“Take all you want, but eat all you take.” A seemingly harmless expression that can lead to a class-action lawsuit. And Chipotle’s finding that out the hard way.
Three overzealous eaters of Chipotle’s chorizo burrito, which is billed as a 300-calorie meal, are suing the restaurant for making them “excessively full” to the point where this burrito “couldn’t have been just 300 calories.”
“The suit alleges Chipotle’s menu contains false nutritional information in which ‘consumers are lulled into a false belief that the items they are eating are healthier than they really are,’” according to City News Service. “Though the chain bills itself as a provider of ‘food with integrity,’ organic fare and ‘responsibility raised’ meat as part of its promotion of a ‘healthy eating mantra.’”
Because if something’s healthy, you can never eat too much of it. In fact, you can just pick up a bunch of apples and just keep eating. Just keep eating and you will never become too full. It’s great! I’ve been doing it for nigh six years, and I feel great. Really. This is me, except with apples:
So does their lawsuit have any merit? Well, they crunched the numbers over at Slate and found that the meal was actually closer to 1,050 calories. Ew, boy. How did Chipotle respond?
Oh, so just the meat is 300 calories. You can see what happened there, they thought… and you thought… Right. It’s all just a big mistake. A big mistake that could cost the burrito giant a little more than extra guac. The suit “would cover all people who bought food at Chipotle for four years leading up to the filing of the complaint.” That means you, you excessively full so-and-so.
This is not what Chipotle, who spent the last year watching their stock tumble and trying to win customers pack after an E. coli outbreak, needs right now.