Re:Tweets Get Chipotle To Change Menus To Show Pinto Beans C...
by benatkin on Friday August 19, 2011 @03:50PM
(#2904638)
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.
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.