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Qdoba annoys customers with infomercials while they eat

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There’s a Qdoba Mexican Grill five minutes walk from my office. I’ve eaten there about 25 times since it opened. I like the naked burrito! (No rice, chicken, extra pico de gallo, guacamole.)

Today, there was an addition to the restaurant. A television playing infomercials! And the sound was competing with the music they were also playing. Really!

Infomercials? WTF!

Qdoba showing infomercialsIn the roughly 20 minutes I was eating, I heard an infomercial for a skin product, for a business expense receipt management system, and for a cable television show.

In my photo is it telling that there are no other customers visible? Besides me, the other patrons were as far away from the noise as they could get.

Irony alert – one of the receipts shown in the infomercial for the receipt system was for Taco Bell, a Qdoba competitor!

Why would an executive at Qdoba (or the franchisee) choose to play nonstop infomercials in the restaurant?

Well, because they can. Why not, these geniuses think, make a few hundred extra bucks by installing an advertising network in the store.

Attention Qdoba: Just because you can doesn’t mean you should

This is an idiotic decision. Taking a few dollars to advertise to customers who are paying good money to eat at your restaurant makes no sense. Based on the price of my typical meal at Qdoba, I’ve spent over $250 at this location. I won’t be going nearly as often now.

Just because you can advertise your airline’s credit card through the plane’s loudspeaker while people are trying to sleep doesn’t mean you should.

Just because you have my phone number, it doesn’t mean you should interrupt me with a bunch of robocalls.

Just because I have a blog, it doesn’t mean I’ll take money to advertise on it (so stop asking me).

I hope Qdoba sees the error in showing infomercials in the restaurant. If not, I guess I’ll be going exclusively to Chipotle even though I have to drive there.