Chipotle raises prices about 40 cents for a $10 meal to cover higher wages for workers

Chipotle Mexican Grill has hiked menu prices by roughly 4 percent to cover the cost of raising its workers’ wages. Across the restaurant industry, chains such as Chipotle, Starbucks and McDonald’s have been increasing hourly pay for employees of company-owned locations in a bid to attract new workers and retain their current ones. Consumer demand has come roaring back for restaurant meals, but the workforce has been slower to return, pushing eateries to sweeten the deal. In May, the leisure and hospitality industries added 292,000 jobs, but employment in those fields is still down by 2.5 million compared with pre-pandemic levels, according to the Department of Labor.