Despite their best efforts to win back the public with free burritos and loyalty cards, Chipotle just can’t seem to catch a break these days. The international chain of salt distributors are back in the headlines this week, but not due to another outbreak. This time it’s more of a mutiny.
According to Grubstreet, a Massachusetts employee named Daniris Pacheco created a petition on Coworker.org calling for the company to improve the working conditions at its “overworked and understaffed” locations. “The E. Coli outbreak of late 2015 drove our faithful customers to reconsider eating at our establishment,” Pacheco writes, “which in turn caused all of the committed employees to have their hours cut which lead to less people on any given shift.” But despite the fact that sales “picked back up to almost an all new high,” he claims the job has become even more of a “nightmare.”
Because of the lack of staffing it has left us with many negative monthly reviews. For example, during the night shift, it is said that our peak rush hours are between the hours of 6 and 7pm when in fact our rush “hour” can extend very well near 10pm most nights. Some of us often leave work without taking our breaks. Since we’re so busy with customers, cleaning and closing down the store at the end of the night keeps us even later in the restaurant.
The petition, which currently has 1,086 signatures, has received comments from a number of employees at other locations that mirror Pacheco’s stories. Wrote one:
Quit the newest Fresno store; was not given breaks, unrealistic expectations for employees while mgmt was unorganized daily. Expected to prep, work grill, work line, work FOH, and endlessly wash dishes with 3-4 teenagers who had no food experience. Final straw, being told that everyone was to be timed, while things were never correctly prepared before, leaving people in a constant state of catching up: being understaffed, poorly trained.
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Pacheco concludes by calling for all locations to be “adequately staffed with enough people...to meet the expectations of our faithful customers who have given [Chipotle] a second chance.” Grubstreet notes the petition was timed to coincide with the release of Chipotle’s quarterly earnings report, expected on Thursday afternoon.