WASHINGTON — Inflation has come for everybody's favorite Tex-Mex fast food restaurant.
Chipotle confirmed Friday that they would be raising menu prices across the board.
“For the first time in over a year, we will be taking a modest price increase to offset inflation,” Laurie Schalow, Chipotle's Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, said in an emailed statement.
A spokesperson declined to comment further on the increase, citing the publicly traded company's quarterly earnings report on Oct. 26.
Although Schalow's statement is true on its face, it is still the fourth time the chain has raised prices in two years, according to USA Today.
The last price increase was in August of 2022, when some items had their prices increased by about a dollar. Before that, a pair of increases — the first in June 2021 and the second near the beginning of 2022 — drove prices up by around 8%.
It's unclear exactly what menu items will be affected by the price hike, or when it will take effect. It's possible the answers could come during the company's quarterly call with investors held after the earnings report is issued.
The increases come even as the pressures pushing prices up in the U.S. remain mild. But food prices are notoriously volatile and can often rise independently of other economic factors due to the cost associated with growing and shipping perishable items. Natural disasters such as floods and droughts are also factors, and 2023 has been a particularly bad year for both, with devastating weather conditions hitting many prominent areas where food is grown across the world.