President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on the largest commercial partners in the United States, is sending waves through the economy of the United States, since companies and consumers prepare to pay
However, for Chipotle customers, it seems, for now, that it will be softer to navigate in the check-out record.
In an exclusive interview with NBC Sunday Nightly News, the CEO of Chipotle, Scott Boatwright, told the presenter Hallie Jackson that, for now, the Burritos provider intends to maintain constant costs for consumers, even as some of its merchandise costs move higher.
“It is our intention when we sit here today to absorb those costs,” he said, although he warned that changes in prices could finally arise if high costs become a “wind against significant.”
For the most part, Chipotle is isolated from many of the costs involved by the types of rates that Trump has proposed, which, if carried out with next week, would establish 25% duties in Canada, Mexico and an additional 10% of China in addition to a 10% tax imposed earlier this month.
Boatwright has previously indicated that Chipotle now obtains about 50% of its avocados from Mexico, and the rest comes from Colombia, Peru and the Dominican Republic. In total, Boatwright has estimated that the cost of goods would increase 0.6%, or 60 basic points, continuously of planned rates.
“We are lucky to have such an extraordinary economic model in Chipotle that we can resist such inflationary pressures and not have to pass those consumer costs,” Baatwright told Jackson.
“And that is our intention this year. We hold prices constant, because we do not know if the tariffs are transitory, if they will be permanent, how sticky they will be in the new administration.
He continued: “We do not believe it is fair for the consumer to pass those costs to the consumer, because the price becomes permanent. And so, returning to the idea of delivering an extraordinary value to the consumer. We will follow the course. “
Chipotle is in a kind of transition period: in August, Starbucks hunted the CEO of Chipotle, Brian Niccol, to direct the coffee giant. Since then, Chipotle’s actions have collapsed, and in February he warned that the rest of 2025 would be a volatile year. With a slower sales growth than analysts expected.
However, Boatwright told Jackson that he remained optimistic in the company’s fortune, and said he planned to build more than 300 new locations.
“If we can maintain the constant price, regardless of what is happening in inflationary pressures, which is happening with global economic uncertainty and give consumer abundance, [and] Variety with fresh and healthy ingredients that cannot be obtained anywhere else, this is how we will offer value for the consumer in 2025, ”he said.
Boatwright also discussed the new company tool, Ava Cado, which is designed to help job seekers.
“Ava now takes out all that job from the manager’s hands,” he said. “The candidates respond directly to AVA and she qualifies them, the curriculum or the application loaded is loaded, and program those interviews for the manager who simply appears at a scheduled schedule, interview with the candidate and places them in the workflow.”
