Chipotle Closed Monday Morning, Workers Get Food Safety Lecture

Chipotle Mexican Grill closed all of its US restaurants during prime lunchtime hours on Monday to hold staff meetings on food safety guidelines, sparking offers from rivals eager to poach customers of the burrito chain as it recovers from several food-borne outbreaks. “We worked with experts who helped us create the most effective food safety program possible”. In order to get yours, text “RAINCHECK” to 888-222, and wait for an SMS message in response.

That was the main takeaway today following Chipotle’s nationwide closure for an all-company meeting.

Chipotle has apologized for making customers ill and updated its protocols, saying the changes will make the restaurant chain an industry leader in food safety.

As for the cause of the E.Coli outbreak in the Northwest, the chain said it still doesn’t know what caused more than 200 people to get sick after they ate their food.

“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.

The company’s executives said they would take extra steps to ensure that Chipotle’s food was safe to eat, including ingredients testing and vegetable blanching.

Chipotle had been planning its February 8 private company meeting for weeks, which also meant closing down its restaurants until 3 p.m. local time on Monday.

“With all of the Chipotle news, with the bacteria, I am excited that they are taking proactive measures for whatever is wrong”, Adkins said.

This, of course, is only a good deal if you still trust Chipotle after its E. coli and salmonella outbreaks. But the outbreak drove the company’s stock down by 26 percent over the past three months and it warned of a potentially sizeable hit to profits last month.