Chipotle Mexican Grill will temporarily close all of its restaurants for several hours February 8 to discuss new changes in the company’s food safety procedures.
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The company will use the time to discuss food safety and take questions from employees, according to Ma href=”http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-chipotle-closing-stores-food-safety-20160114-story.html” initial reports.
Chipotle’s woes began in October with an E. coli outbreak that started in OR and Washington, followed by further E. coli, norovirus, and salmonella outbreaks that struck seven other states and sickened over 50 people through November, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Chipotle says it has chosen to not begin a marketing campaign to restore customer trust until its ongoing safety problems are officially resolved, which may put an even bigger constraint on its ability to restore its image in the short term.
At least nine lawsuits have been filed against the company.
The remarks come after Chipotle’s sales plunged 30 percent in December. Roughly 140 students at Boston college were infected with norovirus and a second new incidence of E. coli broke out affecting five people in three states. The meeting comes as a result of outbreaks of Salmonella, E. coli and norovirus that plagued the popular fast-casual chain at the end of 2015.
Ells also mentions they’ve redesigned their supply chain to reduce the risk of tainted food ending up in customers’ meals. “I have confidence we are going to be able to recover from this”.
Dealing with a few big suppliers is in theory easier with monitoring the safety standards of many local ones, although it’s not clear if the source of the food poisoning originated from a local farm.
Ells believes the Chipotle brand can be rebuilt and will be stronger than ever before, reinforced by the stance that Chipotle has always focused on food safety.
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The company had a discussion with the official last week to contain the food borne disease.
