Chipotle to shutter Maine store that was trying to unionize | Hacker News Reader

Chipotle to shutter Maine store that was trying to unionize

cbsnews.com

52 pointsbluedino16 comments

Chipotle would be better to expend their energy fixing their broke-ass online order system and incentivizing employees, rather than union-busting. For example, the Redmond, WA store has for years (oh, yes, long before Covid gave an excuse) rendered online ordering useless. About once a year I'd let them fool me yet again as I stood to the side waiting for my order, while watching the out-the-door line get their food before I did. Because the Woodinville store hadn't yet reached this point, it was literally faster to just order there and drive the extra distance.

Now the Woodinville store doesn't have your order ready on time. And the new Totem Lake store down the road started with "wait a half hour after we promised it".

So with all that, and union-busting to boot, it's time my spouse and I quit eating there. And since CMG is up this morning, perhaps sell some call options on that stock I've been meaning to sell for a while. I was bullish on CMG for a while, but the service in some stores has been consistently poor for a long time, and now slow service seems to becoming consistent across stores (at least in the Seattle area).

The quality of my online orders from Chipotle are so much worse than when I buy from them in-store, I'm surprised you're even still using the online ordering method.

Seriously I've had multiple online ordering instances of my burritos consisting of mostly cheese, sour cream, and a tortilla.

During the last two years, my family has ordered 46 times from them, and - other than three instances - the order has been perfectly executed. For those three, we contacted Chipotle, and we got an apology and partial credit.

Conclusions:

* My family eats too much Chipotle.

* YMMV. Apparently, the branch we order from is run by a manager that cares about accuracy for online orders. That clearly isn't true across the board.

* Chipotle probably knows this, which is why they're generous with credits.

Meh, once we actually get the food it's fine. I think they forgot chips once or twice, which easily checked and corrected. This is across all three stores mentioned. Obviously YMMV.

If only they could reattach their estimated "order ready" times to reality...

All chipotle dishes are based on same ingredients, just in different form factors. In other, rather gross, words, your stomach has no idea whether you ate 3 soft tacos or one burrito from Chipotle.

> Chipotle United plans to ask the NLRB to file an injunction that would prevent Chipotle from closing the Augusta store and allow the union election to go forward.

What does this mean practically?

What happens if they unionize and they decide to close later? Is this Chipotle location forced to remain open indefinitely?

its signaling. they hope to discourage others form unionizing. Ultimately chipotle will have to negotiate because they can't shut down all their stores, or they're burning their own house to prevent you from gaining a dollar.

This is a collective action problem. "They can't fire everyone" only works if everyone (or enough people) demand the change at once. If the unionization attempt happens one store at a time, Chipotle can close them one at a time. And it's gonna get harder and harder to get the next store to try unionizing after they just saw the previous X all get closed down.

Depends how hard it is to get another job. I doubt many people are particularly attached to a job at Chipotle. Forcing the store to shut down is more power than the average Chipotle worker has.

Either you or I (or both) are misunderstanding each other’s comment.

My point was exactly that. At a store by store level, the workers have much less power than Chipotle. Even if they vote to unionize the store one at a time, Chipotle still wins if chipotle choose to close the store since it’s less costly for them to open a new store than it is for the workers to find a new job.

My point is that getting a new job may actually be easy (given the current unemployment rate), so it could still be worth unionizing even if you know they will close the location.

From my perspective of wanting distributed capitalism and good burritos, this could be the start of a great trend. Chipotle can continue to close down stores, and their investment in building out the restaurants and proving the market can be taken over by local ownership that will appropriately appreciate employees and taste buds. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for Chipotle when driving a box truck through the middle of the country and just needing to find something vegetarian, but it's been sad to see their "premium mediocre" food become routine for so many people.

Think I catch your drift on this comment (as being critical of Chipotle) but what exactly is “distributed capitalism” as you mention it? Is that more inline with a “local Mexican restaurant”? Agree with chipotle being the best option for someone who doesn’t eat meat, compared to typical Mexican restaurants.

I'm referring to capital being distributed, rather than concentrated. In this case, the capital of restaurant ownership and marketshare. In the Chipotle model (which is really the Wall Street model), it's all controlled by centralized entities that end up setting policy for the entire country, which intrinsically tends towards blandness (lowest common denominator). So yes, "local burrito shops" - where cooks, managers, or owners (ie people who actually work in the physical restaurant) have agency to create and improve recipes that they themselves enjoy.

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