NEW YORK — Chipotle’s coming price hikes could hit steak lovers particularly hard.
The Mexican food chain said earlier this month that it plans to start charging more for its burritos, bowls and tacos in coming weeks as it faces rising costs for ingredients. On Tuesday, Chief Financial Officer Jack Hartung noted that the chain doesn’t currently charge a whole lot more for its steak filling, even though beef costs have climbed considerably.
“There’s a very narrow gap between our steak burrito and our chicken burrito. We’re going to widen that,” Hartung said at the Barclays Retail and Consumer Discretionary Conference in New York City. “We’re going to allow our customers to choose whether they want to pay the higher price of steak.”
Hartung also said the price hike would be about 4 to 6 percent, or 32 cents to 48 cents, assuming the cost of a burrito is $8. In the past, executives had said they were considering a hike of 3 to 5 percent, or 24 cents to 40 cents. Chipotle says it will be the first national price hike in three years.
He did not specify how much more prices would rise for steak than for chicken.
