Getty Image / Budrul Chukrut
Chipotle has been under fire over portion sizes lately, as social media is abound with people complaining about the lack of food they’re getting in a standard order compared to what they got in the past from the fast-casual Mexican chain. Customers have even resorted to filming themselves going through the lines to ensure they get what they should.
A Wells Fargo analyst took it upon himself to test whether portion sizes truly were as inconsistent as people have been claiming. He tested 75 identical Chipotle bowls at eight restaurants in New York City, and found that portion sizes wildly vary.
Incredible work by the Wells Fargo analyst who ordered the same burrito bowl 75 times at eight different Chipotles in NYC to prove the portion size inconsistency 🤣 pic.twitter.com/gUHPhgY7Pw
— Tanay Jaipuria (@tanayj) June 27, 2024
Here’s more, according to Barron’s.
Zachary Fadem, a Wells Fargo analyst, found that the median weight was around 21.5 ounces but that there was considerable variability. The heaviest bowl clocked in at 26.8 ounces, while the lightest was 13.8 ounces.
“At the median, in-store orders and digital orders were very similar (within ~0.2 oz),” he said. “That said, consistency varied widely, w/ some locations serving bowls that weigh ~33% more than other locations (on equivalent orders); and the heaviest digital/in-store bowls weighing 87%/47% more vs the lightest. While throughput is improving, order consistency remains an opportunity.”
Yo, what the heck, Chipotle. That is absolutely insane, and it seems like something that could easily be remedied by a method other than the scoops they use, which seem pretty haphazardly.
Look at the variation there! One bowl was nearly twice as big as the smallest bowl. I understand that something like a Chipotle-style restaurant is never going to be an exact science. But, to be off by that much is actually inexcusable.
In may, Chipotle CEO Brian Nicol claimed that portion sizes were perfectly fine at Chipotle. He clearly hadn’t seen this chart yet, because this is pretty much a catastrophe for the brand in terms of quality control.
I’m curious to know exactly which bowl was ordered here, but it doesn’t really matter much to the findings. Chipotle clearly has no clue what they’re doing when it comes to portion sizes and people aren’t going to stop filming their orders being made after this.