Chipotle says its service is much faster now, and it means fewer people are bothering to order ahead

During the pandemic, many fast-food and fast-casual chains rolled out ways for customers to order ahead so that customers could skip the line.

• Chipotle's CFO said that says that fewer customers are ordering ahead as its service speeds up.
• "When the lines are moving well ... people like to come in and select their meal along the front line," he said.
• A key metric for the chain is how many entrées each restaurant makes in its peak 15 minutes.

Chipotle says that its service is becoming so much speedier that fewer customers are bothering to order ahead on its app.

During the pandemic, many fast-food and fast-casual chains rolled out ways for customers to order ahead so that customers could skip the line. For diners, this means less time waiting around in the restaurant. For companies, this means less labor is needed for taking orders.

But a big part of the experience of getting food from Chipotle is moving down the counter and customizing your burrito or bowl as you go.

When lines at its restaurants are moving more quickly, customers opt to do this rather than ordering ahead on its app or website, CFO Jack Hartung told investors.

"We're actually also seeing a little bit of shift from some of the order-ahead," he said. "Those folks are shifting into the … in-store channel as well. Again, when the lines are moving well, when the restaurant is running well, people like to come in and select their meal along the front line."

Digital sales — those placed via the Chipotle website, app, or third-party delivery services — made up 36.5% of total food and drink revenue in the quarter.

Digital sales have hoovered around this point since the third quarter of 2023 but are down from 39.3% and 38% in the first and second quarters of 2023, respectively. This figure is impacted by a number of other trends that influence customer dining behavior, however.

CEO Brian Niccol told analysts at the company's third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday that its restaurants were, on average, making close to 25 entrées during the peak 15 minutes of the day, a key metric for the chain.

This was up by nearly two entrées compared to 2023, "with each month showing an acceleration," Niccol said. Hartung told BI that its restaurants were "approaching the mid-to-high 20s."

Niccol on Wednesday attributed it to improvements in staffing and scheduling as well as new software that the company rolled out in January that gives restaurants real-time visibility on how fast their service is.

But the number of entrées made varies massively by restaurant. Hartung said that some lower-volume restaurants made about 15 entrées on average during their peak 15 minutes, while Niccol said that its restaurant in Boston's financial district made more than 40 entrées, sometimes reaching as high as 80, during its peak 15 minutes. Chipotle didn't respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about whether the Boston restaurant had a higher staff ratio than its other locations.

As well as speeding up the assembly of burritos and bowls, Chipotle has also invested in technology to make some food preparation quicker, such as its Autocado, which cuts, cores, and peels avocados. 

Chipotle is also testing an automated kitchen line to prepare burrito bowls for digital orders. It plans to bring both pieces of tech to some of its restaurants later this year, Niccol said.

Is fast food getting too expensive? Email this reporter at gdean@insider.com.