The Millennial Crisis : Love / Hate With Chipotle E Coli

Chipotle makes sure that the plants animals are being treated right and are not fed GMOs. Years ago, the carnitas (pork) was removed from restaurants because the animals were not treated right. Our fruits and vegetables are washed and blanched, to remove germs and other harmful bacteria. Our foods and vegetables are hand cut to a certain style. We focus more over quality than with quantity but quantity is still our main concern. We did have a summer rewards program (it was just a test drive. It will be back soon) and we have a few coupons such as the Buy One, Get One Free coupon and the One Free Chorizo coupon. At Chipotle, were always thinking of the customer’s health? From our utensils to our foods, everything has a certain temperature. To make sure that everything is to temperature, we fill out “the Black Book” which is a book that records the temperatures of the foods on the front line, the grill, and the walk-in fridge. These get done periodically throughout the day. Other than temperatures, we have portion sizes to help with your health. Some people may not agree with the portion sizes but portion sizes are here for two reasons; to save food and to not fill you up on so much

The actions taken by Chipotle after the E.coli outbreak can be seen as both exacerbating the problem and finding ways to resolve the problem. However, as the crisis began, leadership coming from CEO Steve Ells and Co-CEO Monty Moran painted a picture of denial. One of the first decisions made in reaction the crisis was to purchase full-paid advertisements. This marketing tactic was done to mask the severity of the e-coli outbreak, sooth investors, and retain loyal customers. In addition to television advertisements, Chipotle decided to advertise using direct mail (Wahba, 2016). This practice does not correlate with traditional chipotle advertising; their last paid advertisement was in 2012. Chipotle has always operated in a fashion that let

Chipotle, ever the noble ambassadors of good burrito will, have been humble and cooperative throughout the investigation. Health officials are giving the company kind words and gold stars (despite, you know, the salmonella). One spokesperson for the department of health said that “Chipotle has been extremely proactive in collaborating with investigators to quickly control the outbreak and identify its source.” Another asserted the Health Department’s confidence that it is now safe to eat at Chipotle, sharing that he had a burrito bowl there last Wednesday.

In Washington and Oregon, Chipotle restaurants have been shut down after health specialties investigated incidences related to an E. coli outbreak. Between the dates of October fourteen and the twenty-third, people who ate at Chipotle in the states of Washington and Oregon began to show symptoms in E. coli. No one has died yet due to the outbreak, but eight people have been hospitalized. Found in the intestines of animals and people, E. coli causes food poisoning and in severe cases, even death. It is most likely that the customers at Chipotle became infected with E. coli by eating the food prepared by employees who did not wash their hands before making the food. The bacteria can also be spread by improper preparation of food, such as food

Chipotle ventured into a new territory when it was created, as it had an innovative vision for fast-casual restaurants. By using fresh and quality ingredients, Chipotle raised the bar in their segment. The service line where customers could see their order being prepared enhanced the experience of Chipotle. Consumers who were used to eating at fast-casual restaurants where the food was frozen and made out of sight were able to savor the uniqueness of Chipotle. These differences helped Chipotle become successful. However, as competitors copy the traits that make Chipotle unique, Chipotle must adapt and overcome in order to remain a profitable company.

With the right ingredients, speed, quality and leadership, Chipotle has reinvented the fast-food business. Serving food with integrity has produced big profits.

For many months now, Chipotle has been on the offense in trying to revive their fate in the fast food market and figuring out what really caused the outbreak (Jargon, Jessie B6). According to Chipotle, the loss was more than they had ever seen, as: “fourth quarter net income of $67.9 million, or $2.17 a share, down 44% from a year earlier, on a 68% drop in sales to $997.5 million. It was the first decline in the quarterly revenue since Chipotle went public in 2006,” (Mr. Ells B6). Chipotle suffered a significant loss in revenue and was hit with a severe disease that might have put them out of business. However, Jargon and Jessie convey that Chipotle is bringing in healthier, cleaner, and fresher ingredients in their restaurants. They have fully investigated the source and have taken several necessary precautions to avoid such events from happening

In 2001 Chipotle adopted the slogan “food with integrity” to describe its approach to sourcing and preparing ingredients (Merkel and Russell, 2017). Chipotle states: Ensuring that all of our fresh ingredients are as safe as possible is a serious effort. Not only do we need to work closely with our suppliers to ensure that the ingredients we buy are safe, but we also need to make sure that once those ingredients reach our restaurants, they are handled and prepared in the safest way possible. Chipotle’s CFO said: “We like the local program, we think it’s important, but with what’s just happened we have to make sure food safety is absolutely our highest priority. If it’s testing and safety versus taking a step backward on local, we would do that

After interviewing 59 of the people they reported eating at a Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant in at least 19 different restaurant locations. The patients were found to be infected with a strain of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O26 (STEC O26) (CDC, 2016). But then at the height of this outbreak, at least 120 people who ate at a Boston Chipotle contracted norovirus (Malcolm, 2016). This additional outbreak provided even more complexity to the investigation’s attempt to identify the disease cluster.

Changes in customer preferences, general economic conditions, discretionary spending priorities, demographic trends, traffic patterns and the type, number and location of competing restaurants have a moderate effect on the restaurant industry (Chipotle, 2010). One example of customer preferences being a driver in the industry is the “Whole Food-ism Movement” which has put a large focus on organic, antibiotic-free, and non-processed foods (Mansolillo, 2007). Consumers now look for healthier options when eating and an overall healthier lifestyle. Chipotle has been able to benefit from this movement by carrying on their “Food with Integrity” mission (Chipotle, 2010).

CMO Mark Crumpacker stated, fast-food marketing typically is a game of trying to obscure the truth; The more people know about fast-food, the less interest they’d want to be a customer. Chipotle’s mission statement “Food with Integrity” reflects its focus on fresh ingredients; great food with a socially responsible message made them one of the first organic oriented fast-food restaurant

Management is the backbone of any good company. In order for a company to successful, a strong management team is needed in order to meet goals in an effective and efficient manner. Chipotle opened its doors in 1993 when Steve Ells took a chance and began his business in San Francisco. Chipotle is a chain of Mexican restaurants that is based in Denver. Chipotle is often cited as the company that started the fast casual movement where customers can get a healthy prepared meal quicker than other traditional styled restaurant. The fast casual restaurant concept was well received and Chipotle’s popularity expanded all across the United States. Customers could not get enough of the Mexican chain and massive lines could be seen stretching outside the stores all across the country. Along with its popular food, Chipotle Mexican Style Grill is a company that contains a successful management style. Why? What sets this companies management apart from the rest? There are many factors that we could analyze to understand the success of Chipotle, yet for the purpose of this paper, we will look into the cooperate culture of the company, human resource management, their leadership style, and how Chipotle deals with and how the company manages in times of crisis.

Chipotle is facing numerous challenges due to the fact that E. coli outbreak which requires the corporation from the key stakeholders to keep it under control and apply the new food safety protocols which can aid to bring the regular customers back. Although the main cause remains a mystery, Chipotle’s E. coli outbreak has been authoritatively declared officially over by the experts. However, since the poisoning outbreak, the impact of the reduced number of customers affects the profit which the company used to enjoy before such eventuality (Scholes 27).

In this setting, the disease occurs primarily in young children, who are exposed to the organism for the first time, and in the elderly, who have lower gastric acid production and waning immunity. The poor are at greatest risk because they often lack safe water supplies, are unable to maintain proper hygiene within the home, and may depend on street vendors or other unregulated sources for food and drink.

As of late 2015 and early 2016, Chipotle Mexican Grill faced a serious problem with food safety and received an ethical backlash because of it. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) along with state and local officials investigated two cases of E. coli O26 infection outbreaks from food served by Chipotle restaurants in several states