1) Poor employee training
2) Poor customer service practices…read more3) . . . Both resulting in a substandard CX
I am a senior (almost 70 years old) and as with humans of my age, I do not consume large quantities of food at each meal.
Filiberto's, across the street from this Chipotle, and Taco Bell, a little further down the street from this Chipotle, offer lots of food options just like this Chipotle. However, Filiberto's and Taco Bell both allow the customer to order as much or as little food as they desire . . . they leave the decision up to the customer, not to the Chipotle employee. Competitors of this Chipotle franchisee take the position "the customer is right (not the employee is right)".
Chipotle, known for their oversize burritos justifies their menu prices by creating huge serving sizes. While this makes their price-per-pound competitive, many people, especially customers in their 60s, 70s, 80s, etc. simply are not capable of consuming such large quantities.
But, given the fact Chipotle arguably offers higher quality than Filiberto's and / or Taco Bell, I often opt for Chipotle. While this results in a higher revenue amount per transaction when it comes to profits for this Chipotle franchisee, it means lots of wasted food for customers and society in general. As we all know, The United States throws away more food than any other society in the world. This Chipotle franchisee epitomizes that fact. This Chipotle franchisee's business model of keeping cost-per-pound sold per customer competitive works for their corporate (revenue) side, but fails society and customers otherwise.
Today I went in to purchase a Chipotle burrito, quite frankly because I wanted a Chipotle tasting burrito. I can never consume it all, but . . . well . . . I was indeed in the mood for a Chipotle, not a Filiberto's or Taco Bell burrito. I actually never purchase sides because of the above (the burrito alone is more than enough food for me), usually just purchasing a burrito alone. I just cannot handle the volume. However, I had a yearn for some chips on the side. I asked for the small bag just so I could have a handful of chips to go along with my burrito. I was told by the Chipotle employee "those are for kids" and they did not 'allow' me to purchase the small bag. I had to purchase the large size if I wanted any chips at all. Yes, I enjoyed a handful of Chipotle chips to accompany my Chipotle burrito, but ended up throwing well over ¾ of the contents of the bag into the trash.
Again, your cost-per-pound is competitive when you purchase from this Chipotle franchisee, but your cost overall is excessive when compared to their competition since you end up throwing a lot of it away. Combined, with rigid rules such as only kids can purchase the small bag of chips, denying adults from consuming these small bags results in a poor CX compared to those competitors mentioned above.
I would stay away from supporting Chipotle in general and stay away from this particular franchisee for their rigid rule enforcement. Quite frankly, I do not believe this franchisee's rule that adults are not allowed to purchase a small bag of chips is really even a published rule. In any case, it's just not worth the poor CX and waste. Revenue per customer would be important to me if I were an owner, but as a customer I do not see the value.
