Chipotle is quietly raising prices during its worst time in history

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.