Study reveals there is truth to Chipotle portion size drama ChipotleThe Chipotle drama has heated up once again after a study carried out by Wells Fargo, a financial services company and bank, found that there are indeed inconsistencies in Chipotle\u2019s portion sizes. 75 burrito bowls were ordered at 8 locations in New York, and although Chipotle higher-ups have sworn that their portion sizes are regulated, the study begs to differ. The drama came to a head on May 3, 2024 when Keith Lee, a popular food blogger, called out Chipotle on their portion sizes. This kickstarted a trend where customers recorded Chipotle employees making their meals, and walked out if they felt the portion size was too small. How the study was carried out To finally \u201cput the \u2018weight debate\u2019 to rest,\u201d Wells Fargo analyst Zachary Fadem and his team bought and weighed 75 burrito bowls. The analysts \u201cstudied\u201d burrito bowls from eight different Chipotle locations in New York City, with half the orders placed digitally and the other half in person. According to the study, the method of ordering doesn\u2019t make a difference, and analysis found that an online order and an in-person order from the same store pretty much always weighed the same. This dispels the rumor that was circulating about ordering in person and giving employees \u2018a look\u2019 to get bigger portions. However, there was one unnamed store in New York that could be worth avoiding, as analysts found that 10 of the lightest burritos all came from the same branch. In general, portion sizes did vary widely from store to store with in-person orders. The heaviest bowl weighed 47% more than the lightest. The weight varied even more for digital orders, with the heaviest bowl weighing 87% more than the lightest bowl. At 13.8 ounces, the smallest burrito bowl weighed just a little more than the average can of soda. A $13 can of soda\u2026 Chipotle denies portion inconsistencies The disparity in Chipotle portion sizes has been circulating the internet for a long time, and the phenomenon has become as widespread as the rumor that McDonald\u2019s ice cream machines are always broken. It has become so widespread in fact, that there is a website where you can track the \u2018skimp rate\u2019 at any Chipotle in the country before you visit. Keith Lee, who has 16.4 million followers on TikTok, made a video that went viral showing him eating a Chipotle burrito bowl and stating that he couldn\u2019t find any of the chicken that he had ordered in the bowl. This came as a big shock to Lee\u2019s fans, as he previously collaborated with Chipotle in 2023 by releasing a quesadilla with the chain Mexican restaurant. Chipotle has wholeheartedly denied these allegations and another rumor later emerged that the chain had instructed employees to give bigger portions to people recording them, sparking a flurry of videos across social media, especially on TikTok. On Wednesday, Chipotle founder and former CEO Steve Ells reiterated that the restaurant chain\u2019s portions have not shrunk and insisted that it has, in fact, been \u201cquite generous\u201d with its portion sizes, Quartz reported. \u201cI\u2019ve never experienced someone walking out of a Chipotle hungry in my 30 some odd years, I mean, it just doesn\u2019t happen,\u201d Ells said at the Wall Street Journal Global Food Forum. \u201cSo those who complain about portion sizes, I\u2019m not sure I quite get it, but I understand it\u2019s a thing out there.\u201d Although Chipotle continues to try and dispel these rumors, the facts of the analysis shows that there is some truth in there. The outcome Although the varying bowl sizes may look bad for the chain, Chipotle\u2019s chief corporate affairs officer, Laurie Schalow, said the variability was totally normal because of the handmade nature of Chipotle\u2019s meals. \u201cSimilar to others in the fast casual industry, our completely customizable meals may have variability in their size or weight depending upon the number of ingredients a guest selects or if they choose to make an ingredient extra or light when ordering from our list of real ingredients in person or digitally,\u201d Schalow said in a statement to Fortune. Keep in mind though that for the study to work, Wells Fargo ordered 85 of the exact same order. Despite the controversy over portion sizes, Wells Fargo found that Chipotle\u2019s foot traffic continues to increase, aside from a setback last month. The company\u2019s quarter-to-date foot traffic is at its highest level in 10 quarters. So, maybe the \u2018there\u2019s no such thing as bad press\u2019 analogy is true after all\u2026 If you want to upgrade your Chipotle burrito, why not try out the TikTok trend of adding a layer of grilled cheese to the outside of your tortilla?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Study reveals there is truth to Chipotle portion size drama ChipotleThe Chipotle drama has heated up once again after a study carried out by Wells Fargo, a financial services company and bank, found that there are indeed inconsistencies in Chipotle\u2019s portion sizes. 75 burrito bowls were ordered at 8 locations in New York, and although […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70868\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}