They Ordered 75 Chipotle Bowls to Settle the 'Weight Debate'

How much you get layered onto your burrito bowl at Chipotle may depend on what location you order it from. Customers have been griping that the chain has been shorting them on serving sizes, and so Wells Fargo analysts descended upon eight Chipotle sites in New York City, determined to test the theory, reports Quartz. Led by Zachary Fadem, they ordered 75 burrito bowls, all with the exact same ingredients, and discovered that bowl size "varied widely." Some locations served bowls that weighed about 33% more than those served at others. CNN cites one extreme example in which a bowl at one Chipotle eatery weighed 27 ounces, while a bowl at another came in at just 14 ounces.

The median weight of the bowls was around 21.5 ounces. Wells Fargo found that in general, bowls ordered online didn't differ too much in weight from those ordered in-store. "While throughput is improving, order consistency remains an opportunity," the firm said in its analysis, per Quartz. Fortune notes that the chain has "sworn up and down that [it] doesn't have a portion problem" for months. In June, Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol told the outlet that customers not happy with the size of their portions could simply give Chipotle workers "a look" to indicate they wanted more ample meals, though he insisted portion sizes weren't officially smaller than in the past.

This closer examination on the "weight debate" throws a wrench into that argument, though Chipotle's chief corporate affairs officer tells CNN that bowl size may vary based on how many ingredients customers request in their bowl, as well as whether they ask for an "extra" or "light" dollop of certain ingredients. In the meantime, customers have been recording Chipotle staffers as their food is being made and posting those clips on social media, a tactic since dubbed the "Chipotle phone method." Employees aren't happy about it, calling the experience as they're trying to do their jobs "stressful and dehumanizing." Despite the complaints, Chipotle saw a 7% bump in sales last quarter. (More Chipotle stories.)