Chipotle is all about generous portions. At least that’s what Brian Niccol, the company’s chairman and CEO, said this Wednesday during an earnings call.
“Our guests expect this now more than ever,” he said.
For months, customers have been speculating that portions at the popular Mexican fast food chain were getting smaller. This gave way to a social media challenge where people would film Chipotle employees to see if it encouraged them to make portion sizes bigger.
“To be more consistent across all 3,500 restaurants, we have focused in on those with outlier portion scores,” based on consumer surveys, said Niccol. He said the company is investing in more training to “double down” on making sure portions are both generous and consistent.
Niccol also stressed in prepared remarks cited by NPR that there was never a directive to decrease portion sizes. Audacy has previously reported on “shrinkflation” or portion sizes getting smaller in response to inflation.
In May, Niccol appeared in a video featured on Fortune’s TikTok account that NPR said his comments were met with criticism. He also said then that Chipotle’s portion sizes were not getting smaller, but said that customers could signal they wanted more rice or pico de gallo with a look at the person preparing their meal. Niccol added that people have to pay for a double helping of meat.
During the earnings call, Niccol said Chipotle sales grew 18% to over $3 billion in the second quarter.
“The second quarter was outstanding as successful brand marketing, including the return of Chicken Al Pastor, drove strong demand to our restaurants,” he said. “Our focus and training around throughout paid off as we were able to meet the stronger demand trends with terrific service and speed driving over 8% transaction growth in the quarter.”