Chipotle Will Close Stores for Food Safety Meetings After Outbreaks

In the midst of a lingering crisis over food-borne illnesses, Chipotle Mexican Grill on Friday said its stores will open several hours later than normal for one day next month so it can hold a meeting following a series of food scares. The norovirus is a highly contagious virus that is spread most commonly through food. Chipotle told Mic in an earlier email that the investigation into their outbreak is ongoing.

‘We want to thank our teams for all of their hard work, to discuss some of the changes we are making to enhance food safety, to talk about the restaurants role in all of that and to answer questions from employees’.

The trouble began in August when 64 customers in Minnesota were infected with Salmonella and about 100 people were struck by norovirus in southern California.

After the nine-state E. coli outbreak, Chipotle hired IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group of Lake Forest Park, Wa.

Chipotle is working to rebound after multiple E.coli and norovirus outbreaks were connected to the chain previous year.

Some customers are suing Chipotle.

Chipotle founder and co-CEO Steve Ells said in his statement: “We’re going to let all of our folks know about how this happened, and, in detail, all the steps that we’re taking to ensure that it won’t happen again”.

Chipotle’s same-store sales dropped by 14.6 percent in the last quarter.

Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said there hasn’t been an E. coli case in two months.

“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.

The Chicago-based company has more than 1,900 restaurants, including 17 outside the U.S.