Chipotle Names Interim CEO Scott Boatwright as CEO

Chipotle has named Interim CEO Scott Boatwright as CEO and member of the board, effective immediately.

Boatwright has served as interim CEO since Aug. 31, when former Chipotle Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol left the company to become CEO of Starbucks.

Before that, Boatwright served as Chipotle’s chief operating officer since 2017, the quick-service restaurant (QSR) said in a Monday (Nov. 11) press release. In that role, he contributed to the strategy and growth of the business, led the integration of new technology into restaurants and achieved industry-leading retention rates.

“We conducted a thorough and rigorous external search process that confirmed Scott is absolutely the best person to lead the next stage of growth at Chipotle,” Scott Maw, chairman of the board at Chipotle, said in the release. “Today’s announcement is an affirmation of both Scott’s leadership capability and our internal succession planning process.”

Before joining Chipotle, Boatwright served in various leadership positions at Arby’s Restaurant Group for 18 years, according to the release. In his last role at that company, he served as senior vice president of operations and was responsible for the performance of more than 1,700 Arby’s restaurants.

Boatwright currently serves on the board of directors of sporting goods and outdoor retailer Academy Sports and Outdoors, per the release.

“It is an honor to serve as CEO of this purpose-driven brand and I look forward to providing greater opportunities for our employees, generating value for our shareholders and Cultivating a Better World for our communities,” Boatwright said in the release.

During an Oct. 29 earnings call, Boatwright said Chipotle opened 86 new restaurants, saw its revenue rise 13% and saw its comparable store sales increase 6% in the third quarter.

“We’ve seen strong improvement even through our social channels of people,” Boatwright said during the call. “Now it’s a reverse of what we saw earlier in the year, around people posting big burritos, big bowls and really excited about portioning they’re getting in the Chipotle brand. We also see that show up in our brand tracker and other third-party sources where value for the money, food for the money, and quality for the money exceed most of our peers in the category.”