A Chipotle worker tried to blow the whistle on the restaurant’s pre-made barbacoa, but the warning backfired.
Enrique (@yourpapienrique) posted a video to TikTok one day ago, exposing the truth behind some of Chipotle’s meat offerings.
“Exposing Chipotle,” reads the text overlay on Enrique’s 15-second video. In it, the Chipotle worker first films himself grilling chicken and assuring viewers, “The chicken is fresh.”
“But…” the worker adds, as the camera cuts to a shot of him opening a bag of pre-cooked food and emptying it into a cooking pot. “The Barbacoa is frozen in a bag.”
Enrique’s video received 3.9 million views as of Friday, but viewers didn’t seem to be as concerned about the barbacoa as the worker.
“Bro exposing nothing new,” read a comment.
One person pointed out, “Barbacoa takes half a day to make,” which likely explained the reason Chipotle doesn’t have workers make the dish on-site.
“THE CARNITAS COMES IN A BAG TOO. Nothing at Chipotle is frozen though, it arrives on a refrigerated truck and goes directly into the cooler. Chipotles don’t even have freezers in the store,” claimed another.
“Still gonna get barbacoa every single time,” wrote someone else, echoing many people’s disregard for the worker’s message.
@yourpapienrique Rip #fyp #chipotle #artist #producer #music #viral #xybca #apple #spotify #2024 ♬ let’s go for a ride (Sped up) – ENR!QUE
For a fast-casual restaurant, Chipotle has always maintained that it prepares the majority of its menu items fresh every day. Most of the ingredients are cut by hand, and employees make the tortilla chips, rice, and guacamole every morning, according to Business Insider.
However, foods like the carnitas and barbacoa are prepared in a central kitchen and shipped to restaurants in plastic bags. As a commenter on Enrique’s post pointed out, this is due to the longer preparation times for these menu items.
Even though Enrique didn’t reveal anything new to viewers, he claims to have still gotten in trouble with his employer. In a follow-up post, Enrique shares that HR contacted him about this initial TikTok. He writes in the comments, “Ayyy yallll so corporate wants to talk to me tmrw supposedly , think Im getting fired lmaooo if they ask me to take down the video should I.”
In yet another post, he claims, “I’m getting fired for exposing (not really) chipotle.”
@yourpapienrique Replying to @Diego Luna damn shame , i enjoy working grill at chiptole too (somtimes) #fyp #artist #producer #new #chipotle #viral #xybca #spotify #apple #2024 #fypシ #music #go #for #a #ride ♬ let’s go for a ride (Sped up) – ENR!QUE
The Daily Dot reached out to Enrique via Instagram direct message and to Chipotle via an online press form for further information.
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