(CBS LOCAL) – All 2,000 Chipotle locations were temporarily shut down today for a company-wide meeting about food safety.
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Chipotle also live-tweeted throughout the meeting to keep customers in the loop, highlighting key quotes made by Ellis and Moran.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) – Chipotle shuttered its restaurants to customers on Monday, but opened its companywide food safety meeting to anyone with a Twitter account.
Last week, the chain reported its first decline in quarterly same-store sales as a public company, hurt by a sharp drop in customer visits due to the outbreaks.
It’s also launched a paid sick leave program to discourage employees from coming to work and preparing food if they’re not feeling well.
“I feel like the people who eat here already are confident in the product that they get”.
The freebie comes in the wake of several nationwide E. coli, norovirus and salmonella outbreaks at the fast-food chain.
“We have supported local farms around the country for a number of years because we believe it is the right thing to do”, said Steve Ells, Chipotle founder, co-CEO, and chairman, in the release. “I guess it’s good to close the store and get people looking back into the product”, Seidita said.
In November, Chipotle sales plunged 16 percent. Anyone who wanted free food could text the word “raincheck” to 888-222 before 6 pm on Monday. However, it may be hard for some of our small suppliers to meet our new food safety standards.
By signing up for a free burrito, Chipotle is allowed to collect personal data, along with “aggregated data”, including a customer’s web use history, the company’s privacy policy stated.
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Chipotle didn’t say how many burritos it will give away, but advised that quantities are limited and will be distributed on a “first come, first served” basis.
