A Chipotle customer, Mr. K, recently voiced his dissatisfaction after noticing a decrease in portion sizes during his visit. Mr. K ordered a chicken bowl but received very few pieces of chicken. He claimed that when he began filming a video on his smartphone to post his complaint on social media, the staff started filling his bowl generously.
The controversy regarding portion sizes at Chipotle, a popular Mexican food chain, has proven to be true.
Recently, Wells Fargo analysts conducted a study in eight Chipotle locations in New York City. They purchased 75 burrito bowls through both online and in-person orders and measured their weight to identify discrepancies in portion sizes between stores. The analysis revealed inconsistencies in the portion sizes of burrito bowls across different Chipotle locations.
The study found an average difference of 33% in portion sizes for the same orders across different stores. Comparing the heaviest and lightest burrito bowls showed a staggering 87% difference. Wells Fargo analysts emphasized the need for Chipotle to improve the accuracy and consistency of their orders.
The portion size controversy at Chipotle gained widespread attention after a popular TikToker, Kieth Lee, posted a video highlighting significant differences in portion sizes and declining service quality at Chipotle. The video garnered over 2.2 million views and sparked extensive debate in the comments.
In response to the controversy, Chipotle initially stated that differences in portion sizes could be due to the number and type of ingredients chosen by the customers, asserting that their portion sizes are generally consistent across locations. Chipotle’s CEO, Brian Niccol, denied the allegations, stating, “This is not true,” and called the claims disrespectful to Chipotle employees. He added that the company strives to present perfect meals using high-quality ingredients.
As the debate intensified, Chipotle’s CEO stated on July 24, “We’ve always felt the key equity of Chipotle is these generous portion sizes, so we wanted to make sure we’re executing consistently across the system.” He added, “We’ve probably found about 10% or more of restaurants that we really view as outliers that needed to be retrained, re-coached to be executing against what we believe are the right standards.”
Despite the portion size controversy, Chipotle reported an 18.2% increase in sales, an 8.7% rise in transaction numbers, and a 2.4% increase in average spending per transaction in the second quarter of this year compared to the previous year.
BY HAUEN CHUNG, YOUNGNAM KIM [chung.haeun@koreadaily.com]
