Chipotle Founder to Step Down as CEO After Comeback Falters

[pasha0672]

@%E2%A0%80%E2%A0%80%E2%97%87 I think giving people more rice, while a bit deceptive, would make the portions bigger. American consumers like big portions.

 

[%E2%A0%80%E2%A0%80%E2%97%87]

@pasha0672 I ask for extra rice every time I go, because it fills me up, but also because they generally give more of everything else as a result. So you're definitely right.

 

[pasha0672]

@%E2%A0%80%E2%A0%80%E2%97%87 I do the same when I'm hungry or I see them being stingy with the rice.

 

[bumbum2017]

@carenski In college I remember barely being able to finish a burrito. Like...BARELY. Now I can comfortably finish one, and I probably eat less than I did back then.

 

[phelven]

@carenski The food also isn't what it used to be either. I'm not sure what they changed but it just doesn't get me psyched or satisfy me anymore.

 

[amilia]

@pasha0672 Bring back chorizo!

 

[nosparrowfalls]

@amilia They got rid of it? I was there like two weeks ago and they still had it. What?

 

[natsumilam32]

@amilia wtf, when did they get rid of it?

 

[amilia]

@natsumilam32 Yeah they replaced it with the queso in the prep line apparently. I've gone to a couple locations and none of them had it and that's what I was told.

 

[jessica50]

@amilia The new queso is terrible.

 

[theylivewesleep]

@amilia Bring back a better chorizo.

The one that they choose just isn't great at all, talk to any mexican people and they could find you a much better tasting one. There was also the issue that it seemed to be hard for their workers not to burn it to all shit and ruin the taste even further. Tried it a few times and got turned off on it.

The queso is also utter dogshit. Tastes like floury bland shit and is a disappointment.

 

[rose112165]

@theylivewesleep Yeah, I remember when I tried it I had them put it on the burrito and I couldn't even really tell I was eating the part with queso until looked at the burrito to see where the queso was.

 

[tryingguy64]

@pasha0672 I still can't believe Bill Ackman said they had good queso....

 

[jennifer86]

@tryingguy64 It's terrible, like eating sand. One of the few times I've thrown away my food after only a few bites.

 

[frantziska]

@pasha0672 Once they franchise, they will go to the moon. But until then, it’s just super slow expansion and deteriorating quality control.

 

[resjudicata]

@frantziska They also need to stop bringing the salsas to subzero temperatures. Nothing worse than a cold chunk of food in your mouth. It's a burrito, that shit should be warm!

 

[resjudicata]

Sounds like a local location issue. Never had that issue with the one near me.

 

[frantziska]

@resjudicata While we’re at it, mixing the burrito contents should be standard procedure. Hate biting into all guac in one spot.

 

[riss99]

@pasha0672 There's a good episode of the podcast "how I built this" where they interview Steve Ells about Chipotle. It's from October 30, 2017 listed on here https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this

In 1992, Steve Ells was a classically trained chef working in a high-end restaurant in San Francisco. But after eating a burrito at a local taqueria, he got an idea: to sell burritos and earn enough money to open his own gourmet restaurant. The first Chipotle opened in Denver the following year. Bringing his culinary training to taqueria-style service, Steve Ells helped transform the way we eat fast food.

McDonalds was an early investor, but the other investors bought out mcdonalds, because McDonalds wanted to expand with a franchise model. The other investors thought it was too profitable and didn't want to share the profits with franchisees.

I'm not much of a restaurant business guy, but Ells was saying something about how their food preparation process scaled up really well compared to mcdonalds. Basically, a chipotle gets crowded and can sell much food without incurring much more labor expense. But a mcdonalds needs more employees working to make more food which is a struggle because busy time is only for an hour or two per day.

 

[theylivewesleep]

@riss99 The chipotle process is really easy to scale because their menu is dirt simple compared to McDonalds. Two types of rice. Two types of beans. A few salsas. Like five types of meat. One kind of cheese. One kind of sour cream. One type of lettuce. One type of tortilla. One type of chips. One type of taco shell. They can prep hours ahead of time.