With Chipotle hiring its new CEO this past November, promises to update their kitchens, expand locations, and drive growth in North America are keeping their plate full. But how has Chipotle matched up against direct competitors like Taco Bell, Del Taco, Moe’s Southwest Grill, Rubio's, Qdoba, and Baja Fresh? We dove into creative and channel strategies, and how customers have been interacting with their apps from Jan. of last year through YTD 2025, to see who’s handling the heat.

Taco-bout no Competition: Taco Bell More Than Doubles Chipotle’s Digital Advertising Spend in 2025

As Taco Bell and Chipotle top consumer brand awareness, it’s no surprise that both advertisers accounted for 67% and 25% of US ad spend amongst the Tex-Mex advertisers in Q1 2025. The largest advertiser in the Tex-Mex category, Taco Bell also had the highest increase in US ad spend during the same period, up 50% YoY.

While they don’t have the same budgets as their competitors, when it comes to smaller Tex-Mex restaurants like Del Taco, Qdoba, Moe’s, and Rubio's, competition is still fierce in the regions where they co-exist. 

Total US ad spend across Tex-Mex brands is up 35% YoY in the first quarter of 2025, up from 18% YoY in 2024. In fact, Moe’s Southwest Grill increased its US ad spend by a massive 70% in 2024, YoY, dropping Chipotle to the number two spot with a 31% YoY increase.

However, where each brand has focused their ad spend is just as important. Chipotle and Taco Bell spread their ads across a variety of channels, both allocating nearly equal amounts on OTT (24% & 23% respectively), Snapchat (18% and 11% respectively), and Instagram (18% & 11% respectively). And while Chipotle’s channel strategy deviated from its top competitor with 19% spend on Desktop Video, Taco Bell diversified even more with matching 17% spend on YouTube and TikTok. Rubio’s, Moe’s, and Baja Fresh focused the bulk of their spend on Facebook and Instagram, funneling smaller budgets into fewer channels for maximum impact. Del Taco focused spend across short form video platforms with 35% on Instagram and 22% on both TikTok and OTT.

With Chipotle and Taco Bell canvassing so many channels, how did that affect impression share? OTT seemed to offer the lowest ROI with only 7% and 9% impression share, respectively, resulting from nearly a quarter of their ad spend. Desktop Video also fared poorly for Chipotle with only 9% impression share, while Reddit netted 15% from its 5% spend. Snapchat was the winner for Taco Bell impressions, outperforming ad spend with 20%. Del Taco saw its largest jump on Instagram with 50% impression share.

Fresh Ingredients Aren’t Cutting it: Tex Mex Creative Strategies get Spicy

What creatives and campaigns drove some of the larger spikes in ad spend since 2024? Chipotle focused on new or returning products to drive customer retention, promoting their smoked brisket and honey chicken in September, 2024, along with the return of chicken al pastor.

Taco Bell ad spend spiked heavily in May, 2024 as they introduced their own new product, the Cantina Chicken Crispy Taco, allocating nearly 50% of their budget for the month on OTT and YouTube with videos featuring actor Jason Sudeikis, and basketball star, LeBron James. 

Moe’s ad spend significantly increased between Sept. and Dec., 2024 on Facebook and Instagram as they promoted their premium, fresh, bold ingredients. And with increased ad spend in Feb. and July of ‘24, Baja Fresh similarly pushed ads for - wouldn’t you know it - fresh, bold flavors - as both brands took a page from Chipotle’s playbook which has consistently used that type of creative messaging as their foundation.

Qdoba ad spend hit its peak in October, 2024 using seasonality as its secret weapon, promoting an ad campaign for “BOOGO,” their take on buy one entree, get one free.

Del Taco took a different tack in June, 2024, promoting ads for their burritos that geared messaging towards Gen-Z. If you’re in the dark on what “that drip” is, we can translate:

Millennials: You've got swag, or you're fresh. Gen-X: Cool outfit, bro. Baby Boomers: You're looking sharp, or dapper.

Whatever age you are, Del Taco is really just trying to say - you look good eating that burrito.

Mobile App Downloads for Taco Bell Soar After Digital Advertising Push

If that ringing in your ears is because you’re hungry, chances are you’re about to open the Taco Bell app. In fact, the belle of Tex-Mex brands accounted for 60% of US downloads for the group in the first quarter of 2025, with Chipotle a distant second at 30%. While both apps were the only ones to show an increase in downloads in Q1 2025 (Chipotle 4% and Taco Bell 10%, respectively), Taco Bell and Qdoba had the greatest increases of 36% and 32% YoY from Q1 2024.

One of the most impactful reasons for Taco Bell’s double digit mobile growth - an ambitious US ad spend push with a 10% increase in 2023, and 20% increase YoY in 2024.

Across the board, however, US monthly active users across the Tex Mex category were down 1% in Q1 YoY, with only Taco Bell and Qdoba seeing growth of 10% and 21%, respectively. Conversely Moe’s Southwest Grill and Rubio’s both saw a 23% decline in US MAUs. Note: The Baja Fresh app registered too low of a threshold to be measured, which might be a story in and of itself. 

Web Insights (includes Chiotle, Del Taco, Moe’s, Qdoba, and Taco Bell)

One of our newest products, Web Insights, offers a glimpse into how customers are engaging with brands on their websites.

Interestingly, 78% of unique visitors accessed websites for Tex Mex brands on their mobile device in Q1 2025, with Chipotle accounting for 48% of total unique US visitors across the web, and Taco Bell close behind at 46%. 

Both advertisers have, however, seen significant declines in web visitors, down 37% and 33% respectively in Q1, YoY.

That's a (Burrito) Wrap

While Chipotle remains one of the top brands in the Tex-Mex space they have lofty goals to be El Gran Queso. As they look to improve kitchen operations, adopt automation to help open more than 3000 more locations, and forge international partnerships, ad spend and app engagement will be crucial to gain market share and retain customers. 

But, creative messaging across Tex-Mex competitors is quite similar, save for Taco Bell, who have gone bold with celebrity and pro athlete endorsements. The only thing we can say for certain - if you’re looking for Tex-Mex, customers have choices, regardless if they have that drip or not. 

Hungry for more digital advertising, mobile, and web insights? We’re here to serve. Click below to schedule a demo.