Trying out Chipotle hacks to get more greens and beans

April 28, 2017 — by Ava Hooman and Daniel Bessonov

Sophomores test Buzzfeed 'hacks' to get more food for the same price. 

April 14 was almost another ordinary day at school — lunch was held at the same time, school ended right as the bell rang, after-school sports started right on time — until we discovered the BuzzFeed-proclaimed “Chipotle Hacks” and changed our lives forever.

Chipotle, a renowned chain restaurant, specializes in serving “authentic” Mexican cuisine, ranging from burritos to rice bowls. In contrast to other fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s, Chipotle claims to use fresh ingredients and guarantees quality to their customers.

However, with basic meals costing up to $10, Chipotle is pricier than some of its popular Mexican fast-food rivals like Taco Bell and Rubio’s. After reading a BuzzFeed article titled “This Guy Used Science to Get An 86% Bigger Burrito At Chipotle,” we decided it was finally time to get our money’s worth.

The article claims that using special orders, such as requesting a complimentary tortilla with a bowl, allows  customers to receive nearly twice the amount of food as opposed to a normal burrito bowl order.

Eager to test the theory, we lined up at the Westgate Chipotle after school on April 14. After waiting for the large group in front of us to finish their order, we stepped up to the cashier.

Following the article’s instructions, we both ordered bowls with tortillas on the side. According to the article, a bowl holds 15 percent more food than a burrito. Unfortunately, we were only able to get one tortilla instead of two because the servers refused to give each one of us more than one.

For the rice and beans, we ordered half white rice and half brown rice to obtain about 93 percent more rice for the price of one. Similar to the rice and beans, the writer of the article ordered half and half of two different types of meats. Midway through, however, we realized that we would be charged for the price of two meats, so we decided to stick to one meat only.

When choosing the toppings, the employees looked shocked as we asked them to grab every single topping and place it into our bowls.

Trying their hardest to close our bowls, the frustrated employees earned some giggles from the rest of the customers in line. The bowls were bursting with food — it was as if we had bought three bowls each and piled everything into one colossal order.

Accordingly, our stomachs threatened to burst after eating only a third of our bowls, and every bite after was met with agony.

Although the hacks allowed us to buy nearly three times the amount of food for the same price, we left Chipotle questioning their necessity. While we had walked in thinking the more food the better, we realized that we are better off buying our normal bowls instead of wasting nearly half the food we got with the hack.

But if you are planning to share your bowl with another person, the hack is golden.

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