The meeting, excerpts of which were broadcast over Twitter Inc’s live-streaming app Periscope and in tweets, started at 11:00 a.m. ET and was hosted by Ells and co-CEO Montgomery Moran. The topic – food safety, both how to improve it and the problems the company has been facing in the wake of a food safety scandal.
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The effort was met with a hardcore marketing campaign featuring phrases such as “Get antibiotics from your doctor, not your chicken”. The remarks from executives come after Chipotle’s sales plunged 30 percent in December.
If you did actually have plans to eat at Chipotle for lunch today, no worries. All you have to do is text the word “raincheck” to the number 888-222 and follow the instructions sent back.
“That’s one of the reasons why we no longer dice tomatoes in our restaurants”, read a Chipotle statement on the new protocols.
“I haven’t had any bad experiences, but it’s sad that it usually takes a bad experience to get you to stop doing something”, said Andrew Pellegrino, a Chipotle customer at the restaurant on South Howard Avenue.
And what’s a bigger incentive than free food?
By the way, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared Chipotle’s E. coli outbreaks officially over last week.
A sign informing patrons that Chipotle Mexican Grill will be closed for lunch and opening late due to an employee meeting on food safety hangs on the door of the restaurant in Pittsburgh’s Market Square, Monday, Feb. 8, 2016.
Ells also announced a $10 million commitment to helping small farmers keep up with Chipotle’s new food safety standards so that the company is able to continue sourcing food from local growers. Sales have fallen and traffic plummeted during the fourth quarter.
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The Chipotle episode began last summer when the chain was tied to foodborne illnesses in California and Minnesota, though those cases didn’t get as much attention.
