Retail

Chipotle is quietly raising prices during its worst time in history

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Chipotle
Business Insider/Hayley Peterson

Chipotle has raised its menu prices in hundreds of restaurants.

Prices were raised by about 5%, which is equal to a $0.34 increase on a chicken burrito bowl in Washington, DC, Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold told Business Insider. 

The price increases were implemented at about 440 of Chipotle's more than 2,200 restaurants nationwide, or about 20% of the chain's locations. 

"We had been on record saying that we may raise prices in some of our restaurants, and we have done that," Arnold said. "Even with the increase, Chipotle pricing remains very competitive within the category."

Chipotle is still recovering from a year-long sales downturn triggered by an E. coli outbreak that affected its restaurants in 14 states. 

The chain's same-restaurant sales fell 4.8% in the most recent quarter, though the company said it expects that metric to rebound and be in the high-single-digit range in 2017.

Chipotle's stock price has surged more than 22% since the start of the year. 

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Hayley Peterson
Hayley Peterson
Hayley Peterson is an Executive Editor who oversees coverage of the economy, tech, media, advertising, defense, careers, and more.She was previously a chief correspondent at Business Insider and wrote breaking news, analysis, and in-depth investigations on large consumer companies, with an emphasis on retailers including Amazon, Walmart, major grocery chains, and department stores.Hayley won recognition from the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing in 2018 for "defining the retail apocalypse" through her reporting on retail job losses, the decline of Sears, and the impact of store closings on bondholders.Prior to joining Business Insider in 2013, Hayley was a White House correspondent and embedded on the presidential 2012 campaign trail.