Chipotle’s CEO made a shocking admission after the popular Mexican chain was accused of cutting portion sizes.
Chipotle President and CEO Brian Niccol announced during the company’s second-quarter earnings conference call on Wednesday that Chipotle found that more than 10 percent of its 3,500 locations had poor ratings for portion size.
Niccol told analysts the company is now investing in training employees at those “atypical” locations to ensure they are putting the right amount of ingredients into burritos and bowls.
“We’ll invest in it and find a way to make sure we do it consistently every time,” he said, adding that the company was “committed to making this investment to reinforce that Chipotle stands for a generous amount of fresh, delicious food at fair prices for every customer visit.”
However, Niccol admitted that this change will only be implemented in the 10 percent of the chain’s restaurants that are currently underperforming, while it appears to be a normal situation for the remaining 90 percent of restaurants.
Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol denied that portion sizes are being reduced and revealed that he will train staff to ensure consistency across all of its stores.
Niccol also strongly denied any plot to defraud customers.
“First and foremost, there was never a directive to offer less to our customers,” he said. “Generous portions are a core brand value of Chipotle. They always have been and always will be.”
“Our customers expect this now more than ever, and we are committed to making this investment to reinforce that Chipotle represents a generous amount of delicious, fresh food at fair prices to every customer every visit,” Niccol said.
The response comes after widespread complaints about reduced portion sizes at Chipotle surfaced on social media, leading to customer dissatisfaction and viral videos.
This came after Wells Fargo analyst Zachary Fadem and his team set out to test the theory that Chipotle has been skimping on its once-large portions following a series of videos posted on TikTok showing employees barely filling their burrito bowls.
The team ordered and weighed 75 bowls from eight locations in New York City and kept the variables the same by ordering the same ingredients: white rice, black beans, chicken, pico de gallo, cheese and lettuce. according to Barrons.
Nicol was forced to respond after Wells Fargo analyst Zachary Fadem and his team set out to test the theory that Chipotle has been skimping on its once-large portions.
They were stunned to find huge variation between locations: some serving bowls weighed up to 33 percent more than others.
The largest burrito bowl the team ordered weighed 27 ounces, while the smallest weighed just 14 ounces.
Among the 75 burrito bowls handed out for Wells Fargo analysts’ lunches, the average weight was about 21.5 ounces.
Fadem’s study comes after months of TikTok users claiming that Chipotle workers were skimping on ingredients.
The trend began in early May, when Keith Lee, a former mixed martial arts fighter and TikTok food critic who has more than 16 million followers on the app, posted a video showing him digging through a burrito bowl and seemingly not finding any of the chicken he ordered.
‘These portions are crazy,’ he said. he said in the video.
Later that month, another influencer, Isaac Francis, filmed himself ordering from Chipotle and indignantly asking for more rice and chicken.
Zachary Fadem found huge discrepancies in portion sizes from one place to another
In the video’s caption, she wrote that she “couldn’t allow” the employee to “disrespect me with that size of protein.”
However, employees soon responded to the “dehumanizing” trend and said that being filmed at work was causing them stress.
Laurie Schalow, Chipotle’s director of corporate affairs, He also told CNN that bowl sizes can vary depending on the amount of ingredients the customer chooses or if they choose to make any ingredients “light” or “extra light.”
But Nicol said customers were free to ask for more of any ingredient, saying he wants his clientele to be “excited” about the food.
The controversy has not hurt Chipotle’s sales, however, which beat analysts’ expectations of rising about 18 percent in the second quarter.