350 to 370 restaurants in 2026, which includes 10 to 15 international partner-operated restaurants. We expect that at least 80% of our new company-owned restaurants will include a Chipotlane.

Partner-Operated Restaurants. During the three months ended September 30, 2025, we opened two partner-operated restaurants in the Middle East.

Restaurant Activity

The following table details company-owned restaurant unit data for the periods indicated.

The following table details partner-operated restaurant unit data for the periods indicated.

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Results of Operations

Our results of operations as a percentage of total revenue and period-over-period change are discussed in the following section.

Revenue

(dollars in millions)

(dollars in millions)

(1) Average restaurant sales refers to the average trailing 12-month food and beverage revenue for company-owned restaurants in operation for at least 12 full calendar months.

The following is a summary of the change in restaurant sales for the period indicated:

(dollars in millions)

Food, Beverage and Packaging Costs

(dollars in millions)

(dollars in millions)

Food, beverage and packaging costs decreased 0.6% as a percentage of total revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the three months ended September 30, 2024. The decrease was primarily due to a 0.6% benefit from menu price increases in the prior year and, to a lesser extent, cost of sales efficiencies. This decrease was partially offset by a 0.3% inflation, primarily in beef and chicken, and a 0.3% impact from the newly enacted tariffs.

Food, beverage and packaging costs decreased 0.2% as a percentage of total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The decrease was primarily due to a 0.7% benefit from menu price increases in the prior year and, to a lesser extent, from cost of sales efficiencies. This decrease was partially offset by a 0.5% inflation across several ingredient costs, primarily beef and chicken, and a 0.1% impact from the newly enacted tariffs.

Due to goods imported prior to the enactment of tariffs, we anticipate about a 40 basis point increase in food, beverage and packaging costs during the fourth quarter of 2025 relating to tariffs. We estimate that the tariffs enacted since April 2025 will increase food, beverage and packaging costs by about 50 basis points on an ongoing basis. These estimates could vary based on future tariff policy changes.

Labor Costs

(dollars in millions)

(dollars in millions)

Labor costs increased 0.3% as a percentage of total revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the three months ended September 30, 2024. Labor increased primarily due to a 0.5% impact of lower sales volumes and 0.2% from restaurant wage inflation. These increases were partially offset by a 0.5% benefit from menu price increases in the prior year.

Labor costs increased 0.5% as a percentage of total revenue for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024. The increase was primarily due to a 0.7% impact of lower sales volumes and 0.4% from restaurant wage inflation, including minimum wage increases for our restaurants in California. This increase is partially offset by a 0.6% benefit from menu price increases in the prior year.

Occupancy Costs

(dollars in millions)

(dollars in millions)

Occupancy costs increased 0.2% as a percentage of total revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the three months ended September 30, 2024. The increase was due to the impact from lower sales volumes, as a 0.1% benefit from menu price increases in the prior year was offset by expenses associated with new restaurants.

Occupancy costs increased 0.3% as a percentage of total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The increase was due to the impact from lower sales volumes, as a 0.1% benefit from menu price increases in the prior year was offset by expenses associated with new restaurants.

Other Operating Costs

(dollars in millions)

(dollars in millions)

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Other operating costs increased 1.2% as a percentage of total revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the three months ended September 30, 2024. The increase was due to the impact from several items, primarily 0.9% of higher marketing and promotional activities and 0.2% of lower sales volumes. This increase was partially offset by a 0.2% from the benefit of menu price increases in the prior year.

Other operating costs increased 0.8% as a percentage of total revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The increase was due to the impact from several items, primarily 0.6% of higher marketing and promotional activities and 0.2% of lower sales volumes. This increase was partially offset by a 0.2% from the benefit of menu price increases in the prior year.

General and Administrative Expenses

(dollars in millions)

(dollars in millions)

The following is a summary of the change in general and administrative expense for the period indicated:

(dollars in millions)

Impairment, Closure Costs, and Asset Disposals

(dollars in millions)

(dollars in millions)

Impairment, closure costs, and asset disposals decreased in dollar terms for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the three and nine months ended September 30, 2024, primarily due to property and equipment impairment charges related to a software asset in the prior year.

Provision for Income Taxes

(dollars in millions)

(dollars in millions)

The effective income tax rate increased 0.2% for the three months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the three months ended September 30, 2024. The increase was primarily driven by a 0.6% reduction in tax benefits related to option exercises and equity vesting, partially offset by 0.8% in lower non-deductible expenses. Additionally, for the three months ended September 30, 2024, we released certain income tax reserves, which did not similarly recur during the current period impacting the rate by 0.4%.

The effective income tax rate remained flat for the nine months ended September 30, 2025 compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The nine months ended September 30, 2025 had a 0.6% decrease in non-deductible expenses, offset mostly by a 0.5% reduction in tax benefits related to option exercises and equity vesting.

Seasonality

Seasonal factors cause our profitability to fluctuate from quarter to quarter. Historically, our average daily restaurant sales and net income are lower in the first and fourth quarters due, in part, to the holiday season and because fewer people eat out during periods of inclement weather (the winter months) than during periods of mild or warm weather (the spring, summer and fall months). Other factors also have a seasonal effect on our results. For example, restaurants located near colleges and universities generally do more business during the academic year. Seasonal factors, however, might be moderated or outweighed by other factors that may influence our quarterly results, such as unexpected publicity impacting our business in a positive or negative way, disease outbreak, epidemic or endemic, the impact of inflation and consumer sentiment on consumer spending, fluctuations in food or packaging costs, the timing of holidays, or the timing of menu price increases or promotional activities and other marketing initiatives. The number of trading days in a quarter can also affect our results, although, on an overall annual basis, changes in trading days do not have a significant impact.

Our quarterly results are also affected by other factors such as the amount and timing of non-cash stock-based compensation expense and related tax rate impacts, litigation, settlement costs and related legal expenses, impairment charges and non-operating costs, timing of marketing or promotional expenses, the number and timing of new restaurants opened in a quarter, and closure of restaurants. New restaurants typically have higher operating costs following opening because of the expenses associated with their opening and operating inefficiencies in the months immediately following opening. Accordingly, results for a particular quarter are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected for any other quarter or for any year.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Cash and Investments

As of September 30, 2025, we had a cash and marketable investments balance of $1.7 billion, non-marketable investments of $90.0 million, and $30.9 million of restricted cash. After funding the current operations in our restaurants and support centers, the first planned use of our cash flow from operations is to provide capital for the continued investment in new restaurant construction. In addition to continuing to invest in our restaurant expansion, we expect to utilize cash flow from operations to: repurchase additional shares of our common stock subject to market conditions; invest in, maintain, and refurbish our existing restaurants; and for general corporate purposes. As of September 30, 2025, $652.3 million remained available for repurchases of shares of our common stock, which includes the $500.0 million additional authorization approved by our Board of Directors on September 3, 2025. Under the remaining repurchase authorizations, shares may be purchased from time to time in open market transactions, subject to market conditions.

Borrowing Capacity

As of September 30, 2025, we had $500.0 million of undrawn borrowing capacity under a line of credit facility.

Use of Cash

We believe that cash from operations, together with our cash and investment balances, will be sufficient to meet ongoing capital expenditures, working capital requirements and other cash needs for the foreseeable future. Assuming no significant declines in comparable restaurant sales, we expect we will generate positive cash flow for the foreseeable future.

We have not required significant working capital because guests generally pay using cash or credit and debit cards and because our operations do not require significant receivables or significant inventories, partly due to our use of various fresh ingredients. In addition, we generally have the right to pay for the purchase of food, beverages and supplies sometime after the receipt of those items, generally within ten days, thereby reducing the need for incremental working capital to support our growth.

Cash Flows

Cash provided by operating activities was $1.7 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, compared to $1.6 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The increase was primarily due to timing of tax-related payments, including the impacts of H.R.1 - One Big Beautiful Bill Act, partially offset by other changes in non-tax operating assets and liabilities.

Cash used in investing activities was $7.3 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, compared to $701.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The change was primarily associated with a $742.3 million decrease in investment purchases net of investment maturities. This was partially offset by increased capital expenditures of $48.2 million, primarily related to costs associated with new restaurant development.

Cash used in financing activities was $1.7 billion for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, compared to $735.0 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2024. The change was primarily due to increased repurchases of common stock of $1.0 billion.

Critical Accounting Estimates

Critical accounting estimates are those that we believe are both significant and that require us to make difficult, subjective or complex judgments, often because we need to estimate the effect of inherently uncertain matters. We base our estimates and judgments on historical experiences and various other factors that we believe to be appropriate under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates, and we might obtain different estimates if we used different assumptions or factors. We had no significant changes to our critical accounting estimates as described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.

Commodity Price Risks

We are exposed to commodity price risks. The prices of many of the ingredients we use to prepare our food, as well as our packaging materials, kitchen equipment, construction material and utilities to run our restaurants, are affected by the price of other commodities, exchange rates, trade tariffs, foreign demand, weather, seasonality, production, availability and other factors outside our control. We work closely with our suppliers and use a mix of forward pricing protocols under which we agree with our supplier on fixed prices for deliveries at some time in the future, fixed pricing protocols under which we agree on a fixed price with our supplier for the duration of that protocol, formula pricing protocols under which the prices we pay are based on a specified formula related to the prices of the goods, such as spot prices or based on changes in industry indices, and range forward protocols under which we agree on a price range for the duration of that protocol. Generally, our pricing protocols with suppliers can remain in effect for periods ranging from one to 24 months, depending on the outlook for prices of the particular ingredient. In some cases, we have minimum purchase obligations. We have tried to increase the number of suppliers and geographic locations for our ingredients, packaging, equipment, construction and utilities, which we believe can help mitigate pricing volatility and supply continuity risks, and we follow industry news, trade tariffs, exchange rates, foreign demand, weather, geopolitical crises and other world events that may affect our ingredient prices. Increases in ingredient prices could adversely affect our results if we choose for competitive or other reasons not to increase menu prices at the same rate at which ingredient costs increase, or if menu price increases result in guest resistance. We also could experience shortages of key ingredients for many unforeseen reasons, such as crop damage due to inclement weather, if our suppliers need to close or restrict operations, or due to industry-wide shipping and freight delays.

Changing Interest Rates

We are exposed to interest rate risk through fluctuations of interest rates on our investments. As of September 30, 2025, we had $1.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents, current and long-term investments, and restricted cash, of which the substantial majority are interest bearing. Changes in interest rates affect the interest income we earn, and therefore impact our cash flows and results of operations.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk

A portion of our operations consist of activities outside of the U.S. and we have currency risk on the transactions in other currencies and translation adjustments resulting from the conversion of our international financial results into the U.S. dollar. However, a substantial majority of our operations and investment activities are transacted in the U.S., and therefore our foreign currency risk is not material at this date.

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)) that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in Exchange Act reports is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As of September 30, 2025, we carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures. Based on the foregoing, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of the end of the period covered by this report.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes during the fiscal quarter ended September 30, 2025 in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act) that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect our internal control over financial reporting.

For a description of risk factors that could impact our business, including risks and uncertainties related to consumer sentiment and changes in discretionary spending; potential increases in the costs of ingredients and restaurant equipment, including due to tariffs, trade sanctions or taxes; competitor discounting; and macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions, see Part I, Item 1A. "Risk Factors" of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024.