From mid-December to early-January, Chipotle made a massive delivery push, including offering free delivery to customers. The deal drew in many people who had ditched or never eaten at the chain. Niccol said on Wednesday that nearly half of those who took advantage of the deal were new or lapsed customers.
Together, delivery and mobile order-ahead highlight the rise of Chipotle's second-make line for orders that are not placed on the chain's assembly line. This second-make line, which will also be utilized for drive-thru orders, has the potential to continue to boost sales.
"We expect digital sales mix to continue to improve for the foreseeable future as the company increases the number of locations with a digitized second make line (currently ~1,300, all units by year-end), adoption of loyalty grows, and delivery expands," BTIG's Peter Saleh said in a note on Thursday. "As we have stated, we believe digital transactions will help drive margin expansion for Chipotle as all digital transactions are executed on the more labor-efficient second-make line."