Chipotle’s CEO said the chain is making “generous portions” the standard after a wave of social media criticism targeted its supposedly small portion sizes.
The company’s CEO Brian Niccol said during Wednesday’s second-quarter earnings call that about 10% of Chipotle’s 3,500 restaurants are outliers in terms of portion sizes, according to customer surveys, and the chain is on a mission to make bigger portions uniform across all locations.
Chipotle execs have previously denied that anything had changed with its portions, and Chipotle founder and former CEO Steve Ells said last month the restaurant is “quite generous” with its portions. Still, the backlash has now spurred the chain to make changes.
“There was never a directive to provide less to our customers,” Niccol said Wednesday.
To fix the uneven portions, Chipotle is taking a closer look at the outlier restaurants and doubling down on training and coaching in part to reemphasize larger portion sizes, Niccol said. That means every customer should get two substantial scoops of rice and four ounces of meat, Chipotle chief financial officer Jack Hartung told Bloomberg.
But the new focus on portions will also come at a cost for the chain, Hartung said. Meeting the new standard could cost the company $50 million, he added. But for Niccol, the efforts are well worth it.
“Generous portion is a core brand equity of Chipotle. It always has been, and it always will be,” Niccol said on Wednesday’s earnings call.
Chipotle’s portion plan comes after a Wells Fargo analyst last month revealed a large disparity in the weights of burrito bowls in New York City. To “put the ‘weight debate’ to rest,” the analyst, Zachary Fadem, ordered 75 burrito bowls at eight different locations and found the heaviest bowl weighed 47% more than the lightest for in-person orders. For online orders, the heaviest bowl was 87% heavier than the lightest, according to Fadem’s report. Fadem also found that many of the 10 lightest burrito bowls came from the same location.
Chipotle has been lambasted on social media for supposedly skimping on ingredients, with some users saying the restaurant would give bigger portions to people recording while their order is prepared. Chipotle later denied the rumor, but not before droves of users tried it, much to the displeasure of workers.
Although Niccol had previously denied that Chipotle’s portions had gotten smaller, he told Fortune that giving employees a pleading look could get customers extra ingredients.
