For some stores the vegetables are being cut and packaged by a commissary then shipped to the stores. Cross contamination between the raw meat and vegetables was identified as the source of a past e coli outbreak.

Having previously worked in fast food as well as regular restaurants, most if not all fast food and major chain sit down restaurants get their vegetables pre cut from their distributors or other vendors. Nothing new there, even Boston Chicken (now Market) used to have their side dishes cooked in a central commissary and delivered a few times a day when the chain first started as Dunkin Donuts does with their donuts now. It reduced space needed at the stores as well as gave consistency of being the same quality if you visited different stores.

The restaurants who have their own chefs versus line cooks will cut their own as needed as these restaurants are more high end and individualized.

At one time, Chipotle would cut vegetables in the store but the prep area is not really large enough to prevent cross contamination when the stores are busy. I will eat at Chipotle not because of the marketing claims regarding ingredients but because of the easy to control calorie count. This is true for any line assembly restaurant.

I have seen the prep area at Taco Bell with the cooked meat in a bag being dropped in boiling water. The bag looked liked wet dog food. I would expect a fast food or quick service or casual chain restaurant to prepare the sides on site.

Sorry, I see the raw meat being cooked and then sliced after cooking at South Florida stores; chicken, pork and steak are sliced or pulled apart (shredded) right in front of me behind the serving line. So it may be a regional thing, not everywhere.

Same here.

I just wish Chipotle was more consistent. There is one employee who acts as if he is paying for the ingredients out of his own pocket. I've overheard others talk about a stingy Chipotle employee and I knew exactly who they were talking about. It gets tiring having to ask for more rice, salsa, etc from him. The other night I asked for corn salsa and there were literally no more than 10 kernels that ended up in my bowl. For the most part other employees give a generous amount of the non-meat items.

Correct. The steak was changed to partially cooked in a central kitchen before being marinated in the store and grilled. The same is true for the barbacoa and carnitas. Chicken is raw and marinated in the store.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/chip...ry?id=37696967

Chipotle is fine, but Cafe Rio is fantastic!

Good news: Chorizo is back!
Bad news: Only for a limited time.

And in other bad news, the gritty queso that replaced the chorizo the first time around is here to stay!

Chipotle testing rewards program in PHX, CMH, and MCI areas.

https://ktar.com/story/2240697/chipo...hoenix-market/

The base redemption is one free entree after $125 spend; so basically buy 14, get one free. I'm sure there will be double/triple point offers, like between 2-5pm on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday.

I had Qdoba for the first time in a long time a few days ago. Their quesadillas and nachos are top-notch; their burritos, not so much.

If they run it like Cafe Rio, there will be some kind of promotion almost everyday. Double points on burritos one day, double points on quesadillas, triple points on entire purchase, etc. I like Cafe Rio, but all of their promos I think lead them to having to charge you $12 for a burrito sometimes.

I wish they would change their name. For the umpteenth time, this instance was a local TV newsreader, I heard it pronounced Chip-Pole-Tay. I know it's not important but it still grinds my gears.