Chipotle Issued a Subpoena Over Norovirus Incident in California

That followed E. coli incidents linked to several Chipotle restaurants in October and November.

The situation continues to escalate as Chipotle was served with a federal subpoena last month surrounding a criminal investigation tied to the norovirus outbreak.

Following a norovirus outbreak that occurred over the summer in California, a federal subpoena has been filed against Chipotle. A norovirus outbreak in MA the second week of December sent sales down an average of 34 percent, the company reported to the SEC.

Same-store sales – a closely watched benchmark – tumbled 14.6 per cent in the period, the Denver-based company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. But he said the agency has prioritized food safety and stepped up enforcement, through prosecutions and injunctions to stop problems before they lead to outbreaks. As of December 17, shortly after the Boston norovirus incident, Chipotle’s Buzz score, which asks consumers whether they’ve heard positive or negative news on a particular brand, stood at -40.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations have been investigating the case.

“We intend to fully cooperate in the investigation”, the company stated in the filing.

Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman, declined to offer further comment on the company’s disclosure to investors about the federal probe.

The California outbreak happened in August at a restaurant in Simi Valley, California and affected almost 100 people.

“Any more incremental bad news, particularly if there is an unfavorable verdict from the grand jury, will place even more pressure, not just on the bottom line result but potential further damage to the brand, which in turn hurt sales”, Anderson said.

In the filing, Chipotle said its board authorized a $300 million stock repurchase, its second for that amount since in early December.

The California restaurant in question became aware of scores of sick employees and customers around August 16 or 18, according to the inspection report, but it waited five days to inform the local health department, according to Beach.

Last month, Chipotle also said it could no longer reasonably predict sales trends given the food scares and retracted its forecast for 2016.

The company had already been in the spotlight after various restaurants around the country, including one in Shawnee, reported outbreaks of E. coli bacteria. Chipotle’s shares were down 3% in premarket trading after it disclosed the subpoena and its financial outlook in the documents.