From labor shortages to a global shipping crisis, it has not been an easy year for retail companies or restaurants. Chipotle had previously acknowledged that they felt the repercussions of the former (or as CFO Jack Hartung described it, a “challenging labor environment”), and now they’re also reportedly facing supply shortages as well–or at least according to the dark web. Customers and employees of the California-based chain are taking to internet forums on Reddit to describe what appears to be a national shortage of black beans, one of the restaurant chain’s key ingredients for burritos, salads and tacos. Here’s everything we know so far from early online reports:
One of the first mentions of a black bean shortage appeared online on October 1st, when a Reddit user named @92eph started a thread titled, “Chipotle bean shortage?”
“Just was in Chipotle near innsbrook [sic] and they are completely out of both black and pinto beans,” they continued. “Said it’s a region-wide shortage. Can this be true? Who wants Chipotle without beans?” Well, they have a point!
Users began flooding the comments section with similar experiences: visiting their own local Chipotle restaurants, only to find that the black and/or pinto beans were not available. “Yeah, they were out yesterday at the Carytown location as well,” wrote one user. “None at the willow lawn one 20 mins ago,” wrote another, verifying that the beans were low at at least more than two locations.
Finally, a user replied with what appears to be a response from their local restaurant as to the reason for the missing beans. “‘Where we get our beans is having a shortage and our operation is too cumbersome to quickly pivot to another supplier.'” Hmm….
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Further proving that the shortage is very much real (or a vast internet hoax), a user named @PlantGood4384 started a separate thread ten days later on October 10th asking, "Is there a black bean shortage?"
"Our local stores have commonly been out of black beans for last 1-2 weeks," they continued. "Curious if this is just a local occurrence or happening in multiple areas."
The shortage was validated by at least one other user on the thread, who chimed in, "My store is almost out of Pinto beans as well"
A rep for the company told us that over the past two weeks they have experienced a few "spot outages" in certain regions, but that the supply is now replenished. Keep us posted--are you experiencing black bean shortages in your area?
