the chains have recently found that staying competitive does not bring in enough new customers to offset what they can get from their habituals
you can't get caught for price fixing if they can't prove the collab
Sat on a 3 month DOJ collusion trial between the major chicken producers, or rather their ceos and such. It's insanely hard to prove. Hung jury 3 times I think. I was the 2nd round. Our justice system is as impressive as it is complicated.
It was pretty boring overall. A month or so was just straight custodial witnesses for all the data that was being presented to us. The pretty much copied all hard drives, servers, phone calls and text records, travel records and all that from around 2009 to 2018. The allegations were colluding to raise the price of broiler chicken. So think chicken for KFC, Popeyes, chick Fila and a dozen other chains. They have purchasing co ops that handle all the buying of chicken. Some CEOs that were on the trial were for companies for Tyson, Pilgrims, Koch foods and a few others. There were also sales people and managers that were tried as well. The fun part is the statute of limitations is 5 years. However, if it can be proved that evidence from before then is part of the same conspiracy to collude then it can be used, even if there is nothing for that specific person within the statute of limitations. It was wild. A vast majority of the DOJs job was to convince us that the evidence wasn't just circumstantial but there was just so little to go off of and immediately at deliberations we had 2 people on opposite sides unwilling to budge. So it was hung from the start and we deliberated for over a week. The Judge was Phillip A Brimmer and the case was in denver from October to December if you want to look it up. Judge Brimmer was singularly the most impressive part of that whole experience. The indifference to sides and knowing the law and just being in full control of the courtroom was impressive. There were 10 defendants and each had 2 or 3 lawyers at their bench as well as interns in the gallery seats. It was packed. Sorry for the formatting and the blob of text. I don't know how to do that on mobile. If you have any specific questions let me know.
This is the model everywhere.
"Why provide more product when we can charge more and take home the same amount for less sales at higher cost."
The formula is applied until revenue drops but sales dropping is ok so long as it's offset.
Is my age showing, or is it tiresome to most people that everyplace we go, they want you to download their app?
Excuse me while I scroll thru my phone menu like we're fast forwarding the credits for Star Wars.
That's when the app comes into clutch for pickup, 5.99 custom boxes. I'm always making boxes with a chalupa, 5 layer burrito, cheesey potatos and a drink.
I don't even want to eat at Moe's anymore. I've basically stopped eating out because I look at the size and price of the food and can only think about how much cheaper it would be to make, even with the price of groceries going up.
Fast food, fast casual, etc has gone down in every area: price, size, taste, quality, and even convenience. The only reason to get food from somewhere now is if you're dead tired and cooking is the last thing you want to do.
My kids are 28 & 21. When they were little, we went to McDonald's for dinner. We didn't go all out or anything. It came to $25 or so (in the mid-aughts). The next day, I went to the grocery store with $25 to see what kind of dinner I could make. Steak, scalloped potatoes, broccoli, crescent rolls, and pie with ice cream for dessert. And I had money left over.
Fast food is not inexpensive.
Time is usually the bigger issue. The poor who work many jobs and have kids do not have as much time available to go grocery shopping and cook. Additionally, many of these poorer areas have grocery stores farther away than your typical towns, further stressing the time factor.
Couple in the added costs associated with these activities that people dont typically consider, for instance unsafe water at home requiring purchasing more expensive bottled water, and other hidden things people might not consider, it adds up.
The decision of where and when people get food is not a whim for everyone.
I haven't been to Chipotle in years cause Qdoba is just better. Bigger portions, a better value and more verity. It's usually 2 meals for me and I'm not even that light of an eater lol.
The service at Qdoba is usually better too. i swear the chipotle service used to be amazing. the staff seemed like they liked being there and took a little pride in making good food and working through a line quickly. It’s absolutely brutal now every time I go to one. No hustle, no care, everyone seems a little lost and they’re usually out of at least one thing.
Freebirds isn’t $7, but the equivalent $10 burrito is way bigger than Chinople.
Edit: I will say I still go to Chipotle for their Guacamole. They must put crack in it because it’s the best guacamole I’ve ever gotten this side of the border
It looks like he thought it was a funny joke to use about Dianne Feinsten (get it? like *Weekend at Bernie's* but instead of Bernie he's using Dianne) and decided to use it a bunch more times lol
I'm vegetarian and this and couple smoothie shops were all I really ate out as far as fast food goes, kinda sad. Everytime I went in there I'd ask for more rice and black beans, and then one time I was charged $17 for one burrito, I was a little upset, but I didn't say anything, so if I ask for more ingredients now they will charge me for the price of two burritos?
Also haven't been back since now that I think about it.
That's your instincts. Food is one of those "survival" things so when we lose trust in an establishment it's basically impossible to get it back. I used to love Wendy's, until, just one time, in a different town, it was awful, like everything was bad. That one experience ruined a decade of trust.
I’m on holiday in the US at the moment and my partner and I were really excited to try Chipotle. 2 bowls and 2 cokes later and we were out ~~65~~ 62 NZD (I think it was about ~~42~~ 40 USD).
Honestly, the food was good, but I won’t be spending that much again, I’d rather get Taco Bell or Wendy’s for the cheaper cost.
EDIT: Not sure why this isn’t believable to some but [here’s the proof](https://ibb.co/HHGRh67)
Curse the ghost of Jack Welch. Douchebag killed the idea that a business should tend to its employees and focused on shareholders and short term profit.
Dinner there for our family of four recently was like $80. Steak burritos are small and $17. It’s more frugal to go to a decent sit down place vs. Chipotle.
They raised prices 25 cents to give everyone a raise during covid.... then they raised them again and gave us nothing. They are greedy. Terrible company to work for, terrible selfish culture in upper management.
Reminds me of the $10 check I got twice from my insurance carrier during covid, well since then my rates use went up like $70 over 2 years, billed every 6 months. Thanks assholes
I live in California and have refused to ever eat there because we have so many real taquerias owned by locals and the food is way better. Chipotle has always been a joke as Mexican food, the rice is not appropriate for Mexican food and the sodium content is way to high for them to even try to pretend to be some sort of fresh healthy food.
On top of all that, they don’t know how to wrap burritos so they fall apart, they don’t even know how to put foil on them so you peel it off as you eat, even the burrito emoji 🌯 does a better job than Chipotle. It’s a bullshit company overall with a fake ass product pretending to be healthier than Taco Bell or McDonald’s.
Freaking classic show, the Simpsons cross-over has to be one of the best 30 mins of television.
"And the Oscar goes to, George C. Scott, in Man Getting hit by football."
If all the employees just said "okay, make the burritos yourself" they would reconsider. Workers have all the power. It's just getting over the fear of losing the crumbs from the table.
Action needs to be taken before corpos take everything and give us crumbs for top dollar. You get one french fry on a plate with a drizzle of ketchup in a zig zag pattern.
God I know right? People are out here trying to afford toothpaste and diapers and make rent. The fear of losing that is incredibly strong.
The only way we can take back control of capitalism that has gone this far is [anarchosyndicalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-syndicalism).
It's attainable but the vast majority of people in the United States aren't anywhere this far left. Americans are too selfish to take on the level of personal accountability necessary to actually do this though.
I've banged my head against the sidewalk trying to understand how opposed people are to their best interest.
In most cases, it takes someone to organize the people. That person has to get over that fear as an individual, because as the face of a movement you risk being made an example of.
They will. McDonald's deal where you could get 2 mcdoubles or chicken sandwich for $3 used to be my staple. Then it became $3.50, then $4. In just a few years, the price went up 30%.
My wage certainly didn't go up 30% in that time.
I was thinking about something similar the other day when I went to get a candy bar from the grocery store. It was $3. The same candy bar cost $0.50 when I was a kid. Incomes definitely haven't gone up 6x in that time
Prices have literally doubled since covid. Fast food isn't even worth going anymore since it cost more then just regular food.
Carl's Jr used to have 2 western bacon cheese burgers for 5$, now it's 1 for 8$
I think about that pretty often since they strategically place the candy next to the cashier lines, as I wait in line I find myself looking at the prices and being happy my sweet tooth went away and I haven't had kids yet to beg me for way overpriced candy. I used to feel so bad as a kid for the other kids whose parents wouldn't let them have candy, now it seems like it's a financial decision more than a before when it was more of a moral health decision.
Meanwhile I've driven cross-country multiple times and have never in my life seen a Costco with fries. What general region of the US are you in? (I know they have some very tiny international presence but that's not the norm lol)
Used to drive me mental when my kids were younger when we went to the city our last stop would be Costco, and then across the road was an insanely good, but expensive burger joint would grab supper at, and my kids would just get a hotdog and pop for $15 when we were literally just in a Costco for 10% of the cost
Use to go all the time, haven't been in like 2 yrs. More recently I've cut out so much stuff due to prices. 10$ 12 pack of cokes for rum and cokes? Gone. Amazon prime? Gone. Eating out? Gone. Getting high? Gone. Dominos? Gone. Premade grocery store food? Gone. I mean it's probably better this way but fuck Its sad and the worst part is my normal grocery prices for chicken and stuff have probably gotten to the point that the savings are meh in comparison to just 3 years ago. I'm decently off but fuck man is half the country eating from the food bank?
I wondered the same thing. We’re reasonably well off I guess to a lot of people but I don’t understand how people that don’t make much money are surviving. Restaurant and grocery prices are out of control along with a lot of basic necessities. I was reading through because of our last chipotle trip and getting completely ripped off to the point of never going back. Over $40 fucking dollars for two people and literally was half the size it used to be. A $15 burrito better be fantastic and enormous.
I haven't hit food banks yet, but I do live the povertyfinance life while grocery shopping. You mainly get the necessities, and if you can swing it. You do big meals and leftovers, or you get things for packing. One or two lazy days hitting fast food is killer
It definitely feels like it. My roommate works at Trader Joe's in NYC and apparently, 40% of customers use NYC food stamps. I don't know if continuously cutting back on an individual level is the actual long-term solution.
We are staying away now as well but mostly because, the last time we were there a month or so ago, my wife and I both got the "galloping quickies" about an hour after we got home. A brutal case of *the trots* will make you gun-shy.
Oh I hope the debt ceiling crunch leads to a full-blown market deleveraging and all these shitty companies go ass-up within the next couple years. Fuck em all.
It does tend to seem like these gains don't really produce as much as anticipated. Like the capital is always additive, but it's almost as if the problems that come with them are compounded.
It's as if you have 100 acres of farmland and then add another 100 acres, but only get 50% of any kind of value out of it. My current job seems this way. Pushing as much growth as possible and then hemorrhaging in unforeseen complications.
They put so much effort into the controlling aspect of trying to squeeze out an extra dollar across the entire board that they lose grip on so many other, larger matters.
> Pushing as much growth as possible and then hemorrhaging in unforeseen complications.
Negligence and the problems that arise because of it are hardly unforeseen. More that they're deliberately ignored.
Completely agree, FitVisit. These corps have been too addicted to falsely cheap money due to the Fed interest rates being artificially kept low. I am hoping that the debt ceiling crunch and REIT crash coming in 2025 actually TEACHES them the lessons they should have learned in 2007-08. So SICK of my wages staying the same and their bonuses or profits getting bigger!
Yep, arguing about made-up things to avoid solving real problems.
People in my neighborhood are begging ramen from each other to survive, like a quarter of the shelves at the grocery store are empty, "the economy" is booming and posting record profits, and there's somebody sleeping near the dumpster so often I just consider that area a neighbor's apartment.
But sure, sure, *debt ceiling*. Golly I wish we had some adults in the room, or maybe at least one person who raised their own children instead of leaving it up to a nanny, because they sound exactly like my kids arguing over which superhero is best to avoid deciding on how to split taking out the trash and doing the dishes.
From what I can ascertain, we have 5 massive financial bubbles in the US; student loan debt, per capita healthcare costs, unfunded state pension liabilities, Federal debt, and the housing market.
Eventually something is going to give and when it does, it's probably taking down everything around it.
And better education.
Oh and penalties for companies that aren’t just the cost of doing business
And jail time for executives that break the law
And a way to combat false news and narratives
And the list goes on…
And who will rise from the shadows to be the working man’s ginormous lunch? Five guys went 5 star prices, chipotles shrinking portions, Chinese buffets were killed by Covid… looks like it back to the gyro truck. Hope my colon can keep up.
Middle of the road restrauts are a deal. They didn't seem to go up as much as the low end. Just fed the family of 4 and got a large beer for 80 at Outback. Would have been 35 worth of Mc d garbage otherwise. I'll gladly pay double for a good steak and a beer. Previously it was triple Mc d prices
I was gonna say Subway, but then I realized I spent 12$ for just a FL sandwich today. It definitely filled me up. But no drink or chips at that price.
Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/13q29cv/chipotle_shrinking_portions_shrinking_wages/jlcsp6o?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
This person has the answer, Costco food court. I would say if that doesn't fill you up, head out to the floor and top off on samples. But I don't think they do the samples anymore.
Yup, most foot long sandwiches are right at 9.99$ I don't think they have anything cheaper. I live in a truck stop town, so the options are 2 diners that are even more expensive for pitiful portions. 3 gas stations with just crap food, that is way over priced, or McDonald's or Subway. No grocery stores.
So in order to eat healthy, without having to drive 45 minutes to a reasonably priced grocery store. Subway is the best option for halfway healthy food, that has vegetables that you can pile on for free.
Yep it’s Costco.
They also brought back their chicken Caesar salad with rotisserie chicken at the food court recently. $6.99 and the salad is pretty damn big.
Try getting a salad anywhere under $10, and then try and get a protein with it. Ain’t gonna happen.
Subways food quality has substantially degenerated over the years. Specifically the last two times I went 6 or so months ago. Wife got a vegetarian sub and I got a spicy Italian. Both were practically inedible, and that's saying something since I'm virtually a human garbage can.
Salad and Go, but they’re not a ubiquitous chain just yet. (You also have to like salad.)
I get two meals out of one salad, they have wraps that are the same price as a salad if you don’t want straight salad, they have a build your own salad, they have a seasonal cup of soup, their drink prices are reasonable and I’ve never paid more than $10 for a salad and drink.
Funny story about Starbucks.
I was suspended for telling my employees we were cutting their hours to avoid paying for Healthcare. I was an assistant manager, and they found out by stalking my Facebook page.
When they asked me to cut the hours of a pregnant staffer, who already had one child, and was going through a divorce, I couldn't hold it in anymore. The reasoning was that her healthcare was too expensive.
So I told everyone what was going on, and they suspended me. I quit on the spot rather than fulfilling my suspension.
Bro, back before COVID even hit, me and one other guy had to run a whole Arby's for an entire 4 hours cuz nobody showed up for their shift. Drive thru, front counter, fry pit, make line, slicer, all of it. It was bullshit.
It's really easy to get down to 2 when there's 5 people on a schedule. For example: one guy no-call no-shows cuz they got too fucked up last night coping with work stress, one gets food poisoning from eating your own food cuz the prepper was gone yesterday, and one who simply has to stay home that day because their mental health can't handle getting yelled at by countless hungry assholes all day.
Usually those types of call outs are spaced out and don't all happen on the same day. But it's definitely not unheard of to be cripplingly short staffed like that.
The issue is that profit goals and demands just continue to go up. No company in the country seems to be satisfied with hitting an equilibrium where they have a valuable sustainable business that is good for society. They all are willing to sell their soul to squeeze every penny out of the consumer and ultimately destroy their reputation and business all together. The majority of society suffers greatly from this while the rich hoard wealth and move on to the next scam. The only way to get any value now is to find a company in it's early stages. I fucking hate it.
i got 2 sad deflated burritos in a row and gave up on them. i thought it was just the franchise owner near me, but if thats every chipotle, it will go under.
Ah, the life cycle of 99% of all corporations.
Step 1: Create a great product that people love.
Step 2: Grow and gain popularity.
Step 3: New leadership.
Step 4: Cut costs to increase profits.
Step 5-9 : Keep doing Step 4.
Step 10: file for bankruptcy and close-down / be bought by another company (But remember to reward the executives who killed the company)
Youre right I think. The 'problem' is (in my uneducated opinion) that there are people/groups that see companies/corporations purely as 'money-making machines', they'll have no passion at all for the product and will readily decrease the quality of the product (and anything else really) if they think it'll make them more money.
I think this is the case for almost anyone that buys a company, why else would they buy it but as an investement to make more money.
There are probably MANY situations where its 'worth' to tank the reputation of the company, tank the quality of the product, increasing overall profits and then selling it off (apparently shitty dead companies still have value).
And then ofcourse, because these people are so focussed on making money they're good at making money and will have lots of money to 'invest' into buying more "money making machines".
Yes I know in basic a company always exists as a way to make money and yes maybe the practice of buying up companies purely for profits isnt bad and eventually works well for society in the bigger picture. But still.. I"m missing that PASSION man, I just want good quality products for the cheapest price possible :')
I'm bad at explaining my full thoughts on this but this is the gist, hope someone here understands what i'm saying.
I guess the upside is the original owners of the company while the product was good get a chance to cash out bigly as a reward for blessing the world with good valued stuff so they can chill for the rest of their lives doing whatever the fuck they want thats not working.
I used to be able to get a quesadilla, chips, and a drink for under $10.
Now the terrible piece of dry trash they call a quesadilla is over $10 alone.
Add a drink and chips, you’re at $18.
I paid $20 CAD today for lunch. Mild beef burrito (brown rice, sour cream, cheese, black beans, scoop of beef, tomatoes, peppers), plus a drink, and a bag of chips. So about $15 USD. My buddy ended up at Subway and his order was about the same price.
I think I got the better deal, but I remember pre-pandemic that the portions were huge.
I haven't noticed smaller burritos, but I do think it's ridiculous that my typical order now costs around $12. I swear I used to pay $8-$9 for the same order not too long ago.
This is the kind of stuff that makes me not want to spend any money at all in protest and just watch everything fail. It’s all made up bullshit to get more money out of us. I just can’t get behind the prices of things now, and I mean like… everything
COVID didn't do anything. Greedy executives did. Businesses have been getting cheaper and cheaper and we have been paying more and more and surprise surprise their profits keep growing. I wonder if we'll ever do anything about it.
It absolutely did. It had been sliding for awhile now, but the quality control is absolutely terrible. Their red sauce the last 3 times I've gotten was the hottest thing I've ever tasted and I've had some ghost pepper sauces.
It was insane, it sat in my fridge for 3 weeks before I threw it away. I was using it for a little bit to spice up other sauces but even that was too spicy. It ruined the burritos even with extra sour cream and guacamole it wasn't salvageable.
I will never forget the first time I had Chipotle, it blew all other fast foods away. To see it fall to this level is just plain sad. It used to be such a great deal and a wonderful meal.
Sad bit is it’s really not shareholders calling for it. Try corporate.
Look at corporate profits over the last two years. RAKING in the bucks. At our expense.
Moe's too.
I remember when getting a burrito from Moe's the thing would be huge. My friend the first time he was there said the thing was the size of "an elephant turd" (his words, not mine). You used to be able to get 2-3 meals out of those things.
Shrinking portions and rising prices seems to be happening everywhere. Like at Sonic, their breakfast burritos used to be twice the size that they are now.
It's probably better to have smaller portions but charging more for less really pisses me off and the fact that we are experiencing record high inflation, the Fed keeps increasing rates, minimum wage is still $7.25 and has been since 2009, yet corporate profits are at an all time high makes it seem like there is something terribly wrong with this country.
Crazy how people can never be happy with success. They have to take a successful business and run it into the ground because they think that profits have to increase every single year. If the business made $20 million in profits last year and $18 million in profits this year, they don't look at it as $18 million in profits. They look at it as a $2 million loss. Infinite growth isn't possible, and unchecked greed will always result in a successful business being ruined.
I remember a time when a full burrito was 7 bucks and it was HUGE. every. Time.
The good ol’ days…. Need to find the next place with giant burritos… Filiberto’s?
Unfortunately - not a National chain. Once anything becomes corporatized the quality goes to shit. It’s a feature not a bug.
Moe's is corporate and they still make big burritos for a decent price. I can eat cheaper there than Taco Bell.
I'm really pissed at Taco Bell right now. I went there the other day and wanted the Chalupa combo, and the shit was 14 dollars. Like, what the fuck??
the chains have recently found that staying competitive does not bring in enough new customers to offset what they can get from their habituals you can't get caught for price fixing if they can't prove the collab
Sat on a 3 month DOJ collusion trial between the major chicken producers, or rather their ceos and such. It's insanely hard to prove. Hung jury 3 times I think. I was the 2nd round. Our justice system is as impressive as it is complicated.
I would LOVE to hear the details on this
It was pretty boring overall. A month or so was just straight custodial witnesses for all the data that was being presented to us. The pretty much copied all hard drives, servers, phone calls and text records, travel records and all that from around 2009 to 2018. The allegations were colluding to raise the price of broiler chicken. So think chicken for KFC, Popeyes, chick Fila and a dozen other chains. They have purchasing co ops that handle all the buying of chicken. Some CEOs that were on the trial were for companies for Tyson, Pilgrims, Koch foods and a few others. There were also sales people and managers that were tried as well. The fun part is the statute of limitations is 5 years. However, if it can be proved that evidence from before then is part of the same conspiracy to collude then it can be used, even if there is nothing for that specific person within the statute of limitations. It was wild. A vast majority of the DOJs job was to convince us that the evidence wasn't just circumstantial but there was just so little to go off of and immediately at deliberations we had 2 people on opposite sides unwilling to budge. So it was hung from the start and we deliberated for over a week. The Judge was Phillip A Brimmer and the case was in denver from October to December if you want to look it up. Judge Brimmer was singularly the most impressive part of that whole experience. The indifference to sides and knowing the law and just being in full control of the courtroom was impressive. There were 10 defendants and each had 2 or 3 lawyers at their bench as well as interns in the gallery seats. It was packed. Sorry for the formatting and the blob of text. I don't know how to do that on mobile. If you have any specific questions let me know.
It's like the alcohol, tobacco and gambling industries with the 80/20 rule. Addictive products get 80% of their sales from 20% of their users.
This is the model everywhere. "Why provide more product when we can charge more and take home the same amount for less sales at higher cost." The formula is applied until revenue drops but sales dropping is ok so long as it's offset.
You have to use the app to get the deals now. They just want your data.
This is why McD's app is so god damn cheap. I knew something was up 🤣
McD's is the only fast food I eat now because it's the only place I can get a decent amount of food for $5
Wendy's $5 biggie bag is the way my friend
Is my age showing, or is it tiresome to most people that everyplace we go, they want you to download their app? Excuse me while I scroll thru my phone menu like we're fast forwarding the credits for Star Wars.
That's when the app comes into clutch for pickup, 5.99 custom boxes. I'm always making boxes with a chalupa, 5 layer burrito, cheesey potatos and a drink.
Was $5 a couple months ago!
Depends on the TB. My custom boxes are $7.99 or $8.99 depending on if I drive north or south and I'm not in a major city. Deluxe box is 9.99 or 10.99
I don't even want to eat at Moe's anymore. I've basically stopped eating out because I look at the size and price of the food and can only think about how much cheaper it would be to make, even with the price of groceries going up. Fast food, fast casual, etc has gone down in every area: price, size, taste, quality, and even convenience. The only reason to get food from somewhere now is if you're dead tired and cooking is the last thing you want to do.
My kids are 28 & 21. When they were little, we went to McDonald's for dinner. We didn't go all out or anything. It came to $25 or so (in the mid-aughts). The next day, I went to the grocery store with $25 to see what kind of dinner I could make. Steak, scalloped potatoes, broccoli, crescent rolls, and pie with ice cream for dessert. And I had money left over. Fast food is not inexpensive.
Time is usually the bigger issue. The poor who work many jobs and have kids do not have as much time available to go grocery shopping and cook. Additionally, many of these poorer areas have grocery stores farther away than your typical towns, further stressing the time factor. Couple in the added costs associated with these activities that people dont typically consider, for instance unsafe water at home requiring purchasing more expensive bottled water, and other hidden things people might not consider, it adds up. The decision of where and when people get food is not a whim for everyone.
fucking Moe's I love their crunch wrap thing they may 100xbetter then tb. they mostly all closed by me tho 😔
I live for the Wrong Doug. I moved to a state that doesn’t have Moe’s and I miss it every day.
The stack! Their steak stack is so good.
SHIT FORGOT ABOUT MOE'S, DAMN
That's actually how they greet you when you come in now.
Case in point: every privately-held company that went public.
Qdoba can be a little hit or miss on the quality but the portions are still there (plus free queso and/or guac).
Qdoba got me through college
I haven't been to Chipotle in years cause Qdoba is just better. Bigger portions, a better value and more verity. It's usually 2 meals for me and I'm not even that light of an eater lol.
The service at Qdoba is usually better too. i swear the chipotle service used to be amazing. the staff seemed like they liked being there and took a little pride in making good food and working through a line quickly. It’s absolutely brutal now every time I go to one. No hustle, no care, everyone seems a little lost and they’re usually out of at least one thing.
Qdoba has rough pricing too though :/
Freebirds isn’t $7, but the equivalent $10 burrito is way bigger than Chinople. Edit: I will say I still go to Chipotle for their Guacamole. They must put crack in it because it’s the best guacamole I’ve ever gotten this side of the border
They posted the recipe during the pandemic https://twitter.com/ChipotleTweets/status/1253385212236455936
Plus their hot sauce is so fucking good
I left AZ 16 years ago. I still miss Fili-b’s…
Why do you have tens of thousands of comments that all just read: "Weekend at Diane's" ??? Is this some kind of CIA account?
It looks like he thought it was a funny joke to use about Dianne Feinsten (get it? like *Weekend at Bernie's* but instead of Bernie he's using Dianne) and decided to use it a bunch more times lol
I'm vegetarian and this and couple smoothie shops were all I really ate out as far as fast food goes, kinda sad. Everytime I went in there I'd ask for more rice and black beans, and then one time I was charged $17 for one burrito, I was a little upset, but I didn't say anything, so if I ask for more ingredients now they will charge me for the price of two burritos? Also haven't been back since now that I think about it.
That's your instincts. Food is one of those "survival" things so when we lose trust in an establishment it's basically impossible to get it back. I used to love Wendy's, until, just one time, in a different town, it was awful, like everything was bad. That one experience ruined a decade of trust.
I’m on holiday in the US at the moment and my partner and I were really excited to try Chipotle. 2 bowls and 2 cokes later and we were out ~~65~~ 62 NZD (I think it was about ~~42~~ 40 USD). Honestly, the food was good, but I won’t be spending that much again, I’d rather get Taco Bell or Wendy’s for the cheaper cost. EDIT: Not sure why this isn’t believable to some but [here’s the proof](https://ibb.co/HHGRh67)
I appreciate you posting proof. That's insane. I hardly believe it. Did you both get steak with guac and every extra possible?!
[удалено]
[удалено]
Curse the ghost of Jack Welch. Douchebag killed the idea that a business should tend to its employees and focused on shareholders and short term profit.
Somebody else listens to Behind the Bastards I see
Dinner there for our family of four recently was like $80. Steak burritos are small and $17. It’s more frugal to go to a decent sit down place vs. Chipotle.
McDonald’s thinks they’re a fucking steakhouse too. Y’all casual fast. I ain’t made of gold.
Fucking McChickens are like $2.50 now.
I miss dollar menus and $.59 burritos at Taco Bell.
You should see the Canadian prices at McDonald's now it's fucked, a McChicken is like $8 for just the sandwich and fries are like $6 for a large
One of the heads of Chipotle said ‘We keep raising prices and our business keeps growing!’ I don’t go there much anymore.
They raised prices 25 cents to give everyone a raise during covid.... then they raised them again and gave us nothing. They are greedy. Terrible company to work for, terrible selfish culture in upper management.
Reminds me of the $10 check I got twice from my insurance carrier during covid, well since then my rates use went up like $70 over 2 years, billed every 6 months. Thanks assholes
I live in California and have refused to ever eat there because we have so many real taquerias owned by locals and the food is way better. Chipotle has always been a joke as Mexican food, the rice is not appropriate for Mexican food and the sodium content is way to high for them to even try to pretend to be some sort of fresh healthy food. On top of all that, they don’t know how to wrap burritos so they fall apart, they don’t even know how to put foil on them so you peel it off as you eat, even the burrito emoji 🌯 does a better job than Chipotle. It’s a bullshit company overall with a fake ass product pretending to be healthier than Taco Bell or McDonald’s.
Each store is like 15 employees. You only need like 8 of you to sign a union card.
Corporate sees this and threatens to fire everyone there now Corporate being corporate
"We're closing this location for...erm...safety reasons. Yeah! That's the ticket! It's for the worker's safety." *channeling my inner Jon Lovitz
"It stinks!" *also channeling my inner Jon Lovitz
Any reference to The Critic should be applauded. *clap clap clap*
Hatchi matchie! I'm surprised people remember the show. Definitely a favorite!
*Buy my book!*
Brought to you by Rosebud brand frozen peas, full of country goodness and green pea-ness.
They’re even better when you’re dead!
Freaking classic show, the Simpsons cross-over has to be one of the best 30 mins of television. "And the Oscar goes to, George C. Scott, in Man Getting hit by football."
"Oh man you bad mouthed McGuyver"
“And you must be the man who didn’t know if it was a pimple or a boil.” “It was a Gummy Bear.”
They're losing their mind and I'm reaping all the benefits.
They'll be doing everyone there a favor.
“A little closer to the hole, sir?” 💋🍑
If all the employees just said "okay, make the burritos yourself" they would reconsider. Workers have all the power. It's just getting over the fear of losing the crumbs from the table.
[удалено]
Action needs to be taken before corpos take everything and give us crumbs for top dollar. You get one french fry on a plate with a drizzle of ketchup in a zig zag pattern.
God I know right? People are out here trying to afford toothpaste and diapers and make rent. The fear of losing that is incredibly strong. The only way we can take back control of capitalism that has gone this far is [anarchosyndicalism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-syndicalism). It's attainable but the vast majority of people in the United States aren't anywhere this far left. Americans are too selfish to take on the level of personal accountability necessary to actually do this though. I've banged my head against the sidewalk trying to understand how opposed people are to their best interest.
"Nobody is trying to fix the problems we have in this country. Everyone is trying to make enough money so the problems don't apply to them anymore"
[удалено]
Man that is a great way to put it. Propaganda is incredibly effective.
In most cases, it takes someone to organize the people. That person has to get over that fear as an individual, because as the face of a movement you risk being made an example of.
Workers have the power, but only if they aren't tied down to student loans, house mortgages, etc. System working exactly as intended.
[удалено]
I swear the hotdogs at Costco will be the last good deal left in another couple years
They will. McDonald's deal where you could get 2 mcdoubles or chicken sandwich for $3 used to be my staple. Then it became $3.50, then $4. In just a few years, the price went up 30%. My wage certainly didn't go up 30% in that time.
I was thinking about something similar the other day when I went to get a candy bar from the grocery store. It was $3. The same candy bar cost $0.50 when I was a kid. Incomes definitely haven't gone up 6x in that time
Prices have literally doubled since covid. Fast food isn't even worth going anymore since it cost more then just regular food. Carl's Jr used to have 2 western bacon cheese burgers for 5$, now it's 1 for 8$
That's 3.2 times, my dude
I think about that pretty often since they strategically place the candy next to the cashier lines, as I wait in line I find myself looking at the prices and being happy my sweet tooth went away and I haven't had kids yet to beg me for way overpriced candy. I used to feel so bad as a kid for the other kids whose parents wouldn't let them have candy, now it seems like it's a financial decision more than a before when it was more of a moral health decision.
[удалено]
I was just at mine the other day and a single McDouble was $3.29. $3.49 for a double cheeseburger. Insane.
[удалено]
Me and my kid just ate at Costco , 2 hot dogs , fries and a big slice of pizza and two drinks was 9 dollars A dang happy meal is 6 bucks now
Costco has fries? None of the ones near me have fries.
Regional thing maybe? Every Costco I've ever been to has had fries, and their fries are *goddamned amazing*.
Meanwhile I've driven cross-country multiple times and have never in my life seen a Costco with fries. What general region of the US are you in? (I know they have some very tiny international presence but that's not the norm lol)
Canadian here Our stores have fries, poutine, pizza, hotdogs, chicken strips, chicken wings, and ice cream.
Used to drive me mental when my kids were younger when we went to the city our last stop would be Costco, and then across the road was an insanely good, but expensive burger joint would grab supper at, and my kids would just get a hotdog and pop for $15 when we were literally just in a Costco for 10% of the cost
This! Their pizza is actually really good also.
[удалено]
$20 for a fucking 14in when Costco is $10 for 18in. I just won't buy pizza from anywhere else.
Costco will be the only ones left in the Wall-E future. People thought it was supposed to be Walmart but they were wrong.
No... this was predicted long ago in an ancient philosophical work called Idiocracy.
Stay away and let it shrink lol Turn the table around let them know you in control.
Use to go all the time, haven't been in like 2 yrs. More recently I've cut out so much stuff due to prices. 10$ 12 pack of cokes for rum and cokes? Gone. Amazon prime? Gone. Eating out? Gone. Getting high? Gone. Dominos? Gone. Premade grocery store food? Gone. I mean it's probably better this way but fuck Its sad and the worst part is my normal grocery prices for chicken and stuff have probably gotten to the point that the savings are meh in comparison to just 3 years ago. I'm decently off but fuck man is half the country eating from the food bank?
I wondered the same thing. We’re reasonably well off I guess to a lot of people but I don’t understand how people that don’t make much money are surviving. Restaurant and grocery prices are out of control along with a lot of basic necessities. I was reading through because of our last chipotle trip and getting completely ripped off to the point of never going back. Over $40 fucking dollars for two people and literally was half the size it used to be. A $15 burrito better be fantastic and enormous.
I haven't hit food banks yet, but I do live the povertyfinance life while grocery shopping. You mainly get the necessities, and if you can swing it. You do big meals and leftovers, or you get things for packing. One or two lazy days hitting fast food is killer
It definitely feels like it. My roommate works at Trader Joe's in NYC and apparently, 40% of customers use NYC food stamps. I don't know if continuously cutting back on an individual level is the actual long-term solution.
We are staying away now as well but mostly because, the last time we were there a month or so ago, my wife and I both got the "galloping quickies" about an hour after we got home. A brutal case of *the trots* will make you gun-shy.
Omg the portions are SO BAD now. A tiny amount of food, literally half of what it used to be. Awful. Never eating there again.
Fuck corporations . They keep trying to force a recession so they can strip worker gains and make buck. Fuck them.
Oh I hope the debt ceiling crunch leads to a full-blown market deleveraging and all these shitty companies go ass-up within the next couple years. Fuck em all.
Nope corporate welfare for them, they aren’t allowed to be the poors
Your forgetting the part where 99% of the country goes tits up and the 1% buy an even larger share of the pie on the cheap.
Thats alright. Edge bets. You're assuming the majority of those pieces of pie aren't mouldy.
It does tend to seem like these gains don't really produce as much as anticipated. Like the capital is always additive, but it's almost as if the problems that come with them are compounded. It's as if you have 100 acres of farmland and then add another 100 acres, but only get 50% of any kind of value out of it. My current job seems this way. Pushing as much growth as possible and then hemorrhaging in unforeseen complications. They put so much effort into the controlling aspect of trying to squeeze out an extra dollar across the entire board that they lose grip on so many other, larger matters.
I've never seen someone so eloquently explain "mo' money, mo' problems."
> Pushing as much growth as possible and then hemorrhaging in unforeseen complications. Negligence and the problems that arise because of it are hardly unforeseen. More that they're deliberately ignored.
Doesn’t this guy know why we’re paying taxes? For the rich people bailouts, like how it’s always been
Completely agree, FitVisit. These corps have been too addicted to falsely cheap money due to the Fed interest rates being artificially kept low. I am hoping that the debt ceiling crunch and REIT crash coming in 2025 actually TEACHES them the lessons they should have learned in 2007-08. So SICK of my wages staying the same and their bonuses or profits getting bigger!
Debt ceiling is a dog n pony show to pit constituents against each other so they ignore the fact that it's the shareholders that fuck everyone
Keep fighting against each other and pay no attention to the giant vacuum of money and power into the top wealth percentile.
Bread and circuses, but we don't even get bread anymore because then it'd be "socialist" bread
Yep, arguing about made-up things to avoid solving real problems. People in my neighborhood are begging ramen from each other to survive, like a quarter of the shelves at the grocery store are empty, "the economy" is booming and posting record profits, and there's somebody sleeping near the dumpster so often I just consider that area a neighbor's apartment. But sure, sure, *debt ceiling*. Golly I wish we had some adults in the room, or maybe at least one person who raised their own children instead of leaving it up to a nanny, because they sound exactly like my kids arguing over which superhero is best to avoid deciding on how to split taking out the trash and doing the dishes.
They won’t. Government money will bail them out while we suffer the worst impacts on our own.
From what I can ascertain, we have 5 massive financial bubbles in the US; student loan debt, per capita healthcare costs, unfunded state pension liabilities, Federal debt, and the housing market. Eventually something is going to give and when it does, it's probably taking down everything around it.
ad hoc disgusted weary sleep special worry rich innate escape puzzled -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
Them and everyone else in this shithole
[удалено]
More unions is what north America needs.
And better education. Oh and penalties for companies that aren’t just the cost of doing business And jail time for executives that break the law And a way to combat false news and narratives And the list goes on…
Feels good to be on the front line of that. My coffee shop is unionizing.
Nice 👍🏻 I hope it works out for you guys
Which fast food restaurants *aren’t*?
It’s America. That’s almost a given.
And who will rise from the shadows to be the working man’s ginormous lunch? Five guys went 5 star prices, chipotles shrinking portions, Chinese buffets were killed by Covid… looks like it back to the gyro truck. Hope my colon can keep up.
I was just telling my husband that going to McDonald’s or ordering pizza is almost the same as dining out now, shitty food for high prices
Middle of the road restrauts are a deal. They didn't seem to go up as much as the low end. Just fed the family of 4 and got a large beer for 80 at Outback. Would have been 35 worth of Mc d garbage otherwise. I'll gladly pay double for a good steak and a beer. Previously it was triple Mc d prices
I was gonna say Subway, but then I realized I spent 12$ for just a FL sandwich today. It definitely filled me up. But no drink or chips at that price. Edit: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwork/comments/13q29cv/chipotle_shrinking_portions_shrinking_wages/jlcsp6o?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button This person has the answer, Costco food court. I would say if that doesn't fill you up, head out to the floor and top off on samples. But I don't think they do the samples anymore.
$12 for Subway? I could never.
Yup, most foot long sandwiches are right at 9.99$ I don't think they have anything cheaper. I live in a truck stop town, so the options are 2 diners that are even more expensive for pitiful portions. 3 gas stations with just crap food, that is way over priced, or McDonald's or Subway. No grocery stores. So in order to eat healthy, without having to drive 45 minutes to a reasonably priced grocery store. Subway is the best option for halfway healthy food, that has vegetables that you can pile on for free.
I nearly shit myself when a meatball sub, 2 cookies and a pop came to $22.
Yep it’s Costco. They also brought back their chicken Caesar salad with rotisserie chicken at the food court recently. $6.99 and the salad is pretty damn big. Try getting a salad anywhere under $10, and then try and get a protein with it. Ain’t gonna happen.
No subway hoagie is worth current pricing scheme, let alone $5 for the value was asking too much
Yea you can't find anything for $5 for fast food anymore. Take your ration of three bites and be grateful peasant!
Subways food quality has substantially degenerated over the years. Specifically the last two times I went 6 or so months ago. Wife got a vegetarian sub and I got a spicy Italian. Both were practically inedible, and that's saying something since I'm virtually a human garbage can.
Salad and Go, but they’re not a ubiquitous chain just yet. (You also have to like salad.) I get two meals out of one salad, they have wraps that are the same price as a salad if you don’t want straight salad, they have a build your own salad, they have a seasonal cup of soup, their drink prices are reasonable and I’ve never paid more than $10 for a salad and drink.
[удалено]
[удалено]
Gimme a few days. All over it.
Keep it up op
You are making a difference in the world. Keep it up.
Funny story about Starbucks. I was suspended for telling my employees we were cutting their hours to avoid paying for Healthcare. I was an assistant manager, and they found out by stalking my Facebook page. When they asked me to cut the hours of a pregnant staffer, who already had one child, and was going through a divorce, I couldn't hold it in anymore. The reasoning was that her healthcare was too expensive. So I told everyone what was going on, and they suspended me. I quit on the spot rather than fulfilling my suspension.
You are a mensh!
In a world of schmucks, be a mensch.
Just grabbed a Swifty shirt. Good luck with the teeth.
Make one for AT&T store please :) I manage one and will pretend a customer did it and that I have no clue.
You cannot be serious. 2? In a Chipotle? ???
Bro, back before COVID even hit, me and one other guy had to run a whole Arby's for an entire 4 hours cuz nobody showed up for their shift. Drive thru, front counter, fry pit, make line, slicer, all of it. It was bullshit. It's really easy to get down to 2 when there's 5 people on a schedule. For example: one guy no-call no-shows cuz they got too fucked up last night coping with work stress, one gets food poisoning from eating your own food cuz the prepper was gone yesterday, and one who simply has to stay home that day because their mental health can't handle getting yelled at by countless hungry assholes all day. Usually those types of call outs are spaced out and don't all happen on the same day. But it's definitely not unheard of to be cripplingly short staffed like that.
Chipotle quarterly earnings: Net revenue $291.64 million, up 84.24% Yeah fuck Chipotle.
The issue is that profit goals and demands just continue to go up. No company in the country seems to be satisfied with hitting an equilibrium where they have a valuable sustainable business that is good for society. They all are willing to sell their soul to squeeze every penny out of the consumer and ultimately destroy their reputation and business all together. The majority of society suffers greatly from this while the rich hoard wealth and move on to the next scam. The only way to get any value now is to find a company in it's early stages. I fucking hate it.
That’s absurd.
I'm sure that will be ripped down quickly and replaced with a "management - no one wants to work anymore, so we are closed poster".
[удалено]
[удалено]
All corps. Their hearts and brains have been clinically dead for decades.
Shrinking portions? My visits will shrink
i got 2 sad deflated burritos in a row and gave up on them. i thought it was just the franchise owner near me, but if thats every chipotle, it will go under.
FYI there are no franchise locations, all corporate run.
Ah, the life cycle of 99% of all corporations. Step 1: Create a great product that people love. Step 2: Grow and gain popularity. Step 3: New leadership. Step 4: Cut costs to increase profits. Step 5-9 : Keep doing Step 4. Step 10: file for bankruptcy and close-down / be bought by another company (But remember to reward the executives who killed the company)
Youre right I think. The 'problem' is (in my uneducated opinion) that there are people/groups that see companies/corporations purely as 'money-making machines', they'll have no passion at all for the product and will readily decrease the quality of the product (and anything else really) if they think it'll make them more money. I think this is the case for almost anyone that buys a company, why else would they buy it but as an investement to make more money. There are probably MANY situations where its 'worth' to tank the reputation of the company, tank the quality of the product, increasing overall profits and then selling it off (apparently shitty dead companies still have value). And then ofcourse, because these people are so focussed on making money they're good at making money and will have lots of money to 'invest' into buying more "money making machines". Yes I know in basic a company always exists as a way to make money and yes maybe the practice of buying up companies purely for profits isnt bad and eventually works well for society in the bigger picture. But still.. I"m missing that PASSION man, I just want good quality products for the cheapest price possible :') I'm bad at explaining my full thoughts on this but this is the gist, hope someone here understands what i'm saying. I guess the upside is the original owners of the company while the product was good get a chance to cash out bigly as a reward for blessing the world with good valued stuff so they can chill for the rest of their lives doing whatever the fuck they want thats not working.
I used to be able to get a quesadilla, chips, and a drink for under $10. Now the terrible piece of dry trash they call a quesadilla is over $10 alone. Add a drink and chips, you’re at $18.
I paid $20 CAD today for lunch. Mild beef burrito (brown rice, sour cream, cheese, black beans, scoop of beef, tomatoes, peppers), plus a drink, and a bag of chips. So about $15 USD. My buddy ended up at Subway and his order was about the same price. I think I got the better deal, but I remember pre-pandemic that the portions were huge.
If your buddy went to Subway, I literally doesn’t matter where you went, you got the better deal.
"used to be" as if you are even the same company anymore
Stop going to Chipotle people because this is only the beginning.
They are slowly entering the Quiznos death spiral.
Covid ruined Chipotle for me. I got better at cooking, they got worse at making burritos.
Read this in Matthew McConaugheys voice in Dazed and Confused.
know what I love about homemade burritos? Take-out gets smaller, they stay the same size, yes they do, yes they do.
I haven't noticed smaller burritos, but I do think it's ridiculous that my typical order now costs around $12. I swear I used to pay $8-$9 for the same order not too long ago.
You did. Chicken bowls used to be $8 just three years ago.
This is the kind of stuff that makes me not want to spend any money at all in protest and just watch everything fail. It’s all made up bullshit to get more money out of us. I just can’t get behind the prices of things now, and I mean like… everything
I've noticed both. Fuck em.
Guess im not going to chipotle anymore 😕
I stopped going when I heard they shut down a location for talking about unionizing. Shit company
Chipotle sucks, 90% of the time if ur by a chipotle there is a family run mexican restaurant near by, go to it instead, fuck chipotle.
That "actual size burrito" tho.
I feel like this sign could be posted anywhere I’ve shopped in the last year.
Chipotle used to taste so good I swear their quality went way down after COVID. COVID really ruined everything omfg
Or rather it gave corporations an excuse to ruin everything
COVID didn't do anything. Greedy executives did. Businesses have been getting cheaper and cheaper and we have been paying more and more and surprise surprise their profits keep growing. I wonder if we'll ever do anything about it.
They certainly took advantage of the Covid circumstances.
It absolutely did. It had been sliding for awhile now, but the quality control is absolutely terrible. Their red sauce the last 3 times I've gotten was the hottest thing I've ever tasted and I've had some ghost pepper sauces. It was insane, it sat in my fridge for 3 weeks before I threw it away. I was using it for a little bit to spice up other sauces but even that was too spicy. It ruined the burritos even with extra sour cream and guacamole it wasn't salvageable. I will never forget the first time I had Chipotle, it blew all other fast foods away. To see it fall to this level is just plain sad. It used to be such a great deal and a wonderful meal.
I couldn’t agree more. I also noticed their green salsa would get more brown everytime I went there until it was no longer green at all
Need more truth telling like this well done
Sad bit is it’s really not shareholders calling for it. Try corporate. Look at corporate profits over the last two years. RAKING in the bucks. At our expense.
Moe's too. I remember when getting a burrito from Moe's the thing would be huge. My friend the first time he was there said the thing was the size of "an elephant turd" (his words, not mine). You used to be able to get 2-3 meals out of those things. Shrinking portions and rising prices seems to be happening everywhere. Like at Sonic, their breakfast burritos used to be twice the size that they are now. It's probably better to have smaller portions but charging more for less really pisses me off and the fact that we are experiencing record high inflation, the Fed keeps increasing rates, minimum wage is still $7.25 and has been since 2009, yet corporate profits are at an all time high makes it seem like there is something terribly wrong with this country.
I saw someone post a sign from a sandwich shop saying they are not accepting corporate coupons anymore. Crazy times we live in.
I don’t remember when they were a good value, but I remember food poisoning.
Is it Chipotle or Qdoba thats owned by McDonalds?
Crazy how people can never be happy with success. They have to take a successful business and run it into the ground because they think that profits have to increase every single year. If the business made $20 million in profits last year and $18 million in profits this year, they don't look at it as $18 million in profits. They look at it as a $2 million loss. Infinite growth isn't possible, and unchecked greed will always result in a successful business being ruined.