I am a lifelong bookkeeper/accounting person.
That plan by the restaurant is backwards.
YOU NEVER prepare/serve ‘fast food’ without collecting for it first.
If Chipotle has this method, they will continue to be a target of the Dine & Dash crowd.
I would kick some ass on those corporate people who thought this was a great way to run the restaurant.
BACKWARDS !!! Asking for losses.
The method that Chipotle uses has been in place for over a hundred years (think old style cafeteria where people stand in line with trays and pick out their foods before they get to the register to pay for their selections.)
They’ve always been targets. The restaurant just prices in the losses into the price of the food served. Everyone gets to pay for the dine & dash crowd, except, of course, for the dine and dashers.