Post #55 - Qdoba Round #2 - 9/3/2009

This was sent 9/3/2009.

Dear Brad,

Picture the best concert, from your favorite band of all times. Let’s just say Blue Oyster Cult, for discussion’s sake. You’re at their concert. First song: Godzilla--you can only hear the base. Next song: Burnin’ For You--you only hear the drums. Third song: (Don’t Fear the) Reaper—only the vocals. And then the concert’s over because those are their only three songs. But the concert would have been better if you could hear all of the instruments together. A Qdoba burrito is a song. A great song—no Starship “We Built This City” BS! I want to hear the whole song.

Back in March, I brought to your attention an issue that I’ve experienced on MOST occasions. My issue is, and has always been content distribution within the burrito arena. I believe I compared it to a high school dance—the tortilla is the high school gymnasium. The rice equals the girls. The meat and beans equals the boys. Because it’s a big gymnasium, my mouth can only cover one third of the gym at a time. I can never enjoy the whole experience unless I cut it open and mix it together, and tediously regroup everything on my fork—meat, rice , beans, cheese and sour cream, along with a piece of tortilla.. That’s a lot of work, especially on a tour bus that bounces on every pot hole! Mullins was SUPPOSED to replace those shocks.

Here’s an illustration. This thing’s about 8 inches wide by 3 inches tall.


In your replies, you seemed keen on addressing this with the individual at your Sandusky location. This is a global issue—it happens most of the time, at any random Qdoba location that I’ve tried. I’ve spoken to multiple people who have the same complaint, but love Qdoba anyway. It’s all in your procedure—you’re vertically stacking rice, then beans, then meat, then cheese. When you close the burrito and give it the “mash down”, everything becomes vertical (like the Italian flag).

Other places with similar (albeit inferior) products (rhymes with Cleo Chaps) use a bowl. They add all the ingredients to the bowl, and lovingly toss them together before emptying onto the tortilla. Then, every bite of (inferior) meaty cargo has all of the ingredients. It’s a (inferior) song of flavors in every bite!

Why don’t you consider some intermediary step, between the ingredient stack-down, and the wrap-up? I still loyally frequent your restaurants, and even wear a Qdoba shirt I made up with magic markers.

Sincerely,

Jerry