‘Autocado’ robot prototype makes workers’ jobs easier

Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol sat down with CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Wednesday to discuss the Mexican fast-food chain’s earnings and the “Autocado” robot prototype.

Chipotle reported $2.51 billion in revenue beating $2.53 billion consensus estimates after the bell. The company’s stock has climbed 50% year to date, but it fell more than 9% in extended trading.

“The good news is, we’re driving traffic, and, obviously, that traffic is resulting in same-store sales growth,” Niccol said. “And, frankly, our supply chain team, our operators, have done a great job of managing labor, managing costs along the way.”

Excluding the pullback in the cost of avocados, Niccol said Chipotle is still feeling the effects of inflated food prices. However, he added that the company will “keep an eye on it” and is prepared to adjust its prices accordingly.

Niccol also touted Chipotle’s “Autocado” robot prototype. He said he’d been hearing consistently from workers about the difficulty of prepping avocados, which require cutting, quartering and peeling. He said the ‘Autocado’ not only makes workers’ jobs easier, but it allows them to recover faster if they find they haven’t prepared enough guacamole for the day.

“We challenged our team to come up with a robotic or an automated solution, and we’ve got one that’s a prototype, it’s the ‘Autocado,'” Niccol said. “We’re pretty excited about what it can do for us.”