Chipotle Plans 250-300 New Restaurants in ’23

Chipotle Mexican Grill (Newport Beach, Calif.) says it will open between 255 to 285 new restaurants in the coming year and undertake 10 to 15 relocations to add its Chipotlane drive-thru design to existing locales.

The company didn’t say how many of its new outlets will have drive-thrus, but if last year’s crop of added stores is any indication, it looks to be a lot. In 2022, 202 of the 236 new restaurants opened included a Chipotlane.

The quick-service restaurant chain disclosed the information about its growth plans in its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2022. For the year, Chipotle’s reported total revenue of $8.6 billion and net income of $899.1 million.

“We delivered strong growth in 2022, expanding average unit volumes and restaurant level margin, while opening the highest number of new restaurants in six years, despite facing a challenging and fluid macro environment,” said Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol. “Our continued focus on recruiting and retaining the best people, delivering Chipotle’s operational standards with delicious food prepared fresh daily uniquely positions Chipotle to successfully expand to 7000 restaurants over the long term.”

Chipotle currently has nearly 3200 restaurants in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany.