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Wall Street is hoping it can put to rest the “weight debate” surrounding Chipotle’s food portion sizes, which has garnered a wave of social media attention from customers who claim the chain is skimping on servings.
Analysts at Wells Fargo took matters into their own hands and purchased 75 identical burrito bowls across eight Chipotle locations in New York City to settle the argument.
They found that the consistency of the bowl sizes “varied widely,” according to a research note the firm provided to Quartz. Some locations served bowls that weighed about 33% more than other locations, the firm said, noting that they were the exact same order.
The heaviest bowls weighed between 87% more than the smallest bowls, Wells Fargo found. But bowls ordered in-store and online weighed roughly the same.
“While throughput is improving, order consistency remains an opportunity,” the firm said.
Earlier this week, Chipotle’s former founder Steve Ells said during the Wall Street Journal Global Food Forum in Chicago that the Mexican dining chain has always been “quite generous” in its food portions.
Ells, who is also the former chief executive officer, added that in his 30 years with the company, he has “never experienced someone walking out of a Chipotle hungry.”
“So those who complain about portion sizes, I’m not sure I quite get it, but I understand it’s a thing out there,” Ells said.
In May, Chipotle’s current CEO Brian Niccol, took to social media to push back on claims that the chain’s portion sizes were getting smaller. During that time, Niccol said that Chipotle has consistently aimed to give “big portions” that will get customers “excited about the food.”
The weight debate hasn’t kept Chipotle from posting massive gains. In April, during its most recent quarterly earnings, the chain reported a 7% increase in sales, despite it raising prices by 7%.
Niccol, who took over the company in 2018, also said during that earnings call Chipotle was making moves to deploy prototypes of its Autocado robot at some of its busier locations as early as this year. The robot, which it began testing last July, has been created to cut, core, and peel avocados.
In March, he said the robots would give customers “consistent portion sizes.” Previously, the chain had pilot tested “Chippy,” a chip-making robot. But “Chippy” had a short lifespan, largely because the chain said it was too cumbersome to clean.