St. Paul Chipotle Manager Fired; Videos Show Black Men Not Served

ST. PAUL, MN — Chipotle said it has fired the manager of a St. Paul location after a series of videos posted to Twitter showed that a group of young black men were refused service at the restaurant unless they could show that they had money for the meal. According to Chipotle, the manager at the restaurant thought the group were customers from a couple nights ago who were not able to pay for their food.

The videos posted to Twitter by Masud Ali on Friday showed a female employee telling the group that they have to pay because they never have money when they come to the location. Employees behind the counter ignore the group as they wait to be served and the men in the group accuse the employees of stereotyping them.

"We're not gonna make food unless you guys actually have money," one employee is heard telling the group. The same employee suggests the store could call the police and the group can be heard and seen getting angry at the situation.

The video then shows a white customer enter the restaurant. The staff appear to compensate the woman's meal and apologize to her.

The official Chipotle Twitter account responded directly to Ali and said this is not how Chipotle employees should treat customers.

"We are committed to treating all of our guests fairly and with respect," Chipotle said on Twitter. "The manager has been terminated and the restaurant has been retrained so this doesn’t happen again. We'll be back in touch."

In an emailed statement, Chipotle said it has conducted a thorough investigation after speaking to employees and management working on Thursday night, when the incident occurred.

"We are committed to treating all of our customers fairly and with respect," Chipotle said in the statement. "Regarding what happened at the St. Paul restaurant, the manager thought these gentlemen were the same customers from Tuesday night who weren’t able to pay for their meal.

"Regardless, this is not how we treat our customers and as a result, the manager has been terminated and the restaurant is being retrained to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again."

You can see the full series of videos here.

Photo by David Allen/Patch