Chipotle CEO: ‘I feel terrible’ about customers sickened in E. coli outbreak

SunTrust reissued a buy rating and set a $750.00 target price on shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill in a research note on Monday, November 23rd.

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Boston College said that almost all of the 141 student illness cases were related to those who ate at the nearby Chipotle restaurant during the past weekend.

The norovirus was responsible for the illnesses, authorities said.

Following his remarks, the stock went up over 5% earlier this morning.

The norovirus outbreak is Chipotle’s fourth incident involving foodborne illness this year and comes on the heels of an E. coli outbreak that has sickened 52 people in nine states at last count. Cowen and Company downgraded shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $775.00 to $515.00 in a report on Monday. This is driven by a number of strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover.

Still, the E. coli outbreak has garnered national attention and forced the company to warn that sales would suffer.

“We’re doing a lot to rectify this and to make sure this doesn’t happen again”, he told NBC.

The chain’s website has included updates on the E. coli outbreak, but nothing on the Boston norovirus as of Thursday midday, she noted, though that outbreak has been limited to one restaurant.

Transparency will be Chipotle’s best ally moving forward, especially given Chipotle’s broad following, said Mario Almonte, partner at the New York-based Herman & Almonte Public Relations. “They are so far above the industry norm, that we will be safest place to eat”. Company executives and health officials say they may never know what caused the outbreak, since any contaminated ingredients would now be long gone.

Although most E. coli bacteria are harmless, the outbreak linked to Chipotle can cause severe diarrhea, kidney failure, even death, and has already resulted in about 20 hospitalizations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last August, Health officials claim that the Norovirus was to be blamed for sickening just under a hundred customers who dined at the Mexican chain restaurant in Simi Valley, California. The restaurant was cited for health violations. That can lead to ingredient shortages and questions about food safety.

Mansour Samadpour, CEO of IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group, which was hired by Chipotle as an outside food safety consultant, said in a press release, “this program eliminates or mitigates risk to a level near zero and will establish Chipotle as the industry leader in this area”.