The extra guacamole on your burrito is safe...for now. The price of avocados is on an alarming rise, according to TheStreet.com, but the short-term news is good for fans of Chipotle's guacamole. The long-term outlook, however, is up in the air.
The Mexican avocado crop normally surges in June and July, but this year, it hasn't. A lower supply means avocado prices have gone all the way up to $1.25 each in July, which is 46% more than last year. An extra few cents is not exactly deterring most of us at the grocery store, but what about a chain like Chipotle, which goes through 97,000 pounds of the fruit every day?
A Chipotle spokesperson told TheStreet that despite the increased cost, there were no plans to raise the price of guac from its current $1.95. Chipotle just doesn't change prices like that. At the same time, the company has told investors that the rising avocado cost could hurt profits this quarter. This also comes in the wake of all Chipotle's E. coli problems and the increased cost of improving its food-safety measures.
So, there are a couple of ways this could go: Everyone enjoys the fact that guac is the same price as always at Chipotle and goes there enough so that the company can justify keeping the low price. Or, the price of avocados could continue to rise so much that the company and its investors eventually decide that they need to charge customers more for that luscious green add-on.
We're taking this to mean that ordering extra guac now will help the common good. Or something like that.
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