(Reuters) -Chipotle Mexican Grill on Monday named interim boss Scott Boatwright as everlasting CEO of the burrito chain, months after Brian Niccol exited the position to take the highest job at Starbucks (NASDAQ:).
In a shock announcement in August, Starbucks named Niccol as its new CEO, leaving the burrito chain beneath Boatwright, who has vowed to develop the corporate to 7,000 eating places in North America and increase internationally.
Boatwright steps in at a time when eating places throughout the US are battling weak shopper demand within the face of upper menu costs.
Chipotle (NYSE:)’s inventory misplaced $6 billion in market worth instantly after Niccol’s departure. Since then, shares have risen about 14%.
The corporate stated in an announcement on Monday that it had named Boatwright as CEO, efficient instantly, following “a thorough and rigorous external search process.”
Niccol was credited with serving to revive Chipotle’s gross sales and revenue by ushering in menu merchandise enhancements and eradicating inconsistencies in taste throughout the corporate’s U.S. eating places.
After 5 years beneath Niccol’s management, gross sales within the burrito chain doubled, whereas its inventory tripled.
Boatwright was Chipotle’s working chief previous to being appointed its interim CEO in August.
He labored intently with Niccol to additionally steer the corporate out of a disaster and regain shopper belief following a extreme E. coli and salmonella outbreak in 2015.
A veteran within the restaurant trade, Boatwright spent 18 years with Arby’s Restaurant Group (LON:) in varied management positions earlier than becoming a member of Chipotle in 2017.
In October, Chipotle missed market expectations for third-quarter same-store gross sales progress and maintained its progress goal for annual comparable restaurant gross sales.
