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Comment by jdavis703 | Hacker News Reader

Why is it so hard for a fast food chain to avoid cross-contamination vs. other restaurants? Is it because they don't train workers properly?

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Other restaurants have food-borne illness problems occasionally too, but when you have thousands of locations it makes national news.

But they should be isolated incidences unless you have a systematic problem. One chef treating meat incorrectly can cause issues in one restaurant but not across the country.

What Chipotle experienced was more than what you'd expect to happen in well-run restaurants that prepare everything themselves.

I mean, if my experiences are anything, it's because people don't care enough. At fat food joints you've got a bunch of high school and college kids who want to get off and party or get off and finish their mounting homework. It's not willful, just part of being 17/18/19 at an "unimportant" job. We had some adult-adults who worked there as well, and it was a night and day difference.

Again, it's not willful or malicious, just laziness.

> At fat food joints

I don't know if that was intentional or not, but I like it! :)

Also, when you are only paid $6 after taxes for every hour you work, why should you care? The company doesn't value you enough to care.

Eh, I agree and disagree. It's difficult to care when you're not paid a lot and other similar jobs are dime a dozen, but morally I can't say it's right. And, really, I have a difficult time believing 16/17/18/19 year olds are going to put in a lot of extra effort flipping burgers, even if they're paid $10 or $15 an hour. Kids are kids, I was one too.

Right, but if the company wanted to focus on quality, then it's their fault for hiring kids or otherwise setting wages at a point where only kids can really afford to work there

Total agreement on that point.

That might be part of it. Plenty of other restaurants need (at the least) experienced cooks who probably would have gotten bounced out if they couldn't keep food safety more or less in order.

A lot of it, I would guess, is simple scale. There's like 800 more Chipotle restaurants than Chili's, and I'd be damn sure the volume of meals coming out of each one is skewed far towards Chipotle as well.

Your average Chili's kitchen is more automated than a Chipotle.

http://www.middleby.com/midmarsh/PressReleases/Brinker-9_12_...

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