WWhen Atulya Dora-Laskey works the line making tacos, burritos and salad bowls at a Chipotle in Lansing, Michigan, she knows there’s a chance a customer will pull out a camera to film her putting together their lunch. When it does happen, “it is an immediate source of anxiety for my colleagues and for me,” she said. She finds it “very stressful and inhumane” to be filmed at work.
These movie incidents started last month, after rumors spread on TikTok and Reddit claiming that the Chipotle line The employees converted customers to the chain’s notoriously large portion sizes — unless customers filmed the employees making their orders.
Keith Lee, a former mixed martial arts fighter and TikTok food critic who has more than 16 million followers on the app, kicked off the controversy in a May video review of the fast casual chain. “These portions are crazy,” Lee said before digging into a burrito bowl, looking for the protein. “Where’s the chicken?” he asked as dramatic music played in the background.
Then Drew Polenske, an influencer with a TikTok audience of 2.6 million, encouraged fans to “tank” the restaurant’s mobile app average review in retaliation… while mentioning his name in their one-star reviews.
Later that month, another influencer, Isaac Francis, filmed himself ordering from Chipotle. He first positioned his camera so it showed his face while ordering, but then switched it on to capture the hands of the employee making his bowl. In the video, Francis indignantly asked for more rice and chicken. He wrote in a caption that he “couldn’t let” the worker “disrespect me with that protein size.”
The clip received more than 115,500 likes on TikTok and inspired copycat videos from content creators filming their own orders. On Reddit, users claiming to be customers shared examples of “the skimp,” disappointed with their slim takeout burritos or puny bowls. As one Barstool headline put it, “The hottest new life hack is filming Chipotle employees as they make your burrito so they don’t skimp on portion size.”
Brian Niccol, the company’s CEO, said in interviews that he did not approve of the movie trend. Instead, he said that anyone who wants more food in their bowl should give the counter person a “look” indicating they want another helping. A Chipotle spokesperson later told the New York Times: “Filming does not result in larger portion sizes.”
Dora-Laskey even said that she has at least fed filmmakers less food. “We’re actually going lighter on portions because we don’t want to go public and violate Chipotle’s portion policy,” she explained. She said employees can be disciplined if they exceed prescribed portion sizes. “You can get in trouble with your boss if he gives a customer too much food.”
Some Reddit users who claim to work as Chipotle line workers or managers say they are pressured to keep portions small as a cost-saving measure. Although Chipotle representatives have said the company has made no changes to portion sizes, it has increased prices six times since 2021, according to the Wall Street Journal. But while fans love to complain, many of them won’t leave the chain.
Another factor at play: Chipotle restaurants are struggling to find workers due to a nationwide workforce shortage. (Last year, the company said it was looking to hire another 15,000 people in North America.) If Chipotle stores run out of protein, Dora-Laskey said it could take “a long time” before employees earn more. few people are scheduled for a service.
“If you run out of chicken, or whatever meat a customer asks for, it can take 20 to 40 minutes before you get more, which means there will be a lot of angry customers,” she said. “So you’re probably going to do your best to serve them as little as possible.”
Dora-Laskey works at the only organized Chipotle, where employees voted 11-3 in 2022 to form a union under the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. They said a union was necessary to combat understaffing, irregular scheduling and low wages. (A Chipotle spokesperson wrote in a statement to Marketplace that she was “disappointed” by the union’s victory.)
On Reddit, a user claiming to work the line at Chipotle wrote that while they sympathized with customers feeling cheated, it was disrespectful to film a low-paid worker just trying to get through a new shift. “Please stop shoving phones in our faces,” they wrote. “Chipotle gets so much free publicity from this and it makes us employees who are there to earn a living wage to feed our families literally look like zoo animals behind glass making bowls until our backs and wrists are gone.”
The fact that Chipotle’s social media frenzy got off the ground in the first place means, in Dora-Laskey’s eyes, “that there is a real interest in blaming the crew members, whether that comes from random TikTokers or the CEO”. Any frustration, she said, would be better directed at the top, especially as the chain earned $9.9 billion in revenue last year and continues to open stores in both large and smaller cities. (The average Chipotle counter worker makes $17 per hour, according to the company.)
Dora-Laskey said that if someone asks for a bigger cut — and they don’t film her — she’ll give them another half scoop. Anything that costs more costs extra, and those are set rules she has to follow because it’s her job.
Last year, Chipotle debuted a “cobotic” (collaborative robot) that can make bowls and salads. In July, CEO Niccol told investors that the machine would hit restaurants “in the next 12 to 18 months.” According to Business Insider, it can make up to 180 bowls per hour – six times more than a human.
TikTokers take note: You can’t tell a machine to give you more protein. As Dora-Laskey put it, “Many customers served by a robot will finally experience for the first time what official Chipotle portions should be.”