Chipotle is a go-to. It’s easy, fast, seemingly nutritious, and many frequent the international chain on a regular basis. Some would even go as far as to say that they revere it. But is Chipotle hiding behind its façade of a healthy, new generation of fast food? How much are you really eating at Chipotle? A recent New York Times article delves into the calorie count of common choices at the fast-food chain, offering a revealing look at what customers are actually eating in one visit.
Through a large sample of online orders, the Times set out to discover what people actually order and how healthy an average Chipotle meal is. From their sample, they concluded that the typical order at Chipotle has about 1,070 calories, which is more than half of the calories that most adults are supposed to eat in an entire day. The recommended range for most adults is between 1,600 and 2,400 calories.
However, there is more to this data than the average calorie count. The data shows that Chipotle customers can, and do, order meals with fewer than 650 calories, such as a burrito bowl sans-dairy products (cheese and sour cream).
On the other hand, one in ten meals had more than 1,600 calories, enough to fulfill an entire day’s necessary caloric consumption for some. But on average, a typical meal from Chipotle—a meat burrito with “standard” toppings, like cheese, salsa, lettuce, sour cream, rice, and beans—is very likely to reach the thousand-calorie mark.
The study also examined two other metrics of health: salt and saturated fat. What they found may further shock those who believe Chipotle to be nutritious. Most orders include close to a full day’s worth of salt (2,400 milligrams) and 75 percent of a day’s allotment of saturated fat.
According to Chipotle’s communications director, Chris Arnold, the company forgoes managing their menu around individual nutrients. The statistics that Mr. Arnold shared with the Times broadly corroborated their data.
With the most common protein (chicken) and most common “vessel” (a burrito bowl), Mr. Arnold constructed a potential meal: a burrito bowl with rice, beans, chicken, fresh tomato salsa, sour cream and lettuce, which totals to 625 calories. Yet, around 90 percent of the meals in the Times’ study had more calories than that.
So what? The wide array of options available at Chipotle may guide customers toward the misconception that their choices are much healthier than they actually are. But in the end, it is important to remember that Chipotle is fast food. You’re getting what you pay for.