No Free Burritos From Chipotle On Tax Day, Again
Once upon a time, Chipotle used to give out free burritos on Tax Day — or so the story goes. Still, some people never forget.
The deal was, if you bought a burrito the day before Tax Day, they'd give you a Burrito EZ form which could be traded for a free burrito on Tax Day. They stopped doing this last year, apparently.
Phil Villarreal, friend of the blog, is still not over it:
I called around the four Southern Arizona locations and discovered that Chipotle is no longer giving out free burritos to salve our wounds on Tax Day. Worse, every employee I talked to said they'd never heard of the promotion. And still worse, three out of the four said they couldn't say for sure whether the free burritos would be back in action for Halloween.
"We don't know anything until the marketing department tells us," a woman at the East University location told me. "Halloween is a long, long time away."
Amen, sister. Halloween has never, ever felt farther away.
How cruel. At least there's still Halloween... where dressing up as a burrito will get you a free one. (Shown above). Look how happy the burrito looks... eating his burrito. That sounds grosser than it is.
OK, now we're in a depression [Philmguy]
(Photo:dallas.com)
Post a comment
Comments:
So tinfoil hat = free burrito? That's like pinning a chip bag to your shirt and going out as Idaho.
Chipotle also used to do the free small drink if you were a student :( They got rid of that too.
@SkokieGuy: I never thought in reading that article I would find a statement as profound as this:
"Taxes Suck. Tacos Don't."
I think I'm going to live my life by that from now own, replacing the previous winner of "Sometimes you feel like a nut."
I am a huge chipotle fan (we totally exist). The last promotion I remember is going up to tax free weekend if you had bought a burrito on the three weekends prior and brought in the receipt you got a free burrito . . . had 3 receipts that weekend, it was great.
I saw a sign at ours last week. They were doing free burritos on tax day... if you had an H&R Block receipt. :(
I'll never forget the dump I took after eating two of their burritos in a sitting. now I crave them
I wouldn't be surprised if store turn-over is the reason no one had heard of the promotion. Also, it's not like Chipotle announced a promo and subsequently rescinded the offer. If I love a place, I won't be bitter at their halting giving me free stuff once or twice a year.
Awww. *sniffle* I love that they do free burritos every once in a while. Keeps me being a loyal customer
I don't know if they do this everywhere, but they also had show your library card and get a free burrito day last year. I think it was in May? or June?
I'll be really bummed about the Halloween one if they discontinue it, though. I can just see it. I'll be the only one who doesn't get the message and be dressed up as a burrito on Halloween.
YEA! shame on Chipotle for not giving us free stuff! I can't believe they have the gall to not do a promotion anymore.
They used to give free burritos on the first of the month to grad students here in ATL, and you know what? Too many people took advantage of it and it didn't increase their sales any. So THEY CANCELED IT! jerks.
Seriously, why are you giving Chipotle a bad name for not giving you a free $5 burrito? I'm pro-consumer and all, but if all the companies go out of business b/c they aren't making any money, it's hard to be a consumer at all.
Just goes to show....never do anything nice or out of the ordinary for a customer, or they will expect it every time....
It's a damn shame, because I'm a waiter, and my first instinct is to do whatever is necessary to make my tables happy. I've had to stop myself and deny otherwise reasonable requests in order to manage expectations of service. I've had customers get pissed when my kitchen was too busy to do the same special order we did for them last time, even though I explained to them the first time that we normally would not do such a thing, and that they should not expect it in the future.
Give a customer an inch and they'll try to take a mile....
@oneswellfoop: What the consumerist is doing here is essentially giving Chipotle bad press for not giving product away...because they'd done it in the past. Point proven much......
:(
I still love Chipotle (and they love me - they pulled my business card from the fishbowl recently). I also smile when I see one of their semi trucks on the freeways - they have "Look Mommy, the burrito truck!" painted on the side.
@Jeremy82465: I absolutely love Chipotle as well. In moderate quantities, it won't kill you AND it's yummy. As far as fast food goes, I'd rather get Chipotle than McDonalds. A burrito will give me two meals.
Give out a freebie one time and lots of folks just expect every year. Ah, the entitlement generation.
I love chipotle, and eat there all the time but I never kenw they used to give away free burritos on tax day. But I can't complain they comp my guac about 70% of the time. :-)
@scgirl_212: Yes, they used to do that around me too but I think people started taking advantage of it or something so they stopped..
@crazyasianman: Did you get their hot salsa? That would make those moments even more memorable... :\
I'm boycotting Chipolte. How dare they sell their products and not give them away. For shame, greedy, selfish fat-cats.
@unobservant: It's true. At the Chipotles here in collegetown, about 90% of kids just took a piece of tinfoil and stuck it behind their ear, or wrapped tinfoil around their wrist and walked into Chipotle and received their free burrito. It's a good promotion, but they don't enforce the rules very well.
@unobservant: yea, that's how we roll... you walk in, and the people walking out give you their foil, you put it on, get your burrito, then give it to the people coming in - its a great foil circle of gree burritos!
From the two burritos I've had at Chipolte's in Massachusetts, I don't think I'd get a free one if they offered until they learn how to actually make a burrito. Shoving a ton of crap into a flour tortilla is not a burrito.
I got a free burrito yesterday with a coupon that was in the program from a Roller Derby event at the fairgrounds. Chipotle's always giving food away if you know where to look for it.
@Jeremy82465: I missed something. Who's ever eaten at Chipotle and not ended up a fan? I could eat their guacamole on everything, even ice cream.
@SkokieGuy: I was hoping for better, that article was pretty sad tbh. A free cinnabon bite (whatever that is) and $5 off my next visit to TGI Fridays?.. sigh.
Chipotle burritos taste burnt
j/k but I'm surprised there aren't a bunch of people making some bad generalization about their burritos.
that's funny, because I got a coupon in the mail for a particular Chipotle in Houston for a free Burrito a few weeks ago. It ironically expired today. I used it last night.
But it was coupon based. And it wasn't anything i signed up for to receive in the mail. it was one of those "Resident of..." mailings.
I used to work a 2-10pm shift in downtown Chicago, and the Chipotle around 200 N. Michigan is where I'd take a dinner break occasionally. After a few months of going, averaging an excessive 6-7 times a month, the staff and I were familiar with each other pretty well. One evening I took out my debit card to pay as one person was putting my burrito in the bag, the manager looked and me and told me to forget about it. She just said, "go ahead," even though there were a few customers behind me watching it. I joked if there was anything wrong with it, but she just smiled and told me to move along.
At another location years later, they ran out of steak and a chef in the back merely had to chop up some steak that was already prepared. The other employee wasn't being forceful about getting it done, and I had to wait 6-7 minutes while other people got their chicken burritos and such. I finally got my steak fajita burrito, no big deal. But the cashier told the asst manager who appeared right then, "He's been waiting," so they refused to take my money. I put a couple dollars in the tip jar and strolled merrily along.
In short, Chipotle rules.
@MissKissLock: I used to be a fan, but now the two closest locations to me have given up on their food quality. Even the free Halloween promo isnt really worth the time to go there for me.
The rice has gotten hard, instead of the buttery goodness it used to be. The cilantro used to be finely chopped, which gave a nice hint of flavor, now its coarse and hits like a ton of bricks. They skimp on everything too. It used to be that I could get two meals out a bol or burrito, now, its barely one.
For an Americanized burrito, Chipotle is good to go.
@midwestkel: I work at a Chipotle in Austin. I don't think it's the official policy anymore to give free drinks to the military, but if you ask, most of us will give it to you! We're not as stingy as people think, but the economy is hitting everyone!
@zaq2g: Send a comment to corporate! Our main priority is to provide quality food! If your Chipotles aren't doing that, there's something wrong!
He will just have to settle for ice cream, Cinnabons, tacos and lots of discount offers:
[www.usatoday.com]
Since restaurants have to pay tax too, not exactly sure why we should feel entitled to free stuff from them.
Hot sauce packet anyone?