Chipotle customers have long complained about how expensive the fast-casual chain has gotten. In February of 2023, a customer complained that their bowl cost them almost $20. Just a few months later, in November of that same year, a customer went viral for their complaint after having to pay $50 for only two bowls, prompting others to encourage them to eat at a restaurant for that amount.
October of 2023 was the last time it was reported that Chipotle would be getting even more expensive in the coming year. The company blamed inflation for having to increase its prices in 2024 in a statement to Today. Chipotle has had four documented price increases, according to Business Insider. The price increases have even prompted workers to plead with customers to not take their anger of having to pay more out on them.
But the tide could be turning on the sentiments of such customers, and the company has a TikToker named Jari to thank for that. Chipotle manager and TikTok user Jari (@j.a.r.i__) documented her “day in a life as a Chipotle employee” in a TikTok that was viewed 4.4 million times and has some viewers vowing to “never complain about chipotle being expensive ever again.”
The video shows Jari preparing the ingredients that go into the silver bins and eventually make their way into customers’ bowls, tacos, and salads. She first chops lettuce. “As you guys can see, … I’m just cutting up the lettuce, and it’s, like, around 7:17am, and I’m here alone prepping by myself,” she explains in the voiceover. “Mind you, there’s supposed to be three people prepping.”
Jari finely chops up four heads of lettuce and is eventually joined by another worker.
“After every product, you have to take the dishes back to the dishwasher, spray them off, and run them through,” she states. “And make sure you wipe down and sanitize your area.”
Jari then moves on to finely chopping the next product, red onions. By the fourteenth onion, water fills up Jari’s eyes, and they burn. “Gotta give me some onion goggles or something,” she comments.
Jari takes a break before returning to cut up onions and bell peppers. “Baby, these bell peppers was little today,” she says. “Like. I don’t know what’s going on but these bell peppers was so little.”
Jari says the cilantro, while cutting it, is her least-favorite product to prep.
She then helps out with prepping the guacamole. Using a spoon, she scoops out the avocados, putting them in a metal bowl.
The video concludes with Jari preparing a customer’s online order.
@j.a.r.i__ i need a raise !!!#chipotle #foodie #chipotleemployee #chipotlehack #fyp #chipotlesponsorme ♬ original sound – Jari
Viewers were stunned to learn that the workers chop every ingredient by hand and made vows to never complain about the cost of their bowls again.
“I didn’t know you guys do this ALL by hand!! Extremely impressive,” one viewer praised.
“I love how everything is fresh!! Didn’t realize yall work that hard!” a second complimented.
“Girl im never gonna complain about the prices again omg,” a third shared.
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According to Yahoo Finance, Chipotle spends about 3 billion a year alone on ingredients. That’s nearly half of the 8.6 billion the company raked in in 2023. Chipotle CFO Jack Hartung claimed that the company, “[tends] to invest in higher quality food that’s better tasting, better for the animals, the environment, and better for the health of our consumers.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Jari via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment as well as to Chipotle via email.
