Chipotle's Prices Rising; Portions Shrinking

Something very frightening is happening at Chipotle.

In the past 6-8 weeks I have slowly been observing some very dramatic changes they have made to their pricing structure and portion sizes. What I have seen is alarming for the future of one of the greatest restaurants in America

First let's reflect on what Chipotle used to be:

- Naturally raised products with no chemicals or preservatives.
- Made fresh daily salsas, sour cream, guac, cheese, beans, rice and meat prepared on an open grill.
- Moderate/Affordable pricing for this high quality/gourmet Mexican experience: just under $6 for an entree and 75 cents for chips. (Not bad considering what you could pay at many other places)
- Large portions that fill you up and the ability to get extra without receiving a dirty look from the employee.

Now, what has happened?

The prices have increased substantially. Burritos, Bowls etc depending on the meat you get have risen about 25 cents in price (this may vary depending on where you live). A brown bag of chips has gone up from 75 cents to $1.15 (FOR A BAG OF CHIPS!). The guac price and drink price has also gone up.

That's not even the worse part.....the portions are shrinking, significantly.

At the old Chipotle you used to receive a generous helping of rice, beans and meat. They used to cover your entree in as much cheese as you want and smother it in salsa and sour cream. Now however, it's quite the contrary.

Sure, you still get a nice portion of rice and beans (after all those are cheap). But they have gotten very stingy on the meat and cheese. A few weeks ago when the employee dropped about 3 pieces of chicken on my bowl, I asked him for more (not "double" meat, just the appropriate amount for a single serving). He put more on for me but then said, "I'm really not suppose to do that, they have cameras watching us."

WHAT!?!?! Since when does Chipotle monitor and track how much food their employees are serving up?!

The cheese is even worse. Personally I like a lot, I mean a lot of cheese on my bowl. Now the employees are sprinkling about 16 shredded pieces of cheese on top. I find myself asking 2-3 times for more cheese until they finally get it right.

This might sound silly to you, after all it's just a few cents right? You might not have even noticed. But that extra change adds up to be a substantial price increase to your final bill. Depending on what you order you're final check total may rise $2-$3. That's a lot for a "fast casual" chain with no service.

Before we go out to eat in a restaurant we all have a number in mind of what we want to spend. It might be $15, $25 or $50 depending on where you're going to eat. For some place like Chipotle, Panera or Moe's that number should be significantly less than what you would pay at a full service restaurant.

For me I know I will spend about $13-$14 at Chipotle. Now that number has risen to over $15. That's irritating. For a larger family of 3 or 4 it could mean a price change of $28 to over $30....suddenly things feel very different.

The scariest part of all is - when will it stop? When will it be enough to make you stop going? This price change/portion reduction was something Chipotle did for themselves, not for us the customer. In these challenging times I can imagine that their price to serve us high quality food has risen. So instead of coming up with alternative solutions they have pushed that on to the customers to pay.

Doesn't seem right to me.