Chipotle Mexican Grill raised prices 3.5% to 4% to help offset higher employee wages.

The fast-casual chain raised menu prices 3.5 to 4% to help offset an increase in employee wages, Chipotle Chief Financial Officer Jack Hartung said at the Baird Global Consumer, Technology & Services Conference Tuesday.

"We really prefer not to take pricing, but it made sense in this scenario to invest in our employees and get these restaurants staffed and make sure that we had the pipeline of people to support our growth," CEO Brian Niccol said at the Baird conference.

After the increase, he said, a chicken burrito was still "well below $8," except for higher price markets such as New York

Hartung said the industry was feeling inflation pressures, which are focused on labor

"Our approach was to get in front of this and lead, to first invest in our people and then to do the right thing," he said