

Tweets Get Chipotle To Change Menus To Show Pinto Beans Cooked With Bacon - benatkin
http://consumerist.com/2011/08/tweets-get-chipotle-to-change-menus-to-show-pinto-beans-cooked-with-bacon.html

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coyotej
The author said he "felt ill" from hearing about the bacon in the beans.
Apparently not ill enough that it stopped him from eating there for the better
part of a decade, though.

I have nothing against not eating pork, by the way. Some people do it for
religious reasons, some for ethical/vegetarian reasons, etc.

However it is hard to argue with the fact that it makes things tasty.

~~~
div
It's perfectly normal to feel ill as a reaction to hearing something that
upsets you.

If the author is not allowed to eat pork for religious reasons, I can easily
understand him feeling ill.

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benatkin
I often see simple menus or product lines lauded on HN. I think this is a good
example of getting it wrong. What was the bigger mistake? The signage or
having bacon in the beans in the first place? I think having bacon in the
beans was a bad idea for Chipotle, since customers who want pork flavor can
order pork (carnitas), and Chipotle bills itself as paying more attention to
the ingredients than its competitors.

I also feel bad for all of the people who are just finding out that they
unwittingly consumed bacon.

Edit: I should have been more clear. I think that improving their signage will
completely solve the problem. I was just exploring the possibility that having
bacon in their beans was inconsistent with the simple design of their
restaurant.

~~~
ydant
Bacon is just one of many food items used for flavoring in foods. Removing it
would, I assume, have a negative impact on the flavor of the food, otherwise
Chipotle wouldn't have chosen to include it in the first place.

The "pork flavor" of Carnitas and the "pork flavor" in the beans aren't the
same thing, and to suggest they are interchangeable (or that people order the
pinto beans thinking that it is the only way to get "pork flavor") makes no
sense to me. Most people, at least repeat customers, are getting the pinto
beans because they have tasted them before, and decided they like the taste,
not that they feel some need to increase the porkiness of their meal.

Every time I order a "vegetarian" bowl I am reminded that the pinto beans
contain pork, so I assume this is an issue they have been aware of for a
while. It makes sense to put a disclaimer and continue exactly as they have.

It makes little sense to alter their recipes to avoid every potential
ingredient that might cause issue.

~~~
benatkin
I live close to the original Chipotle restaurant, and though I'm not
vegetarian, I have ordered vegetarian tacos with pinto beans before (free
guac) and not been informed that pinto beans contain pork. A friend of mine
also said on twitter today that he's ordered a vegetarian burrito and been
asked what kind of beans he'd like.

I believe they warn people a lot, but I don't think they can rely entirely on
their employees to communicate a detail like this to customers. I think it's
good that they're fixing their menu but that they should keep telling people
at least as often as they do now that their pinto beans have pork in them.
Some will miss the menus, and some will miss the verbal warnings.

