Why do people like chipotle so much?
FOOD & DRINKYeah as far as fast food goes it’s actually pretty “healthy”, so I’ll go if I’m looking for something quick and tasty.
I forgot who said it but I remember someone saying Chipotle’s success was somehow convincing Americans that a 1500 calorie burrito is healthy.
Key words “as far as fast food goes”
Using the calorie values on their website, the burrito I usually get there is 650 calories (chicken, black beans, brown rice, tomatillo salsa, cheese, romaine lettuce). If I add sour cream it only goes up to 760.
I mean no one’s forcing someone to add the sour cream, cheese, queso and all the salsas. It’s entirely possible to get a burrito that doesn’t have as many calories in it.
Besides, calories on their own aren’t bad. It’s the kind of food you get those calories through and how much exercise you do that matters the most
Besides, calories on their own aren’t bad. It’s the kind of food you get those calories through and how much exercise you do that matters the most
Yes, 1500 calories in a burrito with meat, rice, beans, and vegetables is very different from 1500 calories worth of cheeseburgers and fries.
The issue is they’re so huge. But also now people are mad that they aren’t as huge as they used to be.
Chipotle is my go to because it’s so easy to get a filling meal with a good estimation on macros and easy to modify. Burrito bowl no beans or rice, veggies, guacamole, cheese, salsa and steak or chicken usually comes around 700 calories with high protein and some good fats. Panda Express is another good one - teriyaki chicken with some power greens. Beats a burger and fries, that’s for sure!
I mean if you eat like I do, one big one small meal, it’s reasonable.
Get a bowl and drop some of the high fat options (pick one out of the cheese, queso, sour cream, and guacamole), and you have a pretty filling meal for 8-900 calories. That’s very solid.
The only unhealthy thing about chipotle is how much salt they use, but unless you have high blood pressure and/or you’re eating it literally everyday that’s not a big deal.
Generally if you’re a healthy person, it’s better to count ingredients, not calories.
Consistent, dependable mediocrity has value.
It’s a bang-on 6/10 every time. Sometimes that’s what you need.
"It’s a bang-on 6/10 every time."
Aaand I will be stealing this for my Tinder account, thank you.
I’d like bang-on to take root in the States more. That and “proper”
Consequences of moving to the UK haha.
This. I feel when Chipotle first started expanding, it was one of a kind and you couldn't get that kind of quality/relatively healthy food at any other fast casual spot. Nowadays, they have competition for sure. And yes, Chipotle is such a good way to get protein. If you're a One Meal A Day person, Chipotle is the place to go!
Yeah, it's probably hard for younger people today to appreciate what a game-changer it was in the 2000s. IIRC it basically kicked off the whole "fast casual" concept that's so dominant now.
As someone who has to avoid dairy, chipotle tastes good without cheese
Plus it’s one of the only fast chains with good vegetarian options
We’re long past peak Chipotle popularity (like 10 years past it…) but it’s fine. It’s convenient and you can get a solid meal. I have to watch my carb intake for health reasons, and I can go there and load up a salad with meat and cheese and salsa.
I think it’s no coincidence that we’re also 10 years past peak Chipotle quality. I still go there infrequently but it’s never as good as it was.
Supposedly, post E. coli they started making more of their food centrally, and it’s from that point that the food hasn’t been the same.
It was a college staple for me ~15 years ago but I just can’t eat like that anymore. If I eat it, it’s basically the only thing I eat at all day. On top of being the only thing I eat that day, it also like I need to be active all day in order for it to not sit like a brick. Combine that with being more expensive, I go maybe once a year to scratch the itch and that’s it.
It was awesome during college, though.
Is that what happened? I knew they had changed but didn't know what or why. It's ashame not nearly as tasty as they used to be.
They also don't charge for extra beans!
Chipotle’s annual revenue is at an all-time high, so technically we are currently at peak chipotle popularity. That might be more a function of having more restaurants and charging more for their products, rather than bringing more people to their restaurants, but it’s been a steady climb since they went public.
I like it because it's probably the easiest fast-food/fast-casual restaurant to eat healthy at and still have something tasty. My go-to is 500 calories and 30g of protein. It's filling, too.
I can also get out of there spending under $10, which is a bargain for a full meal.
Yeah, people who dislike chipotle compare it to proper Mexican restaurants, and I have to tell them - no - Chipotle is in fast-food category. Obviously it doesn't compare to sit-down restaurants, but if someone at my office says - "We are staying late tonight. But we can get some quick food - McDonalds, Pizza Hut or Chipotle?" I will go for Chipotle.
How much do you think is so much?
Op probably thinks Americans eat out too much.
I like the smokiness, and it's great for adding a rich warmth to dishes without too much actual heat.
Since it's usually packed in adobo, that adds a bit of tomato-y sweetness as well. Whenever I make a pot of beans I throw at least one in there; since that's a lot, I always have a jar of chipotle in adobo in the fridge.
If you did this as a troll, well done! If you're being straight up honest, I have to inform you they weren't asking about the literal smoked jalapeños!
I was sincere, I just answered before reading any of the other replies. I ate at the restaurant once in 2002 and never again since, so it wasn't my first thought.
Hey, I'm with you. I see a difference between chipotle (the smoked peppers) and Chipotle (the fast food chain). And the OP said "chipotle."
Also, Americans really love chipotle.
How do you know?
Tastes good, affordable, reasonably healthy, fast, convenient, consistent.
Cheap, tasty, easy to hit macros
cheap?? my whole meal costs $19 without a drink
Maybe it's location dependent, but I never spend more than $12 there. I usually just get a burrito and it's under $10.
What are you getting? A burrito/bowl/taco/quesadilla/whatever is like $10-12 dollars. And if you do the bowls right by loading up the free stuff + $1.50 for three tortillas, you get three meals out of it.
i get a burrito bowl steak with guac
Then I'm not quite sure what we're doing here.
"Cheap? It's not cheap when I get the most expensive protein and the most expensive upcharge!"
...k
it’s still overpriced especially when they give you just a spoonful of rice. actual mexican restaurants will give you a bigger portion and it’s cheaper which is why i go to those spots now
You kind of purposely deceived us there to make a point. Everyone knows there are a better values out there, but what you did was the equivalent of choosing an F-150, filling it with premium gasoline and complaining about gas costs.
tbf, how do you go to chipotle without getting guac?
i know ! and i don’t like their chicken or pork ):
i don’t get that i don’t drive or ever owned a car
But you are aware of the concept of cars and that cars often consume gasoline, right? And some are more expensive than others.
Idk it’s like $12 for a burrito in the DC area
I spend $11 and have lunch for 3 days. You're doing something wrong. Get a bowl ask for extra everything but the stuff that costs money, 3 tortillas on the side boom 3 reasonably portioned burritos.
It's more reasonably priced than many other places
Fast food prices are pretty on par with fast casual prices. I’d much rather eat chipotle than McDonald’s, even if I have to get out of my car.
Because it's better than a majority of other fast food places, and can be healthier too if you choose good options
It's mexican subway. It's not for the best but I'll eat it occasionally.
That's putting way too much respect on subway.
True, tsubway is terrible and overpriced. Chipotle is fine and overpriced.
Exactly, a foot long costs as much as a burrito for 1/10 of the quality. Subway is the only restaurant that I won't even consider going to anymore.
Subway used to be terrible taste, but cheap and healthier than anything else in its price and accessibility tier. Now it’s also expensive, so I find myself making lunch at home a lot more often.
Subway tastes like an alien observed human meals and tried to replicate a sandwich, but everything tastes like strange chemicals.
It’s pretty good, and you get a larger volume of food compared to other places
I grew up on black bean burritos my aunt & uncle's restaurant made, and LA is a refried/brown bean city. If someone showed me a place I could reliably get a black bean burrito in this city I'd go there but I've looked and they don't exist. So I go to Chipotle.
Do they?
I feel like in the last year people have been pretty pissed at them for the decreased portion sizes and increased prices
Is that specific to Chipotle, though? It’s been a while since I’ve eaten there, so maybe it is. But I feel like that’s more a result of overall inflation.
There was a minute where chipotle got the brunt of people’s shrinkflation ire, probably because for a while it was such a great deal and it sucks to feel like you were robbed of that. All fast food and fast casual has gone up in price considerably since 2020 (while I don’t have data at hand, I think it’s far faster than inflation), but I don’t think people had the same expectations of McDonalds, so the fact that a value meal doesn’t feel like a value anymore doesn’t hurt as much.
I agree with you that fast food and fast casual prices seem to have shot up more quickly than other goods. I was not aware that Chipotle took the brunt of people’s ire early on. I’m not trying to defend them any more than any other chain, I just sort of thought it was an industry-wide issue. The silver lining for me at least is that it has made me look harder for more local shops and food trucks.
It might be an algorithm-driven perception thing: once you watch a couple of reels of people complaining about Chipotle cutting down on “free extras” and raising prices, The Machine determines you want to watch a bunch of them.
I think it is an industry-wide issue, too, I just think (subject to the caveat above) that from a perception standpoint Chipotle got hit harder than others.
Some local food trucks are SO good, and I like the idea of shopping local. So that’s a solid silver lining.
Of course. You can’t escape The Algorithm.
Do they? Or are you just not questioning the algorithm?
People do like chipotle
Man people like chipotle calm yourself
I couldn’t be more zen. I just don’t like people treating their assumptions as fact.
I for one appreciate your efforts to knock these unscientific feel-gooders down off their high horses!
I like it because of how versatile it is. It's smoky, sweet and spicy but not overly so. It also has a wonderful earthiness. I often blend it with paprika or in dishes that call for a lot of paprika, I'll substitute some with chipotle.
I'm glad it's not just me that completely forgot it's also the name of a fast food chain.
I'm not sure which one OP is talking about so I just went with the one I'm familiar with.
Decent food, really fast service, and it's managed to cultivate a great reputation amongst younger, more health consciences people. Plus, when in much of the country your options for Mexican is either Chipotle or Taco Bell, Chipotle sounds real nice. I never get Chipotle because I live in SD, but outside of the southern border area and Illinois, many areas do not have a large Mexican population, and, therefore, lack solid Mexican options.
It used to be really good.
We used to like it cause it's cheap fresh fast food. Now it's gone to shit they forgot how to fucking salt there food and the salsa is beyond terrible. Free birds are 1 million percent better.
I can get two meals for less than ten bucks, it’s fresh and I like the taste
I don’t like it the rice is usually hard
Its healther than a burger and fries from a fast food chain without being that much more expensive (in some cases, cheaper)
It’s good, filling and allegedly good quality food
The ONLY reason I go to Chipoltle is for their guac. Otherwise their portion sizes are ass and they're way too expensive for what you get.
Never been in one - I'd rather have real Mexican food than some mass produced chain stuff.
Because it's nutritious and delicious
It's decent food that is made quickly, right in front of you, what's not to like? Better than a burger sitting under a lamp for 30 minutes. It's also relatively healthy and actually hearty and tastes good. I liked it better when they first came out and it wasn't expensive. Now it's too much for me.
It tastes not terrible.
Cheap and tasty
It’s peak lunch break food
I personally think it's gross but I try not to eat fast food. Not that what I eat at home is any better though
I really like the taste of the hot salsa. Plus, despite the national issues with portion sizes, my local Chipotle is quite liberal with portion sizes
Jalapeños are already good. Smoking and drying them makes them better.
No idea. Just burritos and bowls. Nothing special.
Maybe they’re stopped up and want some help clearing out.
I came from a state that has no Chipotle. So when I go to pne that has Chipotle, I gst really excited.
I don’t. It’s decent quality food but it always pretty bland and dry especially compared to actual burritos
I’ve never liked it much because I find it to be bland. But I think it’s popular because of how customizable it is. You can easily tailor your meal to whatever diet you’re following.
It used to be so much better than it is now. But even now if you need a quick meal on the go it's a lot better quality and tastier than most of your other options.
I'd never choose Chipotle over a real Mexican place, good quality sit down place or a home cooked meal. But it's still a whole let better than most fast food chains.
Because they've never been to Pancheros.
It's an okay version of the Mission burrito and it's easy to find, even when you're far away from California. Just tell them to go easy on the rice.
Because just a few years ago you could get a good meal there consistently.
It's not great now.
The burrito is very filling and is a very good portion size for the price. Haven't been in a while, but I always enjoy it.
Probably the same reason they like any fast-casual restaraunt. It's a step above Taco Bell while still having national product consistancy and getting it doesn't involve the hassle and tipping of a sit-down restaraunt.
It was the new hot thing 15-20ish years ago. "Healthy" or at least fresher tasting fast food. Now I think it's regarded as the same as any other "upscale" fast food.
Qdobo is better in every way, more options, taste better, is cheaper, and you get sour cream and guacamole with no additional charges.
I don’t. There was a time a few years ago where myself, my boss and my wife all got food poisoning from 3 separate Chipotle locations on the same day. There’s a taco truck that sets up shop about half a block down from our nearest Chipotle location, I go to them instead
that place sucks
I like the taste and I like that there’s a decent kids’ option I can get, since I fill up quickly and most places have huge portions.
As far as fast food goes, it's pretty decent food. It doesn't beat some fancier places, but when you account for the speed and convenience factor, it's a heavyweight.
It’s not bad but pancheros is better.
This is generalizing. I don't like Chipotle enough to eat there more than once every few years.
However, the people who do like it tend to frequent it reasonably often like most normal humans with opinions about restaurants.
As for why they like it, it's tasty, it's reasonably fresh made, it's not overly expensive for what it is. That's it. That's why.
Qdoba is where it’s at, all the free guac and queso I want.
It tastes great and it's a pretty affordable option to get a lot of food. There's also some very healthy options like there tacos or a burrito bowl. The burritos themselves though are absolutely terrible for you.
It's quick food that's not a burger and fries. Decent amount of choices for vegetarian or plant based diets. I can usually get 2 meals out of a bowl too.
I don't like it that much but it's a good place to go for a large, relatively flavorful burrito.
The fact that some people are so aggressive about shaming others for patronizing chipotle kind of makes me want to eat there more. I don't have a lot of patience for any kind of culinary gatekeeping or holier than thou attitudes about food.
Like every other fast food chain, they’re not selling food as much as they’re selling consistency
Tastes good, is convenient and easy, healthyish much better than fast food.
Pretty fair quality and good taste however we are revolting due to the obscene pricing and horrible portion sizes
No antibiotics
I've never really cared for it. Perhaps that's because it's trying to be a version of a local dish and doesn't come close, but even when I wasn't living here, I thought Qdoba was a better execution of the same concept.
... because nothing is better than a poorly constructed leaking burrito with a hole in it that seemingly intentionally doesn't mix any of the ingredients prior to construction.
In reality it's like anything else both terrible and "popular". It's heavily marketed.
Chipotle is life. My favorite. For $9.60 I can get a chicken bowl with double everything (except double chicken unless I wanna pay more)
cause we americans dont know what mexican food is
I think it’s hot-garbage and always has been. Makes me sick.
The only bad part about Chipotle is having to wash the blood stains out of your underwear.
I have no idea. I went once, had horrific heartburn and never went back.
I prefer Qdoba, and god I wish we had a Moe's where I live, so much better than both of them.
It tastes good. lol why does anyone like any food establishments?
I have the same question. I tried it once as a kid and although I’d be open to trying chipotle again one day I knew as a kid the food was not good and the way they were making food was unsanitary. Idk I just felt like I’d get a disease form their overly sweet rice and their lack of refried beans made me extremely disappointed.
Qdoba tastes better, has more variety, and you get free guac.
This. Qdoba is my go-to but there's like 1/4 as many as Chipotle.
Yeah, 3 to 1 by me and the nearest is 20 minutes away opposed to 4 minutes for Chipotle.
I really could not tell you, it was a smash hit when I was growing up and still has diehard fans today, but really as far as I'm concerned it's just basically Mexican food for people allergic to seasoning. The ingredients are solid enough and they're prepared well enough so I get the appeal there but overall, it's shit you can make at home with no thought or effort to begin with.
Algorithm
I don't think people like it so much.
I think it is fine, and easily accessible aka a fixture at shppping malls, close to a freeway, etc.
It's the chain least affected by shrinkflation and enshittification. Sure, it isn't cheap anymore, but at least it's honest, straightforward inflation. People respect that. Also it's a good mix of carbs, protein, fat and vegetables compared to most fast food and tastes good.
It tastes good for a fair price, and it’s healthier than McDonald’s.
I dunno about "so much". But it's all right. Order a burrito, you eat it, it tastes decent, you're not hungry any more.
Easy and tasty, available almost everywhere, consistent comfortable experience, usually the place is pretty clean.
It’s cool and it’s a chain that has spots all over the us as opposed to regional places that you might not hear about as much.
No idea. It's too pricy, the burritos always feel too soggy because they insist on aluminum foil, and they use rice as filler in things that don't need rice.
I did until my account got hacked and I got my credit card stolen, which is apparently super common on their site
I hear negative things about them now
They like to waste money.
Because they haven't tried Freebird's yet
It tastes decent, has better ingredients than other fast food, and easy to get a lot of protein.