Most of 2025 was a traffic challenge for fast-casual chains, but one research firm is indicating Chipotle’s fiscal year ended on a positive note.
The fast-casual chain is scheduled to announce its fourth quarter and full-year results on Tuesday after market. The research firm Placer.ai in a report this week said traffic trends in November and December were trending upward at Chipotle.
Placer.ai, which analyzes restaurant visits, said Chipotle’s same-store visits turned “slightly positive” in November. And December data indicated that improvement continued to build.
This follows months of negative traffic through fiscal 2025 for Chipotle. Traffic dropped 2.3% in the first quarter, and then declined nearly 5% in the second quarter. By the third quarter, trends showed improvement, though traffic remained down 0.8%.
Last month, Chipotle reiterated its full-year guidance for fiscal 2025, saying same-store sales are expected to be down in the mid-single digits.
Placer.ai said Chipotle’s late-year momentum was driven in part by a growing share of short visits, or visits lasting less than 10 minutes, which accounted for 42.2% of total traffic in 2025, up from 41.2% the prior year.
Perhaps more importantly, that increase did not come at the expense of longer visits, which also grew late in the year.
“This pattern indicates that the shift toward convenience is not cannibalizing traditional visit occasions, but may instead be lifting overall engagement with the brand,” the report said.
Chipotle, of course, has been working hard to drive that traffic, with promotions of protein on the menu, new sauces, and holiday-related buy one-get one offers. The fourth quarter includes October, and Halloween has long been a big season for Chipotle, which celebrated all month.
Fast-casual chains last year were particularly challenged as consumers cut back on dining out because of larger macroeconomic pressures.
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