If you’ve been scrolling X or chatting with friends lately, you might’ve heard a wild rumor: Chipotle Mexican Grill, the king of fast-casual burritos, is supposedly shutting down all its restaurants and filing for bankruptcy in 2025. Cue the panic—people love their guac and queso too much for this to be real, right? Well. Around March 20, 2025, social media lit up with claims that Chipotle was on the verge of collapse. Posts on X said the company was “closing all restaurants” and “declaring bankruptcy.” One user commented, “The number of businesses declaring bankruptcy is very eerie,” while another joked, “Good news for everyone’s intestines.” The rumor spread quickly, and by March 25, panic was in full swing as people tried to make sense of how a brand as big as Chipotle could disappear overnight. It didn’t help that the U.S. economy’s been shaky in spots, making the rumor feel slightly more plausible. But there was just one problem—it wasn’t true.
This all started with a small article from a Spanish news site called Unión Rayo. On March 21, they reported that Chipotle had closed its Santa Monica-based Farmesa Fresh Eatery, a health-forward test kitchen the brand quietly launched in 2023. The eatery was short-lived, closing in 2024 after a trial run. But the article included a giant Chipotle logo with the story, and that image—plus the language barrier—confused readers into thinking the entire Chipotle chain had collapsed. The story was then shared across platforms, stripped of context, and transformed into “Chipotle’s bankrupt” by March 22. Within hours, it had snowballed into full-blown misinformation.
As the rumor caught fire, Chipotle moved quickly to squash it. “That’s false,” and clarified that Farmesa was a test concept completely separate from their core business. Even Unión Rayo issued an apology for the confusion. By March 25, major outlets like USA Today were reporting that there was no bankruptcy, no mass closures, and no financial instability. But despite the facts, the rumor had already taken hold, especially on X, where some users were still unsure whether they’d be able to grab a burrito next week.
Why People Believed It
There’s a reason this kind of rumor took off. Chipotle’s a staple for millions of people, with more than 3,700 restaurants open as of March 2025. The idea of it disappearing was hard to process—but not impossible to imagine. With other big brands like Party City and Joann announcing closures in 2025, folks were on edge. Add in Chipotle’s past issues—like the 2015 E. coli outbreak and the closure of 65 stores in 2018—and it doesn’t take much for people to assume the worst. But this time, there was no real smoke behind the fire. The panic was based entirely on confusion.
In fact, Chipotle is thriving. According to their February 2025 earnings report, they pulled in $11.3 billion in revenue for 2024—a 14.6% jump from the previous year. They’re sitting on $2 billion in cash and have zero debt. During 2024 alone, they opened 304 new restaurants and closed just five. Most of the new spots came with Chipotlanes, the brand’s drive-thru-style format that continues to boost sales. For 2025, they’re planning to open another 315 to 345 locations, with a focus on expansion into Dubai and deeper penetration into the Canadian market. The long-term goal? Hit 7,000 stores globally by 2030. That’s not what a company headed for bankruptcy looks like.
As the truth came out, X users did what they always do—laughed it off. “My coworker said Chipotle’s closing—I knew it was a lie,” one person posted. Others joked, “How’s Chipotle bankrupt when I’m broke from guac every day?” The company even poked fun at the false report during an internal briefing, according to sources close to the brand. While the initial rumor might have caused a momentary burrito crisis, the general mood online quickly shifted back to normal. People were relieved, if not a little amused, that they could still grab their double steak bowl without interruption.