Chipotle offers St. Paul restaurant manager in viral video her job back
Chipotle says it has offered the manager of one of its St. Paul restaurants her job back, after she was initially fired after a video showing her deny service to a group of black men went viral.
Chipotle says it made the decision after spending "the last few days reviewing the evidence available to us regarding the incident."
The manager is featured in a video uploaded to Twitter by Masud Ali that's been viewed millions of times. In it, she denies Ali and his friends service because they "never have any money."
Chipotle initially fired her from the 867 Grand Avenue restaurant after the video was posted and Ali accused her of racial stereotyping.
However, further examination of his past tweets turned up some since-deleted posts he made between 2014 and 2016 in which he referred to carrying out "dine and dashes" at restaurants including Chipotle.
This in turn led to accusations of Chipotle firing the manager in a knee-jerk reaction in response to the video going viral.
"While our normal protocol was not followed serving these customers, we publicly apologize to our manager for being put in this position," a Chipotle spokesperson said in a statement to BMTN.
"We will work to continue to ensure that we support a respectful workplace for our employees and our customers alike.
"Our policy is to treat our customers and employees fairly and with respect at all times and under any circumstances. We will work with all our restaurant teams to ensure they are prepared to handle situations of this kind and know they have our full support. We are committed to doing the right thing and acting in a manner consistent with a thoughtful, fact-driven approach."
