I was recently complaining to a coworker about how I always get less beans than I wish for when I order in person at “on the spot” restaurants like Chipotle.
My coworker said that a friend of his started pre ordering at restaurants under a male name (or a more gender neutral name), and now, she gets way more food than she did before.
This intrigued me, so I tried giving a try…
Welcome to getting more food.
This really surprised me, so I figured I’d share.
I went back to ordering under my own name because I felt bad, but as a petite woman with a very fast metabolism, it’s frustrating having to pay for extra portions when men get that much just for being men.
What are your thoughts on this?
Edit: To the angry people in the comments saying I’m wrong for “lying” (lol), I stated that I usually even PAY for more because I don’t enjoy the hassle of having to ask for more food. Yes, I have tried asking for more and I’m usually met with disdain or a dry response along the lines of “sorry, our portions are standard” (which: no, they aren’t :)).
I don’t care for the whole process of begging and having eyes rolled at me, so I just pay for more sometimes.
I’m a very petite woman, and it’s very common for people to assume I don’t eat a lot.
I’m bringing up this conversation to see if it’s a commom experience. I do wish portions were standardized for the sake of fairness.
Comments
[removed]
Yep. My husband and I went together thru the line at Fresh Market and ordered the exact same thing. He got EASILY twice as much of everything as I did. It was infuriating.
I’m a woman but wtf? All you have to do at chipotle is ask for more if you want more. Only meat or tofu costs extra
Interesting. We don’t do Chipotle but get burritos at a similar local place and…yes. His burritos are always bigger than mine and we usually get the same stuff. Hmph. I might test this with the online ordering.
I experienced it a couple weeks ago at a burrito place. I ordered a burrito bowl which cost $2 more than the burrito my husband ordered. I always eat half and save half for the next day. So I look forward to it coming with a bit more of everything for the extra money. The person behind the counter is doing both orders at the same time. One scoop of beans for me, two scoops for my husband. Same with all the ingredients. I didn’t want to cause a big stink with the person preparing my food, so at the end of the order I went back and asked for a second kind of beans, and a second kind of cheese, and things I wouldn’t normally get,
just to top up my bowl.
My daughter was updating her profile and accidentally changed her name to a male-sounding one with the addition of 2 letters. She noticed that her Doordash food came faster, more food and no issues vs when it was her female-sounding name. It was definitely noticeable and immediate.
I’ll call myself “Boeuf LeGrande” or “Chett Meatman” in the future.
i have to say i’m a trans woman, i pass and have been using my name legally for years now, and i’ve noticed no difference in how much food people give me. i am pretty tall though, so that could be a factor
in fact i get free food a lot more often than i used to. mostly from male cashiers. just randomly and seemingly for no reason.
I just ask for more at Chipotle. They’ll give you extra for free except for meat.
My cousin’s wife is petite with a high metabolism too. He doesn’t eat a lot. They noticed he always gets more food in restaurants. So he orders her dish and she orders his dish. That way she gets the full plate.
It’s messed up, but at least this way they’re both happy.
I’ve noticed a massive difference in portion size depending on time in many of those “buffet style” places like Chipotle/panda express and the like. During off hours they consistently load it up, I assume it’s to rotate product for high volume times.
Why spend any energy feeling bad for changing your name back? Play by their rules and fill your belly!
Huh.
Ordering online has 100% of the time gotten me a burrito significantly smaller than any I’ve ever experienced seeing in person. To the point where I’ve stopped ever even considering ordering ahead online, even if it is more convenient.
But why feel bad when you’re getting screwed out of more food? You deserve all the food!
My MIL has noticed that cafes will always give my FIL the larger piece if they order slices of cake or other cabinet items. Frustratingly he also had never questioned this and thought that he should get the larger piece, he applies the same logic at home where he also takes the largest piece of anything that’s been cut. He’s not doing it maliciously, he’s just so used to being given the larger portion most of his life that he didn’t question why it’s happening or whether it’s fair.
The only time this worked in my favor was when I was hugely pregnant and went to a woman owned takeout place near my office to get lunch almost every day of my pregnancy (cravings, what are you going to do?)
Those ladies LOADED ME UP with enough food for three people every day!
After my daughter was born and I brought her in to meet my coworkers, and of course the restaurant ladies, the ladies asked for a photo of her.
For years, there was her photo taped to the cash register. People would ask if it was a pic of their child or grandchild, and they would say, “no, we made her. She is made of our food.” And yes, she largely was!
Someone actually ran the numbers on this with chipotle
Ordering the same thing under male and female names. Weight it. And noted the discrepancy, at multiple locations.
Each time the man got more, I believe on average 40% more food. One of the outliers was literally double the amount.
Changing my name on things asap
Can confirm, when ordering for our family after my wife and daughter were consistently short changed in their bowls at Chipotle I started swapping their names for obvious male names (ordering via the app to go) and the bowls are now significantly larger. This was not a one off, probably ordered at least six times this way and it hasn’t failed us yet. My daughter delights in picking the name to put her order under as well. Win win I guess. 🙂
I work at a fast casual restaurant like chipotle and I heard about this and was shocked!! some of my microfeminism is giving women bigger portions than men especially when it’s a couple
Yep. The cafeteria workers at my old job used to do this, too. One of my girlfriends pitched a fit about it and they started loading her up, too.
Haha my husband and I stayed at a B&B in Lanesboro, MN in 2016. For the breakfast, they made eggs Benedict
Every man got two portions and every woman got one. Not even subtle. My husband split his extra with me, but he was the only man to do so.
I don’t get the people defending these scammy corporations. They pay their workers like shit and then up the price while giving less food. Why would you freak out over someone getting the portions that should have been provided for the price it is.
I saw this play out, many years ago (approx 1993), in the Company cafe/cafeteria.
Men and women would order the Same Damn Thing and the women would get less.
I remember observing in awe, an older woman (probably younger than I am now) requesting “More, please.”
The servers looked confused. She gestured to the man’s tray who was just ahead of her: “He and I ordered the same thing. I want the same amount.”
They gave it to her but there was a “tone” in the air, that she was being weird, embarrassing/ demanding / whatever.
I was too young and cowed to understand what a cool person she was.
I only knew her as the odd late-middle-aged women who walked around the gym locker room without covering her masectomy scar. I was both impressed and embarrassed in the cafe. Because I was young and silly and would never have had the nerve at that stage of my life to ask for MORE food. I mean, we are supposed to be cool and dainty and not eat or shit or fart or sweat, right?
Now? Now, I look back and think: “Right On , Michelle!” I owe you So Much retroactive respect.
I hope Michelle is joyful and thriving in her old age.
Yes, this is true. it’s also true at a teppanyaki place like Benihana that men get more food.
The Sporkful podcast did an episode on this a few years ago with sandwiches, they did a test sending men and women to order the same things and then weighed the sandwiches. It was almost exactly the the same, but the lady sandwiches were slightly bigger
I know this isn’t the point, but just as a heads up: protein is the only thing at chipotle that you have to pay for extra. Rice, beans, salsa, cheese, sour cream, just go ahead and ask for more and they’ll give it to you.
The portions are supposed to be standardized, but that’s only if it is regularly enforced. I worked at a burrito place and the meat portions were supposed to be a level scoop. Same with the beans, rice, and veggies. Not everything had the same size scoop, but everything was supposed to be one scoop. For stuff like cilantro and hot sauce they could basically have as much as they wanted.
But that’s really interesting to hear about the gender bias. I know many of the female customers I had ordered the smallest size, and would skip half the fillings and wound up with a really tiny burrito. Whereas many of the male customers ordered larger sizes and paid for extra meat. Now my female cousin would come in and order the largest size, stuffed to bursting, and eat that for like 3-4 days lol So yeah they shouldn’t shortchange the women, and they shouldn’t give men a free bonus! They ordered the size and fillers they wanted, they should be able to know what they’re getting.
One fo the women at work Doordashes a lot and sometimes uses her husband’s account.
I should ask her if she noticed a difference.
“I went back to ordering under my own name because I felt bad”… why?! Felt bad for whom or what, exactly? Do what you want. No need to feel bad for anything or anyone involved with you getting more food.
My wife is well endowed and she regularly gets twice the portions of teriyaki chicken at Sarku, where a man decides each black foam box’s fate, than me, a fugly white dude.
Historically when I have sent my male coworker or my partner in to order and pick up lunch for both of us we both get big portions of food. If I’m in line next to said coworker or partner, I get about 60% of the food the guy does, even if we order identical plates. Even if I’m taller than the man I’m with I still get nearly half of what he gets.
Maybe we need to begin shaming these places on social media, posting pictures of the ‘lady’ portions next to the ‘man’ portions, which cost the same money but are grossly different sizes.
There are a few restaurants that are exceptions and are fair. They are usually smaller family run places with limited staff.
Why would you go back to getting less?
I’m a guy and if that worked for you, I fully support you continuing to do so. Heck, tell them you’re picking it up for your boss. Don’t forget to roll your eyes when you say “boss”
Wow that’s very sad.
I wonder if it’s the same internationally as well, or more common in the US.
We very rarely go to subway (the only kind of chipotle style restaurant we go to), but next time I’ll pay attention to see if they load my sub more than my wife’s.
Edit: grammar
I work as a middle school teacher and teachers can get the student lunch if they pay for it. Students are paying around a dollar (before it was free) because it was subsidized, but the adult cost was around $4.50 at the time, I think it’s closer to $6 now.
It’s cafeteria food, but you get milk, piece of fresh fruit, helping from the salad bar, and a Main dish with three options.
They would consistently give me ” Middle School kid size” portions of the main dish rather than adult size portions, So I didn’t eat there very often.
Once, I went in behind a Male PE teacher who got double what I got.
I didn’t really eat there after
Yes, I’ve noticed this with chipotle and a local Mediterranean chain. Also, no more issues with delivery.
I’ve not noticed when it comes to pickup orders, but I have noticed that any time I’m with a guy at a place like that and we order the same thing I always get shorted. I’ve always been too shy to ask for more but I think I’m going to start.
I use my son’s name for all orders or send him in.
My niece will order Mexican food, in Spanish, in person (she’s Mexican passing)
It’s AWFUL every damn time.
And my red headed son in? Great food! (he gets free food if an Asian woman is working at the Asian restaurants, always has)
Yeah being a woman sucks for food ordering.
When my hubby and I eat out, it often happens that I want the Steak type meal, while he goes for chicken. If one of us places the order (one person does all the talking to the waiter) so they don’t know whose is whose, they always assume that the steak is his when they bring it to the table. Plus if we’ve ordered the same sides, the steak meal always has more fries/vegies/whatever. It’s infuriating.
To be honest, I am shocked reading the comments seeing how commonplace this is, as I personally never noticed. Perhaps it depends on the country you live in? I thought the portions were same! But baffled to find out there is yet another instance of where we are not winning…
In my waiting-on-tables days I was a bit of a pet of the chefs. The head chef in particular would hand me a pair of steaks and say, with a significant look, “Give the bigger one to the man.”
He knew and I knew, that if a man got a smaller steak than the woman, he’d send it back and demand a bigger one.
So I’d give the smaller steak to the man, who would eye his fellow-guest’s steak and say “It’s much bigger than mine,” and she would promptly say, “Here, you have this one, I don’t mind!”
Nine times out of ten the man would indignantly hand me back the steak and I’d bring it back to the chef, who’d eye me cynically and say “Well, you’d better eat it, then! Come in when you have a moment” and put it in the warming oven, and prepare a bigger steak for the customer.
I ate a lot of nice fillet steaks in those days, and did my bit for the sisterhood!
Why an earth would you feel bad for lying? They should feel bad for being sexist and defrauding female customers ffs.
During covid I was still a university student and worked in a warehouse part-time to support myself. Before covid the lunch was just out in big heated containers and everyone could grab as much as they wanted for themselves. After covid hit, all the food was handled by an employee behind glass and you had to ask for specific foods to be put on your plate.
Now I’m definitely not a large woman but this was a very physically demanding job where I often lifted 20kg boxes and it was very exhausting for my body so at lunch I would eat a lot to make up for it. From the moment they changed to this new way of getting food, I constantly had problems with either not getting enough or getting it with a side of comments like “you’re a hungry little girl” after asking for a second sausage. It was almost always a male employee and I got so fed up with how they handled my food after a while. I’m glad that soon after I actually found an internship then later a student job in my major so I could quit the warehouse.