Imagine waiting in line at Chipotle only to discover your burrito bowl doesn't quite runneth over. According to Business Insider, this has been a regular occurrence at the Mexican restaurant, where they've been dealing with a certain kind of issue, among others more and more: food shortages.
It seems restaurants are underestimating their amount of customers per day and aren't ordering enough food, leaving some patrons without perhaps the barbacoa or chorizo or even (say it ain't so!) the carnitas they crave.
According to Chipotle's Chief Marketing Officer Mark Crumpacker, "running out of food is a very common occurrence." Keeping up with what customers want on a particular day, he says, is hard to do.
It's maybe even harder lately, as food shortage complaints have gone up: the shortage is now the second-most often received grievance the company experiences, right behind the length of lines at the restaurant (third place are messy dining rooms).
But Crumpacker says the shortages are a surmountable issue for the restaurants: "When trained properly and focused on the right things, they can do it [right] every time."
It's a tough time for Chipotle to be dealing with problems like these after the e. coli discovered in their restaurants last year, causing them to battle falling sales. We hope the restaurants are able to regain their footing soon, though—we don't want to go back to live without the salty, porky goodness of our carnitas.
Follow Delish on Instagram.
