The Tenleytown Chipotle ended its free drink with an AU ID deal earlier this month, according to a member of the management team there.
The promotion began about five years ago and was supposed to last only for the first month of school for AU students, said the employee, who asked not to be identified. It never ended due to miscommunication within the chain.
Students from high schools and colleges nationwide also began showing their IDs for free small fountain drinks, and the employees could not stop it, the employee said.
The employee said the promotion will begin again in the fall for one month only, this time being what it should have been when it first started.
"We hope that we don't lose the business from you guys," he said.
Some AU students did not find out about the promotion's end until recently. John Smith, a sophomore in the Kogod School of Business, said the end of the free drink promotion was "the first thing I heard when I got back" from spring break.
Chipotle just raised its prices for burritos, which makes paying for a drink increase the price of a meal at the restaurant even more., Smith said.
"All the time I would go there because it was so cheap," he said. "That was one of the factors that made me go to Chipotle so much."
Irina Douda, a sophomore in the School of International Service, said she will still eat at Chipotle because she is "addicted to it." The free drink was still nice to have since college students have to watch their money, she said.
"It's like a little treat," she said.
Patricia Lewis, professor of marketing, said that from a marketing standpoint, Chipotle could have turned the end of the free drink promotion into positive public relations by publicizing that the promotion had lasted so long.
"They should have built to a crescendo" by extending the promotion longer and advertising when it would end rather than arbitrarily stopping it, she said.
"They could have turned it into a loyalty builder instead of a cost cutter," Lewis said.
Rebecca Krichinsky, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said many students did not know about the promotion when she was a freshman because it was relatively new, but some AU students now do not know Chipotle offered a free drink with an ID. Some students may not buy a drink there now, but most will probably still eat there because the restaurant is part of AU life, she said.
However, "it's kind of a letdown," Krichinsky said.
Despite the end of the free drinks, AU students are still a top priority for the Tenleytown restaurant, the employee said.
"It's kind of hard to wean that away from AU," he said.
