Financing

Chipotle has its best summer sales day ever

Digital orders surge nearly 60% thanks to a free guacamole offer.
Courtesy of Chipotle Mexican Grill

Reports of people getting sick at a Chipotle Mexican Grill in Ohio didn’t seem to keep customers away from the brand on Tuesday—when the chain was offering free guacamole.

The company said Wednesday that its digital sales surged nearly 60% on Tuesday, at one point clogging its website, leading to one of the chain’s best sales days in history.

Chipotle said that it broke digital sales records on Tuesday and recorded its best summer sales day in history.

The company was offering free guacamole for digital orders on Tuesday to promote National Avocado Day.

The company said it used almost 700,000 avocados to meet customer demand, 200,000 more than average. The company also said it generated more app downloads than on any single day in its history.

The success of the offer led the company to extend the promotion to today. Customers can get free guacamole with the purchase of an entree through online or app purchases.

“We were blown away by the excitement around our free guacamole offer,” Chief Marketing Officer Chris Brandt said in a statement. “Demand was so high, our app and online store were flooded with orders.”

The results eased concerns that the apparent outbreak at a Chipotle in Powell, Ohio, would damage the brand’s sales. Stock in Chipotle was up 2% on Wednesday.  

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