Chipotle’s latest menu item is simple — a chicken bowl, but hold the rice, lettuce, tomato, and everything else.
On Thursday, the company announced plans for a new high-protein menu, which will launch on Dec. 23 and feature two high-protein bowls, a salad, a burrito, and an adobo chicken taco.
The company will also offer its first-ever “snack,” which is what it’s calling the new option for a four-ounce cup of adobo chicken that customers can purchase on its own or add on to an order. The company said the average price of a chicken cup will be $3.82 nationwide. The cup will also be available in steak.
Items on the company’s new menu range between 15 and 81 grams of protein per item.
The high-protein rollout follows fast casual peer Sweetgreen’s (SG) decision to launch its own suite of protein-focused items, which includes a 106-gram protein bowl. Chipotle said it’s looking to meet the needs of its consumers, with 70% of Americans now saying they are prioritizing protein intake.
The launch comes at the end of what has been a challenging year at the chain, with sales flagging and the company’s stock off nearly 40% in 2025.
Same-store sales fell 0.4% in the first quarter of the year and were followed by a 4% decline in Q2. In its latest quarter, Chipotle saw same-store sales rise 0.3%, though this increase was a result of higher prices, as transactions actually declined during the quarter.
CEO Scott Boatwright said in the company’s third quarter earnings release that the chain continues to see “persistent macroeconomic pressures.”
The executive expanded on this idea on the company’s earnings call, noting the pullback in all income cohorts seen earlier this year had widened, “with low- to middle-income guests further reducing frequency.” Households that make $100,000 or less make up about 40% of its total sales.
He later added that Chipotle expects the first quarter of 2026 to be the company’s “toughest” for middle- and low-income consumers.
“A particularly challenged cohort is the 25-to-35-year-old age group,” Boatwright said. “This group is facing several headwinds, including unemployment, increased student loan repayment, and slower real wage growth.”
This sentiment was echoed by other fast casual chains in the fall.
“We’ve seen the macroeconomic headwinds really impact that 25-to-35-year-old guest segment, where [in 2024] … they had a lot of tailwinds,” Cava (CAVA) CEO Brett Schulman told Yahoo Finance. “Their frequency to existing restaurants has moderated as they felt cost pressures from around them.”
