This meme banks on the viewer not knowing the context behind Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol’s compensation, the economics of price inflation and basic finance. Which is a safe bet in today’s world, so here’s the breakdown:

▪️First, this “$24M raise” occurred in 2020. The viewer would assume “last year” means 2021, when rising prices became big news, but in fact was a year earlier when prices weren’t yet spiking.
https://www.nrn.com/fast-casual/chipotle-mexican-grill-ceo-brian-niccol-made-38-million-2020-2898-times-more-median

▪️For context, Niccol’s 2018 compensation was $33.5M, which went down by over half to $16.1M in 2019 (remember all the memes bemoaning his $17M paycut?). It then went up to $38M in 2020.
https://www.salary.com/tools/executive-compensation-calculator/brian-niccol-salary-bonus-stock-options-for-chipotle-mexican-grill-inc?year=2020

▪️Niccol’s salary was initially set to be $14.8M in 2020, but because of the company’s stellar performance that year, he qualified for large financial bonuses. That’s where the “$24M raise” comes from. With Covid lockdowns and mandates, fast food places like Chipotle benefited & flourished.

▪️Of the CEO’s $38M earnings, just $1.2M was base pay, while $33M was stock awards and options. Keep in mind, stock awards aren’t paid out like a salary by Chipotle, pressuring their bottom line to raise burrito prices. They are borne by shareholders diluting their own stock, in hopes that these rewards incentivize the CEO to increase the value of the company.

▪️Which it did. Chipotle’s stock went up more than 65% in 2020 alone, and since Niccol joined the company in 2018, its market cap has increased by $30.6B, a 475% increase. In this context, $30M in stock grants are a rounding error to the company, and a winning one at that.
https://www.qsrmagazine.com/fast-casual/chipotle-ceos-pay-increased-137-percent-38-million-2020

▪️Chipotle also gave $40M in bonuses and assistance to employees during the pandemic, as well as another $13M in tuition assistance. But while this was more than CEO compensation, even this would pale in comparison to giving each employee a $1/hr raise.
https://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/chipotle-paid-out-over-40-million-bonuses-and-assistance-pay-employees-during-covid-19

▪️Chipotle has 88,000 employees. Assuming they work even just 25 hrs/week, a $1hr raise is an extra $114.4M per year (not including benefits). A $2/hr raise, probably more in line with restaurant worker salaries over the pandemic, would be an extra $228.8M.

▪️And, of course, this is just one component of burrito prices. All of the meat, rice, beans and produce got more expensive, which gets passed on with higher menu prices. The economic reality is that the Chipotle’s CEO pay has very little to do with burrito prices.