It wasn’t that long ago when analysts were pointing to Chipotle Mexican Grill as the restaurant chain that everyone was looking to emulate.
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Embattled fast-food restaurant Chipotle is now facing a criminal investigation over a norovirus outbreak in California, the company said yesterday.
Chipotle said the subpoena required the company to produce a broad range of documents related to the August norovirus incident at its restaurant in Simi Valley, California, which sickened almost 100 people.
“As a matter of policy, we do not discuss pending legal actions, but we will fully cooperate with this investigation”, Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman said. He said that workers had closed and cleaned the restaurant, but did not notify his agency until after it reopened.
According to Doug Beach, manager of the community services program at the Ventura County Environmental Health Division, eating at one of Chipotle’s restaurant in Simi Valley, California, about 207 people, including 18 Chipotle employees, had fallen ill in mid-August past year.
Chipotle’s reputation – and sales – fell further the week of December 21, after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was investigating five new cases of E. coli reported in November.
The company predicted a 14.6 percent drop in sales in the last quarter of 2015, saying that between $14 million and $16 million will be spent in response to the various contamination issues.
Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that can be gotten from an infected person, contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces, Dr. Robert Levin, the county’s public health officer, said in September in announcing the results of the county investigation. No comments however came from federal officials in this regard. On Wednesday the company announced that it expects comparable restaurant sales to fall by about 15 percent in the fourth quarter – a 4 percent increase from what it had established before. According to Bill Marler, who is a food safety lawyer, the federal inquiry in this case is not usual.
Chipotle has more than 1,900 locations where the Denver-based burrito chain serves up all-natural burritos.
Chipotle is also tied to two recent outbreaks of food poisoning from E. coli.
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“It’s very rare to see a federal investigation into a single restaurant”, the food-poisoning specialist said. In July 2015, the law firm Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer LLP, filed a lawsuit against Chipotle on behalf of “all California consumers” who purchased food from Chipotle since the company made its GMO-free marketing push earlier in the year.
