Good News for Chipotle Workers: Let Them Eat Chicken Again

UPDATE Apr 26, 2024 8:29 AM CDT

Excellent news if you love chicken and you happen to work at Chipotle: You're allowed to order the pollo version of your meals again. After a strong suggestion was sent last week to staffers in the US and Canada asking them not to add chicken to any of their shift meals so that demand could be met for customers, the company has now rescinded that directive, reports the AP. "We are not experiencing outages of chicken in our restaurants," a rep noted. "Employees are now free to select chicken in their meals as normal." During an investor call on Wednesday, Chipotle said the reintroduction of its popular marinated chicken al pastor in March for a limited time helped drive some of the more recent demand.

Apr 25, 2024 9:39 AM CDT

Customers at Chipotle have gotten miffed at the price of chicken dishes there, and now workers at the fast-food chain are similarly peeved, for a related reason. Per a Bloomberg exclusive, an email with the subject line "Let's Conserve Our Fan-Favorite Chicken" was blasted out to Chipotle employees last week from Chief Restaurant Officer Scott Boatwright, asking store managers and other staffers not to order their discounted or free meals, a perk of working there, with chicken—the regular or al pastor version. The reasoning? So that the restaurants can "keep up with our guests' demand for this popular protein option," according to Boatwright's message.

The directive, which goes into effect immediately and will last until further notice, also applies to white-collar Chipotle staffers working in offices, where free Monday lunches will no longer offer chicken as an option. Boatwright clarified that this is simply a request, not a mandate, but workers still aren't happy about it. "It's disrespectful, just on a personal level," says a worker at the US' only unionized Chipotle eatery, in Michigan. Some employees say they've even seen meals with chicken made for workers thrown out, and warnings have been issued on potential discipline if they keep ordering chicken. A company rep says the move is temporary and that "we expect this situation to be resolved within a week." (More Chipotle stories.)