Chipotle and Starbucks trend in opposite directions

The trend: Consumers are perfectly willing to splurge on a Chipotle smoked brisket burrito, but are thinking twice before they pull out their wallet to buy a Starbucks iced brown sugar oat milk shaken espresso.

  • Chipotle’s same-store sales rose 6% year over year (YoY) in Q3, a solid gain even if it was short of StreetAccount’s estimated 6.3%, and traffic to its restaurants grew 3.3%.
  • Starbucks’ global comparable transactions fell 7% YoY, twice as much as analysts expected, and traffic to its stores worldwide fell 8% during its most recent quarter.