Chipotle promises new focus on food safety

Following the conference, on Thursday, many analysts reiterate and upgraded stock rating, which reflects the analysts are hopeful that the corporation will successfully remove the risk of food-borne illness.

“We are hosting a national team meeting to thank our employees for their hard work through this difficult time, discuss some of the food safety changes we are implementing, and answer questions from employees”, Moore told NBC News via email, adding that restaurants will be closed “part of the day February 8”.

The news of the closures was noted in a Wall Street Journal report about the company’s marketing strategies, and was subsequently picked up after Chipotle spokesperson Chris Arnold spoke about the closures in the Oregonian newspaper.

The meeting comes as a result of outbreaks of Salmonella, E. coli and norovirus that plagued the popular fast-casual chain at the end of 2015.

Investors loved the stock, at the height of its popularity, Chipotle’s stock was at a high of about $750.

These infections were followed by an E. coli outbreak in October and November that affected 53 people in nine states.

Chipotle said it expects sales to dip 14.6% at established locations for the fourth quarter of past year, marking the first drop since the company went public in 2006. One of the norovirus outbreaks is being investigated by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, in conjunction with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations.

In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was investigating five cases of E. coli in in Kansas, Oklahoma and North Dakota.

Chipotle aspires to be “as in front of food safety as we are in front of sourcing great ingredients, like Food With Integrity, [and] in front of the industry in terms of our people culture”, Ells said.