Recently, internet users across the country have staged a protest against Chipotle for its portion sizes.
While Chipotle may have been known in the past for its large portions, eaters at the Chipotle of today have complained about small portions and deceptive pricing. As a result, many internet users claim to be boycotting the restaurant, and others have recorded themselves beginning to order and then walking out upon seeing the portion sizes.
To hear these people tell it, this protest is already having a marked impact. One Chipotle worker claimed to have received a message from corporate telling employees not to skimp on orders, Others have alleged that the rise of videos like the aforementioned walkout clips has caused Chipotle workers to give bigger portions when customers are filming.
But behind all of these issues lies a single question: why is Chipotle skimping on portion sizes in the first place? A user on TikTok has the answer.
Chipotle managers and portion sizes
In a video with over 22,000 views, TikTok user Arya Nanda (@itsaryananda) explains how he got fired from Chipotle, saying that “Chipotle management have zero morals and zero ethics.”
According to Nanda, his job at Chipotle consisted of serving guests on the line. While he did this, he claims that management sat in back offices watching the store’s security cameras to monitor the portion sizes he was handing out.
Nanda says he was approached by management about his portions. However, he did not care to reduce his portion sizes.
“My logic was this: ‘OK, I wasn’t getting paid enough and I didn’t care enough about the portion sizes we were giving, so if somebody wanted more, I’d just give it to them,’” he explains.
Then, after being caught putting “too many chips in the bag” for a customer, he says he was “fired on the spot.”
“Nothing makes me happier than watching all of these boycotts and like these walkouts happen because Chipotle management 100% deserves it,” he states. In another part of the video, he details, “CEO got paid $17 million last year while we had to pay $10 for a baby scoop of chicken.”
@itsaryananda how I got fired from chipotle
♬ original sound – itsaryananda
Commenters share their thoughts
In the comments section, users claim that issues surrounding skimping are some of the reasons they stopped going to the restaurant.
“I absolutely believe this. I stopped going to chipotle even before the pandemic because of skimping,” wrote a user.
“Chipotle has to learn that there are better places to eat then Chipotle. There is no reason that you have to ask for extra meat. I stopped going,” offered another.
“Chipotle managers are nothing but scum,” declared a third. “Boycott Chipotle!”
The Daily Dot reached out to Chipotle and Nanda via email.
Update 1:25pm CT May 28: In an email to the Daily Dot, Nanda says he has returned to Chipotle since his firing.
“I have been back to other locations, but I haven’t been back to the location where I was terminated, I just thought it would be slightly awkward,” he wrote. “But I also haven’t eaten at a Chipotle in well over a year…it’s just not worth the price anymore and there are other places where you can get a better bang for your buck. And since I haven’t been there in a while I’ve only seen other people’s experiences through social media and from what they’ve been saying it seems like there has been an exponential rise in skimping of portions and the people have a right to be upset.”
He then offered his thoughts on the ongoing boycotts.
“I mentioned in both of my videos on Chipotle that upper management is ruthless and they’re only interested in meeting their numbers,” he detailed. “This unfortunately means that customer satisfaction isn’t their top priority, which has turned into the opposite of the Chipotle I used to remember. I’ve been avoiding Chipotle now for a while and I think others should start to do the same. If corporate Chipotle starts to notice their profits going down, that’s when they’ll decide it’s time for a change.”
“And I prefer the boycott method over the trending ‘walk-out’ method only because I don’t want to make the Chipotle crew members’ lives more difficult than its needs to be, they’re already short-staffed and deal with enough stress as it is,” he continued. “And I don’t think the “pull out your phone method is sustainable” because eventually, they’ll go back to skimping after this trend dies down. But if we just flat-out stop going, I think it’ll be the more effective way for us the customers to get our message across.”
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