// REVIEW FROM FORMER STORE EMPLOYEE //
It's time to let the cat out of the bag about this store, so I'm sparing no detail here. Quite frankly, it doesn't deserve to be operating and violates nearly every pillar that chipotle stands for, on top of all its other health and safety violations.
First of all, the regular employees are not to blame for the majority of the store's issues, granted there have certainly been many terrible employees at the store. Many of them are new hires and quite literally do not receive training. In my time at the store, I was only offered "training" after the Apprentice realized that it was one of the store's requirements and could help him get a leg up in the business ladder. The average staff member at the store leaves after six months due to a variety of reasons.
Here is a list of reasons why I left, which are also problems that most of the workers deal with:
- Complete disregard of a workers scheduling needs. As a student at the local Montserrat College, you can figure that I'd be running on a pretty full schedule with classes. I told them that I was free Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I preferred mornings, but didn't mind if they threw me on the night shifts if necessary. This was as open as my schedule could be and it was at a time that they were desperate for help, especially on weekends. You would think I'd be placed on a few shifts at the very least, but I rarely scored more than a five hour shift. Another store manager confided in me that the GM at the time (who has since moved on) had stated that he didn't want to schedule me because he "didn't like my availability." That's messed up. And it got better, the aforementioned apprentice would often tell the GM not to schedule me simply because he "didn't like me" and yes, that's a direct quote. Eventually, I ended up unable to afford food (my college has no meal plan) as well as school itself due to their lack of sympathy and focus on personal goals. At one point, I received a paycheck of one penny, since employees get automatically terminated after a month of not working. And yes, I offered to work every open shift where someone had called out. I was denied by the apprentice.
- It's an overly stressful, untrained, and understaffed environment. Here's the reason for the majority of complaints that plague the store. There are never enough employees on staff to handle the rushes that come in. So as you're ordering your burrito, the smiling face behind the glass is likely under intense mental stress. Other reasons for this stress include:
~ The apprentice throwing actual temper tantrums in the dish pit.
~ The managers in the back never leaving the office and refusing to help bring calls for more stock up to the line.
~ Other untrained workers not understanding exactly what they should be doing or being too stressed too soon, causing stalls and botched orders.
~ Workers are often assigned to multiple positions at once during peak.
- A severe lack of training. In my time at the store (roughly 8 months) I received my first bits of training in my last months there, and again, only because the apprentice could use it to make gains. I understood the job on its own well enough, but that's no replacement for proper employee training. If that wasn't bad enough, this was the case for all of the employees at the time, Including the grill and prep workers, which is horrifying. There's a good chance your food may not have even been prepared right.
- No respect for customers or the chipotle business. Because of the dire situation that the store is constantly in, the managers often decide to force the staff to cheat portions, skip steps, and go against the company policies. If you order online, you can expect to receive a quarter of the amount of food you pay for.
This store left me in both in a financial and mental health hole so deep that I doubt I'll recover anytime soon.
Enough of the mistreated employee business, though, since the customer experience is just as bad. Here's the facts. At this store, you're lucky to even receive an order at all. The workers on the line are usually new, and therefore slow. On top of customers in the store, there are constantly hundreds of online orders pouring in.
Here's what I'm getting at, since I want to keep this short. If you order in person, you're in for a subpar experience. But, if you order online, you might as well be opening a mystery box. In my last 4 orders from the store, only one arrived within a 15 minute delay. All other orders were upwards of an hour behind.
My most recent order arrived an hour and a half late. I didn't even receive the right order. My doordash driver, who was an absolute saint, offered to make a return trip and bring me the right order. I received the right order, but it was hours late and cold as ice. On top of that, many things were missing and my bowl had somehow gained 8 spoons of guac on top that I didn't order.
TLDR: Don't support this restaurant. read more
