Chipotle Mexican Grill has reported a net income of $455.7m, or $0.33 per diluted share, for the second quarter of 2024 compared to $341.8m, or $0.25 per diluted share, in the same period of the previous year.
Excluding certain items, its adjusted net income reached $463m, with adjusted diluted earnings per share at $0.34.
The company's total revenue for the quarter ending 30 June 2024 rose to $3bn, an 18.2% rise from the second quarter of 2023.
This growth was attributed to the opening of new restaurants and an 11.1% increase in comparable restaurant sales, bolstered by an 8.7% rise in transactions and a 2.4% increase in average check.
Digital sales continued to play a significant role, constituting 35.3% of total food and beverage revenue.
Restaurant-level operating margin also saw improvement, reaching 28.9% in the second quarter, up from 27.5% in the previous year.
The margin benefited from sales leverage, despite facing pressures from wage and ingredient inflation.
In terms of expansion, Chipotle opened 52 new company-operated restaurants, 46 of which featured a Chipotlane [digital pick-up lane], and one international licensed restaurant during the quarter.
Food, beverage and packaging costs remained stable at 29.4% of total revenue.
In the first half (H1) of 2024, total revenue reached $5.67bn, up from $4.88bn in H1 2023.
Net income also rose significantly to $814.96m from $633.43m a year previously.
For the full year 2024, Chipotle anticipates mid to high-single-digit growth in comparable restaurant sales and plans to open between 285 to 315 new restaurants, with more than 80% featuring Chipotlanes.
The company also forecasts an underlying effective full-year tax rate of between 25% and 27% before discrete items.
Chipotle chairman and CEO Brian Niccol said: “The second quarter was outstanding as successful brand marketing, including the return of Chicken Al Pastor, drove strong demand to our restaurants.
“Our focus and training around throughput paid off as we were able to meet the stronger demand trends with terrific service and speed driving over 8% transaction growth in the quarter.”
