Chipotle may reverse firing of St. Paul manager

Chipotle is reconsidering its decision to fire a St. Paul restaurant manager for not serving five black men and asking them to prove they could pay before taking their order last week.

A video of the incident posted to Twitter by 21-year-old Masud Ali went viral, with Ali claiming the way he and friends were treated on Thursday night at the Grand Avenue eatery was racial stereo­typing.

At the beginning of the video, a Chipotle staff member can be heard telling Ali and his friends: "You gotta pay because you never have money when you come in here."

Ali and his friends could be heard shouting at the workers and a customer who had just received his meal. Police were called to the restaurant.

In several other tweets, apparently posted by Ali between 2014 and 2016, he repeatedly joked about dining and dashing from Chipotle and other restaurants. Those tweets have since been deleted.

In a statement Sunday, Chipotle said the company was already aware of those tweets when it decided to fire the manager.

"Our actions were based on the facts known to us immediately after the incident," including video footage, social media posts and conversations with the customer, manager and employees.

"We now have additional information which needs to be investigated further," the statement said. "We want to do the right thing, so after further investigation we will retrain and rehire if the facts warrant it."

Ali did not respond to messages left for him Saturday and Sunday night.