Unacceptable service. Slow service. Terrible management (Farris and Odette). This location is Restauranteur? No way.
There were two managers on shift during my 40 minute visit on 1/3/2022. I ordered with my steak bowl, burrito, chips and blackberry Izzy. There were maybe 5 people ahead of me with one or two entrees ordered max. No large orders. 40 minutes for 5 customers? Unacceptable. It was clear that there were not enough workers on shift, which I do not directly fault the managers. We are in a time where many stores are understaffed. However, I saw, at one point, three workers on online orders at one point. There was one worker on the restaurant line. At that point, the issue was not being understaffed. Instead the issue is a matter of poor priorities. It was also clear (as day) that the worker was new and absolutely doing her best, but she was falling short in how she wrapped burritos and timeliness. She had great customer service and did exactly as well as I would expect newer workers to handle an incredibly difficult situation that their management put them in. I appreciated her doing her best while everyone else was having a great time and she had to take orders, change out the salsa and tortilla side, at one point she had no rice so she went to the back to get some herself (leaving no one on the line). I noticed this and watched management just let it happen. Unacceptable.
I KNOW very well that It's hard to manage online and in person demands. When I asked the manager, Odette (sp) why we were having to watch 2-3 people fulfill online orders while they were willing to throw ONE worker on the line she said "we're understaffed." I asked her directly if she could at least help get the line down while the other 2 workers completed online orders and she said "sure". Howevr, she never jumped on the line until I left. I literally finished my order and then, and only then, did she help her employee. It was disgusting. I requested managerial support on the line from a second manager, Farris (sp) and he said that they were understaffed which was already clear. When you are understaffed your priorities are even more important. Farris told me that YES it was policy to have 2-3 people working on online orders and one person on the line when there is a significant line. In fact, Farris went back and forth with me to explain that they were understaffed so he would not take anyone off of online orders to help the new worker on the line. The worker on the line should not have had to change out food, get rice from the back and try to get the line down alone. If that is how workers are treated then there is NO wonder the location is always hiring and understaffed. The people on line shouldn't be treated that way. It's unacceptable. I will reiterate that the worker on line and the cashier were really kind and gracious although their managers were willing to take the very very easy way out. It's disappointing to see their poor choice in priorities play out that way.
I'll add, not that it matters now that I'm a customer, but I worked as a kitchen and service manager with Chipotle for three years. I have been understaffed more times than I care to discuss. Even still, my priorities and values are the same whether I had a 13 person shift or a 6 person shift. I know that there should NEVER be a time when no one is on the line. That's one thing I saw because managers let her work alone. Keeping the line moving should always be a priority. Those two managers could have knocked the line down in10 minutes or less and then jumped back to the other demands. I've done it so many times before in stores that were not restauranteur. If this is a standard in a restauranteur store then I am shocked at how far standards have fallen. In the future, managers should not throw new people to the wolves, priorities should be clear and managers should honor kind and reasonable requests from customers without avoiding accountability (like Odette did with me). This incident alone should not discount restauranteur status but I left feeling like this is a common occurrence and that alone should discount that designation.
Signed,
Disappointed and Disrespected Customer read more