Chipotle is Giving Us Too Much Food

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Replies

  • pinkshiningstar
    pinkshiningstar Posts: 141 Member
    Maybe you should read the thread or at least a page or the first post because the issue is not personal responsibility over how much you eat.

    Well, the OP started out by saying Chipotle is serving more than the portions outlined on their websites, and people in turn, are eating a higher amount of calories than they intend.

    However, when you go on Chipotle.com and say, build your burrito bowl, it outlines the quantity of the meat, cheese, etc that the "serving" is for. Example, chicken should be 4oz per their website. If you have a heavy-handed bowl-builder at your local Chipotle, that could easily throw anyone off and it would be unrealistic for someone to weigh out the contents of said bowl. But the difference between 4oz of chicken and 8oz of chicken is great, and should be noticeable to a person who even cares how much is going into their bowl and they are consuming.

    So, yes, I did read this as a topic that comes down to personal responsibility (from where the OP started the topic). It would be unreasonable to expect every Chipotle restaurant to serve the exact, spot-on quantity of food it outlines in it's nutritional facts. They're not weighing food. They're simply scooping it into your bowl, etc.

    I went through 5 pages of this thread and saw the rabbit hole it started going down (like many threads do, understandably). I simply put in my two cents on the topic, that is all.
  • kmsnyg
    kmsnyg Posts: 100 Member
    Just ate some Chipotle goodness, and it was still relatively low cal (albeit high in sodium).

    I just get a salad without dressing, with chicken, extra fajita vegs, tomato salsa and half the cheese. Even if they over do my chicken, it's not going to increase it by that much.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Maybe you should read the thread or at least a page or the first post because the issue is not personal responsibility over how much you eat.

    Well, the OP started out by saying Chipotle is serving more than the portions outlined on their websites, and people in turn, are eating a higher amount of calories than they intend.

    However, when you go on Chipotle.com and say, build your burrito bowl, it outlines the quantity of the meat, cheese, etc that the "serving" is for. Example, chicken should be 4oz per their website. If you have a heavy-handed bowl-builder at your local Chipotle, that could easily throw anyone off and it would be unrealistic for someone to weigh out the contents of said bowl. But the difference between 4oz of chicken and 8oz of chicken is great, and should be noticeable to a person who even cares how much is going into their bowl and they are consuming.

    So, yes, I did read this as a topic that comes down to personal responsibility (from where the OP started the topic). It would be unreasonable to expect every Chipotle restaurant to serve the exact, spot-on quantity of food it outlines in it's nutritional facts. They're not weighing food. They're simply scooping it into your bowl, etc.

    I went through 5 pages of this thread and saw the rabbit hole it started going down (like many threads do, understandably). I simply put in my two cents on the topic, that is all.

    Take personal responsibility for what goes in one's mouth? More crazy talk
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    It would be unreasonable to expect every Chipotle restaurant to serve the exact, spot-on quantity of food it outlines in it's nutritional facts. They're not weighing food. They're simply scooping it into your bowl, etc.
    Oh I agree with that. But what they're doing is claiming their burritos and bowls have 4 oz. of rice for calorie count purposes but training employees to use 7 oz. of rice (almost 2 scoops). It's not that huge a difference but people here seem to adore the place and also love accurate logging so if your 600 calorie bowl is actually 750 calories when made exactly how they train them to, it's useful info.
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    It would be unreasonable to expect every Chipotle restaurant to serve the exact, spot-on quantity of food it outlines in it's nutritional facts. They're not weighing food. They're simply scooping it into your bowl, etc.
    Oh I agree with that. But what they're doing is claiming their burritos and bowls have 4 oz. of rice for calorie count purposes but training employees to use 7 oz. of rice (almost 2 scoops). It's not that huge a difference but people here seem to adore the place and also love accurate logging so if your 600 calorie bowl is actually 750 calories when made exactly how they train them to, it's useful info.

    The employees could also just not give a rat's *kitten* if weirdos like us are logging food or not. There's the detached corporate way of doing stuff, then the way it really goes. When you have a line snaking around the dining room at lunchtime, your job is to get people in and out, so being niggardly with the scooping kinda flies out the door.
  • jessieleah
    jessieleah Posts: 204 Member
    Just ate some Chipotle goodness, and it was still relatively low cal (albeit high in sodium).

    I just get a salad without dressing, with chicken, extra fajita vegs, tomato salsa and half the cheese. Even if they over do my chicken, it's not going to increase it by that much.

    Jumping in to say that it really amuses me when people order salads and make some comment about being healthy/good/weight watchers, then they ask for 2+ salad dressings on the side. Those things have nearly 300 calories each!


    It would be unreasonable to expect every Chipotle restaurant to serve the exact, spot-on quantity of food it outlines in it's nutritional facts. They're not weighing food. They're simply scooping it into your bowl, etc.
    Oh I agree with that. But what they're doing is claiming their burritos and bowls have 4 oz. of rice for calorie count purposes but training employees to use 7 oz. of rice (almost 2 scoops). It's not that huge a difference but people here seem to adore the place and also love accurate logging so if your 600 calorie bowl is actually 750 calories when made exactly how they train them to, it's useful info.

    I guarantee the employees aren't being taught to scoop in 7 oz. Portion control is generally on point during training, but after you've worked the line long enough, you start to notice that at least 80% of the time, 4 oz of rice inside a bowl looks tiny and people will ask for more. So you just start adding more to begin with and it spirals out of control.

    Anyway, I agree that it can seriously screw with people who are counting calories. But working on the line for 8 hours a day and dealing with hundreds of customers, that's basically the last thing on your mind.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    The one Chipotle employee in the thread said they are trained to give 7oz. of rice. As in almost 2 scoops. Sure, you might give 6oz. of rice or 9 oz. but if the spec was 4oz. that'd be one scoop. So giving extra would take them longer. They don't care about your diet but they care about remaining employed and it's pretty obvious if you're giving everyone an extra scoop of something, to the people supervising.

    When I go they give one scoop and a second one almost full, I think. But I don't go that much. Someone go and report back, would ya? :bigsmile:
  • imaginaryplant
    imaginaryplant Posts: 93 Member
    Not my Chipotle, they just like to give us less Chipotle, but I clearly need and want more Chipotle.
  • marceldu
    marceldu Posts: 1
    I opt for a salad bowl vs. a burrito bowl -- it is a lot lighter and has far fewer calories!
  • carrie_lou
    carrie_lou Posts: 44
    Well I finally went to this place Sunday.... I walked in, looked at the menu, looked down at the food, then walked back out. Don't understand what the big hoopla was about:yawn:
  • BoatsnHose
    BoatsnHose Posts: 120 Member
    Then don't eat there OP, but certainly don't complain about portion portion sizes because you can't control yourself.

    A restaurant might give us more food than listed, shocker!
  • SingRunTing
    SingRunTing Posts: 2,604 Member
    I don't understand why anyone is surprised by this. OMG restaurants don't measure our food to match the nutritional guidelines????

    My first job was at a dairy queen. When they train you to make the ice cream cones, they bring out a scale and you have to weigh them after you put the ice cream on it. The sizes were supposed to be a certain number of ounces. After you get a feel for it, the scale goes away. However, after a while, your sizing will become off. The owners freaked out on us one day and said we were all making the cones too big. They broke out the scales and made everyone weigh their cones that day. We were all giving at least 50% more than what we should have. Its because eyeballing is inaccurate. It was completely unintentional and it was across the board.

    So, yes, if they are training their employees to give more food than listed, that's one problem. But even if they weren't, you would probably still be getting more food than you should because eyeballing is bad. That's why everyone should weigh their food, no matter how long they've been measuring. It's the rare person that can eyeball things accurately forever.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    Well I finally went to this place Sunday.... I walked in, looked at the menu, looked down at the food, then walked back out. Don't understand what the big hoopla was about:yawn:

    That's probably because the rest of us actually eat our food instead of, you know, just looking at it.
  • jessieleah
    jessieleah Posts: 204 Member
    The one Chipotle employee in the thread said they are trained to give 7oz. of rice. As in almost 2 scoops. Sure, you might give 6oz. of rice or 9 oz. but if the spec was 4oz. that'd be one scoop. So giving extra would take them longer. They don't care about your diet but they care about remaining employed and it's pretty obvious if you're giving everyone an extra scoop of something, to the people supervising.

    When I go they give one scoop and a second one almost full, I think. But I don't go that much. Someone go and report back, would ya? :bigsmile:

    Well, considering I also work at chipotle, I wasn't just pulling facts out of thin air. I've worked at 3 different locations and none of th have taught new employees to over portion anything. Rice is relatively cheap so supervisors are less likely to be as picky about that as meats. However, I have seen employees corrected for over portioning rice. Supervisors aren't staring over their shoulders 24/7 though.
  • erinn43
    erinn43 Posts: 20 Member
    I love Chipolte but I thought the same thing when I looked up their nutritional values, etc. It did seem like A LOT of food. That said- i can eat the bowl- I get that tofu one when I go.... I will try to budget my calories for this reason on that day. Anytime I go out to eat too- literally I push half of the meal to the side and only eat half. Also- sub two veggies for my sides in place of the carb usually offered. Helping. Right now- since I am back on track- trying NOT to go out to eat at all . Thanks for the information. Very helpful .
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
    Well, considering I also work at chipotle, I wasn't just pulling facts out of thin air. I've worked at 3 different locations and none of th have taught new employees to over portion anything.

    Oh good! So you're trained to give ONE scoop of rice? If I ever eat there again, I'll make sure and adjust up if they use two.
  • DR2501
    DR2501 Posts: 661 Member
    Hi, I just contacted Chipotle to verify how many servings of each item are supposed to go into a burrito bowl. I was shocked to find out that myself and most other people who eat at Chipotle have consumed way more calories than they are supposed to. The nutrition facts on a burrito bowl include one spoonful of any item that you add to the nutrition calculator. Unfortunately, many if not all Chipotle employees will double things like the rice, which would add an extra 180 calories. I've also noticed that they usually add an additional half spoon of the meats they offer. Next time you go to Chipotle, ask for only one spoonful of each item or you may be consuming way more calories than you planned.

    Haha you'll be popular now when everyone's portion size gets cut because you notifed head office of this!
  • D_squareG
    D_squareG Posts: 361 Member
    Actually, this is true for any restaurant. If you eat out all the time, be careful. French fries, for instance, is up to the person filling the box. If you jam them in, you could probably be getting 1-1/2 servings. You just have to watch and account for it unless you carry your food scale with you!
  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
    Hi, I just contacted Chipotle to verify how many servings of each item are supposed to go into a burrito bowl. I was shocked to find out that myself and most other people who eat at Chipotle have consumed way more calories than they are supposed to. The nutrition facts on a burrito bowl include one spoonful of any item that you add to the nutrition calculator. Unfortunately, many if not all Chipotle employees will double things like the rice, which would add an extra 180 calories. I've also noticed that they usually add an additional half spoon of the meats they offer. Next time you go to Chipotle, ask for only one spoonful of each item or you may be consuming way more calories than you planned.

    Haha you'll be popular now when everyone's portion size gets cut because you notifed head office of this!

    Really???

    Chipotle has over 1600 locations. Do you honestly think that they will get their panties in a wad over one phone call?

    They might send out an email to that one location...or maybe to all of them...but...I doubt if they will do much more than that...if anything at all.

    I don't think that anyone has to worry...the Chipotle burrito will not become extinct...at least it is not on the endangered species list as of now.

    BTW...I eat at Chipotle about once every two months...I don't get anything having to do with the burrito however...I get the chicken tacos.
  • Amitysk
    Amitysk Posts: 705 Member
    This thread made me crave Chipotle like you wouldn't believe! I went yesterday. Chicken burrito bowl, no rice, no beans, tomatillo salsa, hot salsa, sour cream, cheese and lettuce. It was delicious. I didn't see anything extraordinary about the portions except maybe on the sour cream. Meat looked right to me based on the quantities specified by the previous posters.
  • kmsnyg
    kmsnyg Posts: 100 Member
    Just ate some Chipotle goodness, and it was still relatively low cal (albeit high in sodium).

    I just get a salad without dressing, with chicken, extra fajita vegs, tomato salsa and half the cheese. Even if they over do my chicken, it's not going to increase it by that much.

    Jumping in to say that it really amuses me when people order salads and make some comment about being healthy/good/weight watchers, then they ask for 2+ salad dressings on the side. Those things have nearly 300 calories each!

    I know that's crazy how bad the dressing is. And it looks like some kind of vinagrette, so it's surprising it's so calorie-laden. But I love the salsa, so I use that as my "dressing."
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Just had Chipotle for lunch. One scoop of brown rice (that I've been doing lately), chicken, cheese, sour cream...but the guacamole she definitely went overboard on. But hey, for $2 it's better to get more than I should, right?
  • KylaDenay
    KylaDenay Posts: 1,585 Member
    OMG this thread is still going around?? Every time it never fails. I see this and I get Chipotle. Had it over the weekend when I first saw this, had it again on Tuesday the second time I saw this and now having it tonight.

    Thank you thread lol. I mean that literally as I cannot get enough of the worth my money over filled bowls of yummy goodness :)

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