Every Chipotle in the US will close for several hours Monday, Feb. 8 for a national food safety meeting.
Advertisement
The company’s troubles began last summer, when reports of E. coli, salmonella, and norovirus outbreaks began to surface across the country.
Chipotle took out a full-size print ad in several major nationwide newspapers to apologize for the outbreak, but customer concerns caused the company’s stock to tumble in recent weeks.
Fearing more than a little stomach bloat from chowing down on a enormous burrito, some Chipotle fans have steered clear of fast-casual chain in the wake of multiple food-borne illness outbreaks.
“We are hosting a national team meeting to thank our employees for their hard work through this difficult time”, said Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman.
That same month about 100 people in southern California fell ill from the norovirus. Last week, the company announced that its business was suffering more than it had anticipated. Chipotle is also the subject of a criminal investigation examining whether there was any wrongdoing in how the company chose to handle its food safety problems.
In November, Chipotle temporarily closed 43 restaurants in Washington and OR after 22 E. coli cases were linked to its eateries.
Ells also mentions they’ve redesigned their supply chain to reduce the risk of tainted food ending up in customers’ meals.
“We did a really comprehensive review of food safety practices from farm to restaurants”, he added. Soon thereafter, Chipotle will begin an intensive campaign focused on assuring news outlets that the food outbreaks are over and reminding consumers how great the food tastes, according to Food Safety News.
Advertisement
“In the end, it may not be possible for anyone to completely eliminate all risk with regard to food (or from any environment where people congregate), but we are confident that we can achieve near zero risk”, Ells said.
