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Bloomberg: Chipotle told employees not to order chicken for their own meals, to conserve it for custormerss

Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,389
www.bloomberg.com

Chipotle Tells Staff to Skip Chicken as Demand Surges

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. told its employees last week not to include chicken in their own meals, as surging customer demand crimped supply — but the chain now says its workers can go back to ordering freely.
www.bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com

Managers threatened to discipline workers who got chicken during their lunch breaks, and in some cases have thrown out chicken meals made for them, employees there said. In some cases it's the only meat workers can eat, for reasons including health and religion, they said.
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"Due to the high demand for chicken in our restaurants and sustained success of our chicken al pastor, last week we asked all our corporate and in-restaurant employees to temporarily select another protein option for their meals to preserve our supply," Chief Corporate Affairs and Food Safety Officer Laurie Schalow said. "We've since informed employees they can return to ordering chicken in their meals as normal."
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They took it back only because they got caught. Frontline folks always taking the brunt for corpo fuckups

chainstoreage.com

Chipotle sizzles in Q1; to open 285-plus restaurants in 2024; drops spin-off plan

Chipotle Mexican Grill reported strong first-quarter sales and earnings as traffic rose across all income groups, with consumers remaining unfazed by its higher menu prices.
chainstoreage.com chainstoreage.com

Not like they hurting too bad if they opening more stores
 
Mango Pilot

Mango Pilot

Member
Apr 8, 2024
417
Are these comp'd meals? Or are they paying for them?

If they're free I don't see the issue with them saying you can't get certain meat. If they're paying for it, even with a discount, that's fucked up.

Don't understand the "religious and health" angle. They have sofritas/tofu.
 
ArchedThunder

ArchedThunder

Uncle Beerus
Member
Oct 25, 2017
19,118
Mango Pilot said:
Are these comp'd meals? Or are they paying for them?

If they're free I don't see the issue with them saying you can't get certain meat. If they're paying for it, even with a discount, that's fucked up.

Don't understand the "religious and health" angle. They have sofritas/tofu.
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Comped, you get one free meal each shift.
 
CloseTalker

CloseTalker

Member
Oct 25, 2017
30,871
Honestly, big picture, this would be saving what, 3-5 portions of chicken a day? If that's a deal breaker for you then you have bigger problems at hand
 
BassForever

BassForever

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
29,970
CT
Mango Pilot said:
Then I don't see the problem with them limiting which meat. There's a veggie option for the religious who can't eat beef.
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I'd buy that argument if it was some kind of limited time special like if they had lobster or bison or something, but get out of here saying it's okay to tell employees not to eat a basic meat like chicken.
 
Mango Pilot

Mango Pilot

Member
Apr 8, 2024
417
BassForever said:
I'd buy that argument if it was some kind of limited time special like if they had lobster or bison or something, but get out of here saying it's okay to tell employees not to eat a basic meat like chicken.
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For a week or so in a free company provided meal if there's a shortage? It seems like this is also there "al pastor" chicken and not the basic chicken.

How is this a national news story.
 
Stiletto

Stiletto

Member
Jan 4, 2023
795
Love me a chipotle chicken burrito with brown rice, black beans, sour cream, and cheese. Probably one of the best fast food items. They have shrunken it from how it used to be but honestly I like shrinkflation in this rare case cuz now its just a large burrito you can eat with your hands instead of stupidly huge.
 
pioneer

pioneer

Member
May 31, 2022
4,187
As a long time hospitality worker this does not strike me as unusual or at all a big deal. It definitely sits worse when a huge corporation does it, but limiting an option on comped food is pretty normal. The fact that they're getting a free meal at all puts them above most similar chains. The bar is so low.
 
GameAddict411

GameAddict411

Member
Oct 26, 2017
8,527
That's weird since Chipotle charges you several dollars for beef and other proteins. Chicken is the "free" one.
 
Volimar

Volimar

volunteer forum janitor
Member
Oct 25, 2017
38,804
That's not new. I remember Wendy's doing the same for a while about tomatoes (I think?) during that crunch.

I imagine it happens a lot on the local level for short term shortages.
 
echoshifting

echoshifting

very salt heavy
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
14,916
The Negative Zone
The last time I ate at my local chipotle, the only meat they had available for a walk-in was steak. If I can only get steak I'm not going to eat there
 
jman2050

jman2050

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
5,835
I'm less annoyed about this since the meal is provided at the company's expense, though they really needed to be accommodating for people with special circumstances.

If I'm paying for the meal though they can kick rocks. In that context I am the "customer"
 
ratprophet

ratprophet

Member
Jun 24, 2021
1,208
CloseTalker said:
Honestly, big picture, this would be saving what, 3-5 portions of chicken a day? If that's a deal breaker for you then you have bigger problems at hand
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This is a good take. Reminds me of those call centres which have a hold message 'we are dealing with high volumes of calls at the moment, we'll speak to you as soon as we can.' You are a call centre. People will call you. HIRE MORE PEOPLE (or, in this case, buy more chicken!).
 
Whipwhopper

Whipwhopper

Member
Oct 7, 2020
913
What I don't get is that you're trying to conserve the chicken...and then you throw it out? Just straight food waste?
 
Android Sophia

Android Sophia

The Absolute Sword
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
6,135
I would be very concerned in the case of those have dietary or religious reasons being asked to pick another meat, or worse, having it thrown out given it's comped food.
 
nded

nded

Member
Nov 14, 2017
10,609
BassForever said:
I'd buy that argument if it was some kind of limited time special like if they had lobster or bison or something, but get out of here saying it's okay to tell employees not to eat a basic meat like chicken.
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I thought this was about their chicken al pastor which is apparently a limited time menu item.
 
steejee

steejee

Member
Oct 28, 2017
8,683
Sofritas is their best protein option anyways.

But seriously, how much chicken could the employees be eating that it matters?
 
TheDestructiveSquirrel

TheDestructiveSquirrel

Member
Oct 25, 2017
28,080
If there is a shortage and you are providing free food or a discount you can 100 percent limit what employees can order. I'm sure it happens at lots of restaurants

Chicken is cheaper than beef so they aren't doing it to save money, they probably really have a shortage which does happen in the industry
 
ElNerdo

ElNerdo

Member
Oct 22, 2018
2,265
Didn't we have a big avian flu situation not too long ago? That's the first thing I thought of when I read the title.
 
riotous

riotous

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,376
Seattle
Is this about them running out of chicken completely or running out of prepared al pastor chicken often so having to tell customers they need to wait?
 
Jobiensis

Jobiensis

Member
Oct 28, 2017
457
Don't see how this is a big deal. There is a shortage so they don't want to tell paying customers they can't have it. Even if it is only a dozen items, that is turning away a dozen customers. Now throwing it away is crazy.
 

mrmoose

Member
Nov 13, 2017
21,261
BassForever said:
I'd buy that argument if it was some kind of limited time special like if they had lobster or bison or something, but get out of here saying it's okay to tell employees not to eat a basic meat like chicken.
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I mean there must be a reason for it, it's not like they're doing it just to punish their workers, especially if it's not the most expensive thing on the menu.

But yeah, comped meal, other non meat choices, seems like not a big deal.
 
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