🌏 Get NordVPN 2Y plan + 4 months extra here ➼ nordvpn.com/zackary It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌ Big thanks to Nord for being my first sponsor! Also, big thanks to everyone who helped out on this video! It was a massive undertaking, so thank you!
This is the exact reason i dont order food delivery anymore well mpre other reasons like some stranger in his car with your food. Idk i find that really risky. Some people are weird
Do subway next. They violated us the most. From 5$ foot longs to 5$ 6inch "deals". Also same thing id you order before hand they skimp you out sooooooo much that eating 1 full sub is as filling as the 6 inch. Its unbelievable. SUBWAY HAVE IT YOUR WAY.
The fact that their portions are so inconsistent should be a law breaking issue since the nutritional info they advertise is supposed to be accurate for people with health issues. We need WAY more regulation.
Yeah, especially for rice. They say online they give you 4 oz of rice for 210 calories. When people measure the rice portion of an average bowl though, it never fails to be 6+ oz. Ordering rice keeping us big as hell.
You went from someone I'd never heard of to someone I click when I see you've uploaded SHOCKINGLY quickly. Quality speaks for itself. Let's hope Chipotle gets the message
As a Chipotle worker I just want to thank you for not invading us by shoving a camera in our face it changes nothing just depends on the person you get and if a high official is around double looking over your portions
@@phoenixghost1099 obviously fast food workers have nothing to do with it. Y'all harass fast food workers like they're the ones setting prices and portion sizes when in reality it's the corporation. These workers are just doing their job and still get minimum wage, they do not profit off of any purchases made by customers and definitely do not get paid to get harassed! As someone who works in fast food and deals with the worst of the worst customers I fail to see how this isn't common sense to people.
@phoenixghost1099 because the managers & higher ups tell them to. They don't get a choice you buffoon. Sorry, but your burrito or bowl or whatever isn't as important as their job. Stop being entitled & just go somewhere that'll give you bigger portions..
@@mikalia8891 Swesr to god if americs made it a requirement for everyone to work one year in retail or fast food, we wouldn't have as many assholes as we do now 💀💀
Your example is perfect. Ordering a ten piece and only getting seven McNuggets would be insane. It's silly how different the orders were in this video. Well done!
Would you complain if you always got 10 nuggets but sometimes you got 12-15? It could be the smaller burritos are closer to the norm and you luck out when you get a bigger one. Or I could be simping for a multi-million dollar corp. Hope it's the first
@atrent3732 Nope you're actually, the smaller burritos n what not are actually closer to what portions should be. It's like at Moe's, qdoba, n any other place that's like Chipotle, I mean fuck at Qdoba a portion of chips for a nacho is 12 chips. It really just depends on who's makes your food at the end of the day
Chipotle manager here, had never seen or heard of your channel but this specific video popped up in my recommended (while at work oddly enough) loved this video and you honestly highlighted issues that many of us are well aware of. Internally what the problem really comes down to is a combination of training and who’s running the specific store. GMs get two bonuses a year based on performance. Included as factors of this bonus is CI (critical inventory) and budget. Critical inventory is whatever costs the store money, proteins, cheese, queso and quac specifically. The better your numbers are and the more you stay within your budget the better your bonus is and there are a lot of GMs who have zero issues with making up numbers or instructing employees to skimp. Training however is definitely the bigger of the two issues. Chipotle training is horrible, everything you learn is from videos on an iPad and in the moment shadowing someone. It gets drilled into your head that a portion of cheese or lettuce is supposed to be a three-finger pinch, but there’s no real material on what other portions should look like, mainly because our spoon method is straight up dumb and is the perfect setup for inconsistency. People are thrown on to the line, shown an eye-balled amount of food on a spoon and are expected to deliver that every time, if they don’t they get reprimanded regardless on if they give too much or too little. I will definitely say that we try to give the more correct portions for online orders but again that inconsistent training makes that an issue. The company is very resistant to change, we are only now, in 2024 getting slicers for our veggies, which is technology that has existed since before the founding of the company. It’s unlikely to change anytime soon especially as stock prices rise and more and more new stores open they will only continue to hire and transfer more and more people with less and less time for proper training as a result.
So from your response, The only ways to up the quality and consistency is to buy additional stuff and train the staff yourself for little to no benefit for you (in fact, more of a harm)
No offense to you. There are a lot of awesome managers out there doing good work, but when I see a problem with a fast food restaurant it's almost 100% of the time a problem with management. Now usually those problems are directly incentivized by upper management, but they would deny everything saying that their policies are not meant to take away from the customer's experience. When I worked in fast food, my boss would constantly scrimp and pinch pennies. It was infuriating and it had a huge impact on the food quality. He was otherwise an amazing boss, but wave that bonus in his face and he kind of became a monster, ha ha.
@AuspexAO Sometimes at smaller businesses the problems are due to the owners and fall on the managers to make do with the bare minimum. It's frustrating to be out of ingredients because the owner is 3 months lapsed on his Sysco bill... 😑 Totally _not_ speaking from personal experience or anything lol. Some owners forget that you have to continuously invest in your business to get a return.
I like how honest this channel feels. No over blown bells and whistles, just a guy saying he’s gonna do a thing and then doing it. A very “just the facts” style of video while also incorporating good storytelling
The important take away from this hour of video is the 30 seconds where the employee says "Yeah, we could use some measuring cups." If you want to know about a business, ask the people that actually run it with their hands.
Honestly it would just cut back on complains to have them actually measure the foods, but I would never blame the employee because it's not like they are spiteful shorting you. It's all time sensitive when it comes to online orders vs making one in person.
You’d think the higher ups at the company would also be concerned if an employee was giving away an extra pound of product for free. If they servings really are accurate on mobile orders, they’re losing money to in person orders that have extra. (Not saying extra food is bad, just the people who only care about numbers are strangely lax here)
@@Shoulderpads-mcgee one of the things worth considering is that chipotle is one of the companies doing a big push for roboticization and automation while also fighting against unionization efforts by the employees. It would be advantageous to the company to maintain the workers in a position where they are perceived negatively by the public. I wouldn't put it past them to be intentionally keeping procedures sloppy so that when they push out the new robots customers will be more likely to say "oh well at least it'll be consistent now!"
I lived in the Youngstown, OH area for 13 years, now reside in the Akron area. It is so refreshing seeing a RU-vidr from an area I recognize. Your Sheetz and Chipotle videos had me screaming in excitement because I KNEW where you were going, lol. May sound weird, but it is so nice seeing someone “local” ish having food or visiting places you recognize. Thank you.
Moved to West Virginia last year and had the same reaction when he mentioned and explored Niles 😂 Grew up there so it was cool to see a RU-vidr showcasing it!
I used to work at Arbys and we have a scale for meat so every sandwhich we make has the exact same amount. Idk why Chipotle can't figure our something similar.
because it would take forever to weigh each portion of food which they put into the burrito, since they do it in front of you, there's also the issue of having to clean the scale every single time you use it to avoid cross contamination. an alternative would be to pre-weigh and pre-portion each scoop of rice/meat/beans/whatever, but again, that raises prices. i don't fuck with chipotle that much any more, I'm in the UK and we've got another burrito chain called tortilla which i way prefer.
To further that point, line workers expected to go as fast as possible. As opposed to Arby's or other fast food places take usually a few minutes for your food. Fast casual trying to be faster than fast food will always be a bad idea.
@@danmurawski5790They wouldn't have to clean the scale since the tortilla for a burrito is protected by the wrapped and the bowls are obviously in the paper bowl. I think it's really just because of the extra time it would take but I think people would be okay with it if it meant consistency.
chipotle worker here, one reason for the inconsistent burritos is because different workers have different perceptions of what a standard portion is even though they are all trained on the correct amount, they also have different skill levels at wrapping burritos which can severely influence how much they put on the burrito considering whether or not they are going to be able to easily wrap the burrito or not. difference in bowl portions is a little bit sketchier, in my experience bowls are always given much bigger portion sizes compared to every other item on the menu, often being given so much food that we have to compress the food down into the bowl when putting the lid on. also the difference in chip amounts and weights is quite interesting considering that we are trained to weigh the bags and make sure they are at 4 oz for regular bags and 6 oz for the large chip bags. also i definitely agree that one way to improve the portioning consistency would be to use measuring cups instead of the spoons we currently use.
as a chipotle worker myself, i wanted to say the same thing. It's a shame the creator isnt responding to detailed responses from workers like you or others.
Worked at Chipotle for 3 years. 2017-2020, when online ordering got kicked up it gets to the point where its better to throw in the right portions because of the amount of orders you would get at a time. They have 15 min cycles where the amount of orders is uncapped. Its terrible, I’m glad I’m not still there lol. This video also made me go and get some Chipotle 😂
I just learned we have Chipotle in France??? Well I suppose next time I am in Paris or wherever one might be located I'll give it a try, the video made me want to eat there!
I had some once in LA and once in Utrecht and it just didn't feel worth the time to go there. Already don't really eat fast food (and it's just fast food, let's be real), so I mostly just take inspiration from stuff I see. So given there's no chipotle in the area I live, I just never make any Mexican/Texican food. It's also much more fussy and annoying to prep and plan for, with all the tiny bits you have to throw together and use up efficiently.
former chipotle worker here, NEVER order online. if you want points scan in stores. ALL of the items on the online ordering station are leftovers from when a batch of that item is replaced on the main line. As of recent times I believe steak is the only exception. If we do not have something in store it is simply skipped, almost all the meat is overcooked and/or burnt.
Depends which location. I worked at a couple and never did this. I wouldn’t let that happen because that’s gross and WRONG. I would make the customer something that i was proud of and would eat myself. I think it depends if the managers are decent people and the employees care about serving a good product.
My partner is a manager at chipotle and said they were instructed to actually take care of their online orders above all else. The reason for this is because if someone ordered a chicken burrito with guac and the chipotle doesn't have guac then there's all kind of issues with refunds and stuff. If someone comes through the line and there's no guac they just tell them before beginning their order and put up a sign.
Yeah. I've noticed not only that, but my portions are definitely smaller everytime I order online! 😂 When I order in person at my local spot for lunch, I usually don't eat the rest of the day until breakfast the next morning. But if I order on the app for lunch, I'm hungry like 4 hours later
Sounds like you guys had a shitty grill guy and bad management. Unfortunately not uncommon with Chipotles high turn over rates, but it’s not like that at every store. Just easy for a store to slide into that mode of dismay, hard to get it out
reading all teh comments by staff im even more grateful for living in CA and being able to go to a narrow burrito place where i get called amiga and leave with an infant sized burrito every time. which is really the larger problem of chains taking over, like walmart. wishing the workers well and that the company can get more consistent.
This happened to Subway. They were killing it in the 90s and they were pretty universally good. As they expanded, quality and consistency tanked. I still like Subway when its good, but it's such a coin flip that I never go. I love Chipolte when its good, but the trend is very familiar.
Dude, I used to love subway. Then pita pit opened up and it was a better subway. Now both of them are meh at best 😭😭😭 legit sad about the decline in quality of both stores
I found your channel off the problem with RU-vid ads video I am really glad I stuck around your video quality and concepts are top tier and your personality is really inviting to the viewer. You and your channel have immense potential
Its telling, to the quality of the video you make, that I don't live in a country with Chipotle. Never been to one, never even been to a country with Chipotle. I not only watched the whole thing; but when I had to stop halfway through, I came back. It was the next day, I just had to know how it ended. Bravo.
Serving sizes aside, their quality plummeted years ago. It used to taste like a burrito somebody made for you fresh at their house, now it tastes like food court Mexican food
Youre being dramatic. It tastes exactly the same... Ive been eating it since nearly day 1 and I also worked there for a period of time. The only difference is the price and quantity of food. The quality has not changed. Unless you are going to a specific restaurant that is just fucking everything up
@@babayaga20000 lol no way, you are either a chipotle shill or have dead taste buds. The quality hasn’t just dipped, it has absolutely plummeted. It’s like the KMart version of Qdoba now, and it used to be way way way way way better than Qdoba could even dream. Chipotle is straight trash now, you’re just eating shit food and accept it
Dude I love the structure of your videos/documentaries. Honestly some of the best and most thoughtful content I have seen on RU-vid in a while! Great job bro, keep up the dope work man.
I used to eat Chipotle up to three times per week a few years ago. now it's so over-priced and underdelivered (portion wise) that I do not eat there at all anymore. it's a waste of money and time standing in line - because god forbid you doordash and get a quarter of a bowl for $13. it's robbery.
Lived with a chipotle employee for a bit. He mentioned that even though yes there was incentivr to give smaller portions from management due to bottom line, he said the biggest reason for small portions was that the employee likely doesnt want to replace the tray when it gets empty. So if you see a tray with a smaller amount in it youre going to get less than if it were a brand new tray that was filled to the brim. So if you really want bang for your buck, wait and order when you see a new tray being brought in
"So if you really want bang for your buck, wait and order when you see a new tray being brought in" ....how? Just walk in and out of the shop every twenty minutes and check on the beans? Hang out in the store and just stand there, waiting, until they bring out fresh rice? Bring a friend who doesn't know about this, pretend like you're not hungry, and "change your mind" when fresh stuff comes out?
@flamboyantwarlock7101 you wait at one of the tables or say "hey I'm waiting for fresh chicken/steak etc." You have to have time to do it but they won't kick you out over it if it's Clear you're there to order and not loiter for hours
@gerogee111 no I'm very serious. You park at one of the barstools or chairs and watch. Or you let the guy at the cashier that you're waiting for fresh chicken/steak/etc. And you'll order when it gets brought out if they give you trouble.
Literally shit my pants when I realizing what I was hearing. Don’t research who made it if evil people producing things puts a bad taste in your mouth. I don’t care though it’s the game that holds a special place in my heart that I know it does too for many.
My wife is 4'11" and I am 6'3". She can no longer order food anymore because they will give her micro sizes compared to me. Now I just order both meals and she stands there quietly judging.
i work at chipotle and the portions have to do with many factors. many of the cooks do not properly chop up the protein. when it is in bigger chunks, less of it fits on the spoon, leaving a seemingly skimpy portion. measuring cups would the be useless. As a matter of fact, we do have measuring cups, the plastic portion cups that we put guacamole and queso in. Either way, our managers are sometimes on the mobile order line and tell us to give less, much less than 4 ounces, also because the cook is behind or because the employee doesn't call the food(meaning they don't let the cook know they're about to run our or that they need more etc.). the burritos are usually skimped out on because many chipotle employees do not know how to wrap big ass burritos so they simply put less than 4 ounces of things like the corn and hot sauces because then it'll be so soggy it won't close. the solution would just be to implement new management. orientation and all the tutorials on portions and other shit are simply some videos you watch on the work portal. many times you have no videos to watch and you just have to watch your coworkers do things that they don't know how to do themselves. Our manager only corrects us about portions and how we make things when we give too much or when their boss is in town and inspecting the stores. managers also have a lot to do with cleanliness since they are the ones who need to tell the cashier to clean the lobby or the cook to clean the grill.
This is actually the real reason. People just never worked a taco stand before. It’s really hard to portion out things that are cut by hand. Steak and chicken are cooked fresh. Everything else is from a bag.
I know you’re humble and all but let’s just stop a moment and appreciate your incredible transformation! 39:09 got your education and you’re taking such great care of yourself. Your work ethic and character of course are going to take your channel to a million subs and beyond; inspirational.
Honestly your 9th grade chemistry teacher should be proud. This is the scientific method! You're doing legitimate research. With how meticulous you are about each variable you could have actually written a paper.
i remember going to my local failing mall to hang out when there was only 5-6 stores still open, completely empty. i was even able to skateboard there for 20 minutes before being stopped, it is a surreal experience to see a place you used to go with your grandparents to every weekend, and it would be popping, to a ghost town. thanks, amazon. no really, thank you, you've made everything better.
My best tip is to simply befriend the staff, I work at a chipotle, and there’s this one guy that whenever he comes in everybody, make sure to give him a free extra scoop whenever he comes in. And it all started because he was super nice.
I go to my local chipotle 4 days a week for a my post workout meals, and I’ve been doing that for like 7-8 months at this point. I’ve befriended almost all the staff during that time and they will regularly give me a free bag of chips or extra scoops of stuff for free, and from time to time, will even give me my meal for free. Befriending the staff and just being friendly in general is a great way to ensure you have a good experience at food places.
Perfect timing since I guess your Sheetz vid is getting lots of love from the algorithm. I finished that one yesterday and to have this new one immediately the next day is awesome. Also, I appreciate you sharing some of your hobbies and social activities with friends etc in these vids (as well as even dates in the last one) and just the random fun you have alone. It adds personality and relatability, not to mention it feels more well rounded + diversified than a lot of other similar vids I've watched. I get bored easily and it just doesn't happen with your content.
It's literally been 3 months since the gas station video. How exactly is this video "perfectly timed"? Maybe for the fact that you JUST watched that video, but this is hardly "perfectly timed"
@@Dyanosisdude huh? he didn’t say it was perfect timing for anyone except himself because of his circumstances. it’s so weird that you found a problem with that 😂
This is why more and more restaurants are weighing out and bagging portions, it can be the difference between a successful business and bankruptcy, but it also protects the customer from being screwed over. Plus it helps keep calories consistent and lets people order while knowing the exact macros in their meals.
fun fact about the dog poster at Raising Cane's. So it's actually the owner's dog, named Raising Cane 3. The owner named his restaurant after his golden retriever, Raising Cane 1 (who sadly him as well as Raising Cane 2 passed) and the dogs have been the mascot of the store since the founding. How do I know about this? Well, I worked at a Cane's for a few years before quitting.
@isabellagutierrez4947 it's a bad work environment from my experience. All of my management were immature young people that refused to keep standards and loved to play favorites. As an immature young person atleast i can acknowledge there is a time and a place and your workplace should not be treated like a highschool. The conditions and work environment continued to decline exponentially while I was there. As far as cleanliness, there was a SHIT ton of improper training and I was forced to train people long before I was even promoted. The quality of the clean heavily depended on the people working and a majority of the time in my experience I was one of the few that kept up with it. It was very high stress and I was left working 8 - 10 hour shifts if not longer some days without a break. I was there for a few months shy of a year and it only got worse the longer I was there tbh
@isabellagutierrez4947 moved from the store I worked at, and sadly the manager I had didn't want me to become a manager. Eight years of working in the drive thru with no way to improve sorta made me not want to be with the company anymore. Sorry for replying so late, BTW, just saw your comment.
Me and a couple of friends had a 24 hour roadtrip and got Chipotle across multiple states. Food quality and proportions definitely varied. It seems like to get the best burrito value, order a bowl in person and get a tortilla on the side to wrap it yourself.
Yep, this is the best way to go and order in person. It's why I even avoid drive throughs now if ordering inside isn't too busy. Have gotten screwed many times at taco bell, dunkin or McDonald's with wrong orders, missing items or just simply wrong portions. Dunkin seems to be the only fast food place that has made mostly positive changes...rarely out of my favorite donuts, good quality, donuts size may vary but seems to be mostly consistent wherever I go and the coffee is always on point.
There's no way you're verified! I remember when you only had a few thousand subscribers and I thought to myself, " This content is too good for this guy not to be wildly popular." and now here you are! Amazing job my man!
I hope he stays honest and doesn't let the RU-vid bucks get to his head lol. Just playing. I hope he makes alot of money from these. It takes a great deal of editing and hard work on his part. I like that he backs his work up by evidence
I really love the way you just give glimpses into your life. It's good to see someone genuinely engaging with their community and I think more people should do that
As an ex-chipotle worker here’s my position on what it’s like. (I worked at two different locations in two different states. One was independently owned the other was “corporate owned”) I can say that there is a reason the portion sizes are inconsistent. We’re very understaffed, the cooks are overworked (there are supposed to be 2-3 at all times, but we usually only had 1) and we only have a limited amount of cold stuff. It’s also up to the ones making your bowls to get them from halfway across the store. Some stores have little freezers under the cold side, but not all of them. For the DML (online ordering) we’re put on a timer and the amount of time we get for orders is inconsistent, we can get anywhere from 30-5 minutes for an order of any size (the biggest I had to make was about 11 entrees and 11 sides in like 6-7 ish minutes) And we are always told to not use up all of the ingredients so that the front line is always stocked up. So yeah, don’t order online that’s a big gamble. And some employees are trained on how to properly portion and some are not. At the independently owned one, I was told to pray and do what feels right. Corporate was strict and also vague-ish, they told us (I was DML) one spoonful of protein, two spoonfuls of rice, and a spoonful of beans. If you ask for extra we’re told to do half a spoonful. Also it gets HOT behind the counter, and depending on how busy it is you may not get a sip of water for 2-3 hours. So fatigue is a big thing (I was sent home multiple times because it got so bad for me) And managers are ON YOUR ASS about clean counters. Which, yeah makes sense but they always did it at the most inconvenient times, we would have lines out the door and a GM would scold us for having food on the counter. They never did shit about it, and when the line disappears you better not get water or go to the bathroom until it is pristine and the floor is sweeped. Overall, working at chipotle is stressful and physically demanding especially if you’re a cook or DML person. Front line isn’t too bad, but definitely not easy. And prep/dish is the BEST but they never have people in those positions and just expect the DML/ closers to do it. Also don’t get the chips unless you can see an employee making some in the back. We would hold some chips for up to 3 days at a time, and they only had us make more once we were completely out of premade chips. (Also yeah, they are made in house, just in very big batches) Also, I never was told to make bowls better for “influencers” but I was told to make “perfect” bowls whenever we got orders under a specific name (usually corporate employees or the manager above GM) Note: I actually really liked working at chipotle, mainly because the locations I worked at were very predictable and I worked closing shifts mainly on weekends. (I’m autistic, so while I did have my problems with the physicality, the pros for me made it worth it)
this is shockingly similar to how the panda express I worked at functioned! completely different restaurant, same problems and staffing issues. panda and chipotle seem to be very similar with the way the cooks and FOH work. I also only stayed in that job for as long as I did for the same reasons lol. I’m autistic as well, and I loved how consistent and rigid the job was. Panda was a breeze and I miss it, the management (I had ridiculously incompetent and cruel managers) and staffing issues killed it for me in the end. now i’m at starbucks and every drink is different, and we are in different positions with different tasks everyday, which is a struggle, even after 2 years. I love my coworkers and my manager is the very best, so that makes it tolerable, and I genuinely am happy to be there.
Hmm..I find this comment to be a little sus. According to Chipotle's corporate relations website all US locations are owned and operated directly by Chipotle. So how is it you worked for an independently owned Chipotle in two states? "Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants are company-owned. We don't operate under a franchise model and are able to maintain control over the quality and consistency of our food and service across all of our locations."
@@Awaken3dPanda I didn’t lol. I worked for one “independently owned” chipotle in one state, and a “corporate owned” chipotle in another state. I say the first one was “independently owned” because the actual owner of the physical store would stop in from time to time, I don’t really know if it was independent owned I just called it independently owned for simplicity sake. The other store I worked at I know for sure is “corporate owned” because they would watch over the cameras and were on us about shit that only corporate cares about. Also I single out the fact that the owner of the first store would stop in because the second store was literally owned by corporate (I was physically told that it “had no owner”) Believe me or not, I don’t really care, I just thought that I had an interesting perspective to share considering the video topic.
i was legitimately just discussing chiptole with a coworker a few days ago. I was telling her that i dont like our local location and know that if im craving it, i have to drive 20 minutes to another town to get something that tastes right. great video!
Hey, GM at Chipotle for 5 years. It's the managers and the training they do and whether their district managers follow up on said training. At some stores, the management cares about making sure the crew has been correctly trained, and at others, the inmates run the asylum and you end up with burnt steak and chicken (no one is using cooking timers) and dirty stores (no one cares about shift change/running sidework). It's not a corporate conspiracy, they sent training materials constantly to stores to show each of them the "Chipotle Way" as they called it. It's store to store, and it devolves into what you saw at store 3 when there's no care given by anyone from the district manager down to the newest employee.
I have 2 Chipoltes equal distant for me. I would prefer to use the one with the drive thru lane, but they almost always get orders wrong so I go to the other one where they almost always do it right.
It's funny because what you just described is all fast food restaurants. I think the problem here is the glow of "that era when Chipotle was still good" has worn off and the long term consequences of running a corporation like a fast food chain -lower worker wages, poor training, increased load on lower management, predatory franchising practices etc. - have started to show. People felt like chipotle was some kind of step above regular fast food, but no, it's been that from the start.
As a GM you should also make sure you hire good shift leads (and good regular staff) who are hard working and responsible and are able to properly finish all their Shift Lead tasks such as wiping tables down, making sure dishes are washed, prep is done , temps are due and the Main Line is fully stocked before night shift shows up. I hope you're not one of those GM's that only schedules themselves in the mornings and leaves before the night shift rush starts. Don't act like your store is perfect.
It's still a sign of inefficiency and bad business practices. Portions are inconsistent? Okay then use scales or measuring cups so it's human error proof. If other fast casual franchises can get it right, then so can Chipotle. Never had a bad experience with Qdoba or Moe's around me (in terms of portion size and quality). Training is inconsistent across locations? Okay, then what are your managers doing? And then their managers, etc. Is nobody following up on quality checks or surprise visits to make sure the locations are performing to expectations. It's a simple quality audit, and around RTE food, that's absolutely paramount. Get someone sick and it's a lawsuit. Cost tracking and revenue. Chipotle isnt franchise run, it's company owned. So, it's even more critical for Chipotle to manage their overhead and PC2 compared to franchise restaurants like McDonald's that are more of a real estate company as opposed to a fast food. If a location is losing money, is no action taken? It makes sense that locations that aren't profitable are going to skimp on ingredients and have worse quality since they're likely stretching the same meat or ingredients longer throughout the day. To me, all of this is deceptive business practices when Chipotle is open about their portion size but cannot guarantee accountability and consistency. Tl;dr a shit manager leads to shit results.
I worked at a Chipotle location in Chandler, AZ and we were one of the best stores of the franchises in the area. This was 2013 so I think there was still some of that honeymoon phase where Chipotle was still sort of a novelty and people looked at it as a step above other fast food chains. We had tons of KMs moving up and becoming restauranteurs and getting their own stores. Part of the fun was doing morning prep and seeing how fast we could chop bell peppers, jalapenos, lettuce, etc. I actually developed decent knife skills from doing prep in the mornings. I still use the techniques I learned to dice and do fajita veggies with onions. I also remembered the guac recipe and have made it at home from time to time. My favorite was using the piano wire to cut the huge blocks of cheese. I think it depends on whether the employees take pride in their work. I remember getting a compliment from a lady who told one of the managers that the chicken she had was the best she'd ever eaten at Chipotle. I was running the grill that day so I was pretty proud of myself.
I used to eat chipotle three times a week after the gym when i was younger and healthy. Loved it. The quality and consistency has DROPPED. Like so much. I never go there anymore.
Your findings at the end were pretty substantial. I've always assumed burritos were less food than bowls because they had to be wrapped, but it seems like it's just up to preference. I wonder what the measurements would be like if you did get extra beans and rice, which at least at the locations around me, is no additional charge. It seems like if you get extras then even with an online order your bowl is pretty packed. Glad you tested this out, so that we all know the main moral of the story, which is order in person, and always go to the best rated chipotle you can access
i work at a chipotle and iv had to literally tell my coworkers to put more food into online orders multiple times. theres a lot of issues especially with managers stopping people from doing just whatever they want.
The best comparison I’ve heard is that Chipotle is the new Subway. First it was our healthy alternative and once it peaked the quality just started going downhill. The only thing they are missing is a spokesperson scandal.
My Personal take: If Chipotle were to find some automated system to perfectly portion out each order, they wouldn't receive much attention for the inconsistencies. I believe the inconsistencies might be their competitive advantage over other restaurants. The thrill that you may get a slightly over-proportioned meal than you can expect could be the unconscious decision driving a sale. Update, just finished the video and I acknowledge that he did address this. This was simply my take at the start of the video.
At Jersey Mikes, if we had a sub made wrong for a online, we would save it until a walk in came and give it to them same price on soggy bread.. Mind you oil and vinegar is doused on these subs when made. All told to do by are mangers.
Dude. I dunno who you are, but RU-vid guided me here and I'm now done with your 55minute- 27second assessment of your story and findings. Absolutely wonderful. Subscribed for the foreseeable future.
Excellent video! As someone afraid of talking to people its so commendable to interview these ppl. Awesome move getting an employee to speak. It sucks that employees trying to make a living and people who want a meal are screwed by managers and corporate
When I worked at Chipotle about a decade ago (18), we had bigger spoons and did "tap serve" where we made sure the spoons were empty before scooping blah blah blah. Never had a complaint there for serving size.
I worked at Chipotle in Clearwater Florida 14 years ago, that style of store for your first visit was first implemented at my store, it was built from the ground up and they called it their new modern industrial style. We were the first to test this out and it was a huge hit back then, we were busy from open to close everyday, guests loved the look back then.
When you were about to hit the Chipotlane, I knew exactly what was about to happen XD. They skimp so hard for some reason on that. I think it's because they have a separate burrito making line dedicated to it and they don't want to refill it as often or make double food because they would have split it between the front of house. Maybe managers are limiting to try and not waste as much.
I'm absolutely dying seeing you talk to McKinley. I used to work there and we jokingly did voices for him all the time, referring to him as Good Ole Willie. The random busts surrounding him are all just rich dudes that new Carnegie who donated a ton of money to create the Memorial and the library that's inside of it. I have never seen someone explore Niles before and this was really wild to see. I used to go to that location many years ago and it did always slap harder than the other ones I've been to.
I worked at Chipotle as a line cook and honestly part of the reason it probably isn’t consistent across stores is because if we gave you a little ‘too much’ we’d get a talking to, lol. We’d always have to be super careful with the portions because of management breathing over our necks about it. Wasn’t the worst but it wasn’t fun when I’d get the ‘why only that much’ question in front of my manager. 😅 This was years ago so maybe that’s changed, but that’s my experience.
Noble effort. You only mentioned it but I think the only detail needing more data is rice as cheap stuffing. The %age of rice, which is heavy with water, is used to fill out burritos even in nice sit-down dining places. You might get gorgeous presentations and the base broth might be tasty but sometimes it's +50% rice. Aside from that I discourage franchise chain places. Even if it takes a little more distance, there are plenty of hard working independent restaurants of different kinds that would appreciate your business instead of paying a corporation who pays the hired worker.
Thanks for actually documenting the portion difference by order type and for the "should be" numbers for each item. I'd totally be down with them using portion cups, even if it meant I got less on in store visits.
Glad to see you're still kicking (watched your Sheetz 30-day challenge) and did a challenge for Chipotle! I've noticed inconsistencies between two Chips I frequent with portions and quality, especially with online orders (between a college town and a big city), and had no clue of these conspiracies until now. Can't wait to see what you do next--have a lit day!
A couple years ago they made it so that you could only order a quesadilla online. I didn’t know that until I walked in, tried to order one, and was told I’d have to order online. I just got in my car and went to Moe’s. I haven’t gone to a chipotle since.
The last time I ordered one online (DoorDash) there was NO QUESADILLA. They just left it out. I know the dasher didn’t take it because it was taped shut and there were no grease marks or anything in the quesadilla box. Just beans, rice and sour cream lmao.
This video unlocked a memory for me! My grandmother lived in Niles and for one year, my family actually moved in with her. Seeing the McKinley statue reminded me of the time I spent at the attached library for a summer reading program. I had to have been 4th grade I think? Either way, great video, great presentation. Keep up the great work!
You’re easily underrated at this so far, but the passion and consistency is impressive. Keep up the awesome videos! I’ll be happily awaiting another masterpiece 🙂
First video of yours I've ever watched and even though it was nearly 60 minutes long, it was both riveting and oddly therapeutic. Job well done, please keep them coming.
Watched this whole thing and for science tonight I ordered your exact order on the app and in person while I picked it up (burrito) I did however ask for extra rice, beans, and cheese in the app and in person. Online burrito was 1.5lbs and my in person burrito was 2.2 lbs I seen people talking about online getting app points, but you scan your app in person orders and still get points
Awesome you took the time to make this documentary! You are really informative and entertaining all in one! Ps It was cool how you chose different locations and ate the burritos at different local attractions too! Really cool!
Psychologically speaking it def makes sense that your orders would be bigger on average in person. They literally have you staring then down as they prepare your meal, so most people would feel some level of pressure to please the customer for any number of reasons. An online order isn’t being scrutinized in real-time.
Your channel is quickly becoming one of my favourites!! Incredible dedication and production quality. Now we need a collab with Eddy Burback. 30 days of nerdy data and existential meanderings.
I think the wrapping has gotten worse bc bowls seem to have overwhelmingly taken over at Chipotle. Every time I have been in there it's mostly all bowls.
The stomach pain might have been IBS, happens to me occasionally when I don't chew thoroughly enough, especially in conjunction with high fiber/raw vegetables. Peppermint extract capsules work great, usually takes care of the pain within an hour.
If you want consistency, you will 100% get less food. I worked at chipotle for about a year and a half, was a manager for half of that time, and I assure you larger portion sizes are almost always because that employee making your food decided to give you so much. Your meat portion is supposed to fit in a side cup if you want to listen to corporate portion sizes
It's crazy to see a channel of this size coming from my hometown and doing so well on RU-vid. The funniest part is seeing all the places you went during your journey and knowing how growing up in the area, the park, dam, Eastwood Mall (rip SV), and Walmart were the best hang out spots around! Fantastic content, love the food challenges, hope to see others in the future.
