American Fast-Casual Restaurant Chain Makes Portion Change

While Chipotle has a strangle-hold on the fast-fresh Mexican food market, they have been dealing with a lot of complaints lately about their portion sizes.

There has been a slew of complaints on social media about Chipotle getting stingy with their portions. With prices through the roof at most fast food joints, people are expecting to get more for their money, not less.

Chipotle CEO says that Chipotle is making a change and increasing portion sizes across all stores in America.

Interim CEO Scott Boatwright told analysts last week that proof is on the company's social media platforms, where he said people are, "posting big burritos, big bowls and really excited about portioning they're getting in the Chipotle brand."

While that is well and good, that is kind of what a CEO is supposed to do — make you feel like everything is fine. So, the company's CFO swooped in with some realities.

CFO Adam Rymer says that the company had a higher usage of ingredients in the prior quarter due to its focus on "ensuring consistent and generous portions."

That has come to bite the company in the bottom a little bit, as nobody is excused from inflation. The company also faced higher costs for several items, most notably avocados and dairy, according to Rymer.

Here's where it got a little sticky: Chipotle employees started to complain that they were being filmed for social media as they made burritos, and they felt dehumanized and bullied.

The company isn't sure how the reputation of smaller portions got started on social media, but experts trace it back to postings from July of this year.

Since then, they have been on a mission to change that narrative into what they used to go viral for: Their massive burritos.