Tired of your boring Chipotle bowls? The Mexican grill chain will increase portions at all its locations after receiving social media complaints about small portions, the company’s CEO announced Wednesday.
“We’ve never instructed customers to serve less,” company President Brian Niccol said on an earnings call, but the company had seen concerns about serving more on social media.
“The feedback we got led us to re-examine our system-wide implementation,” he said. “We’ve been focusing on outlier partial scores based on consumer research.”
He noted that about 10% of restaurants are exceptions that will need to be retrained to “appropriate standards.” The chain has about 3,500 locations across the United States.
“We’re refocusing training and coaching to make our bowls and burritos consistently and correctly, and we’re reemphasizing large portions in all of our restaurants,” he added, “which is Chipotle’s core brand equity.”
The company has already started noticing such behavior, he said. “Favourably reflected” in consumer scores.
Earlier this year, several people posted the video. Complaining about Chipotle portions on TikTok.
Food Influencer Keith Lee made the video He gave his 16.3 million followers a taste review of three dishes from the menu in May, in which he complained about how little chicken there was in his bowl.
Another TikTok user, who goes by the name Jack’s Dining Room, He said in the video She also said in May, “If there’s two pieces of chicken in my bowl, I’m like, ‘Can I get one more scoop?’ And they’re like, ‘Do you want double the meat?’ And I’m like, ‘No, I just want the chicken I ordered.’ … Am I crazy? Is this unfair?”
After a wave of critical videos, some TikTok users began posting videos of themselves filming Chipotle employees preparing food, implying that the pressure of the cameras caused portions to increase, but this too drew backlash as it was seen as harassing the employees.
However, the complaints do not appear to have had a negative impact on the company’s business. Chipotle reported quarterly profit and revenue. Restaurant traffic rose Wednesday, bucking an industry slowdown and beating analysts’ expectations.
The company’s shares rose about 13% in after-hours trading but gave up most of that gain to close about 3% higher. As of Wednesday’s close, Chipotle’s shares had fallen 17% this month, weighed on investor concerns about the health of the restaurant industry. The company completed a 50-for-1 stock split in late June.
Nicol told CNBC,Closing Bell: Extra Time” The company said on Wednesday that same-store sales for the month of June increased 6%.
Despite the backlash on social media, traffic to the company’s restaurants increased 8.7%.
