Chipotle’s servings have not shrunk as TikTokkers have suggested. But the fast-casual restaurant chain is reminding its workers to give customers big scoops.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
You might have heard it on social media…
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK)
RYAN LYNCH: Hey, Chipotle – we need to talk.
MARTIN: …Some customers accusing the fast-casual build-your-own-burrito chain of skimping on serving sizes.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK)
LYNCH: I’m a little bit under the weather today, but this cannot wait. I want to talk about your portion control at your restaurants, which is causing people to be very frustrated.
A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
That is comedian and TikToker Ryan Lynch. He believes that he’s not alone in his dissatisfaction. The social media site has been flooded for months with people complaining their burrito bowls aren’t exactly bursting with chicken or that servers are skimping on the steak in their tacos.
MARTIN: But Chipotle’s CEO, Brian Niccol, says the company has never directed employees to downsize your dinner.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK)
BRIAN NICCOL: First, I can tell you the portions have not gotten smaller.
MARTIN: That’s Niccol defending the company in his own TikTok with Fortune magazine, but he did suggest that a little shrug and smile to the staff might get you a little extra.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK)
NICCOL: If you come into the restaurant (laughter) and you want a little more rice or you want a little more pico, all you got to do is kind of, like – and usually, our guys and women give them a little more scoop.
MARTÍNEZ: That’s true. I do it all the time, except I have a forceful glare when I ask them for more. Now, that answer did not land so well with customers, so now Niccol is trying again, and here’s what he told shareholders in a call this week.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NICCOL: Generous portions is a core brand equity of Chipotle. It always has been, and it always will be.
MARTÍNEZ: Niccol says the company studied 3,500 locations in the U.S. and found some of them aren’t dishing up enough of the goods.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NICCOL: We probably found about 10% or more of restaurants that, you know, we really view as outliers that needed to be, you know, retrained, recoached to be executing what we believe are the right standards.
MARTIN: So some of those TikTokers were right.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter) It seems so, right?
MARTIN: Ryan Lynch, the comedian, has an idea that he thinks will help.
(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK)
LYNCH: It is called a measuring cup, OK? I don’t know if you’ve ever seen one of these before ’cause I’ve never seen one in your restaurant. The thing here, Chipotle, is that us as customers are looking for some consistency.
MARTIN: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: An old-school solution to a social media scandal, apparently.
MARTIN: But I got to be honest with you – my favorite burrito is my own.
MARTÍNEZ: Do you skimp on your own?
MARTIN: Never.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
MARTIN: Never.
MARTÍNEZ: Fair enough.
MARTIN: Especially not on the pico. Don’t do it.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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