Chipotle shares continued falling Monday as the company faces its first decline in a key sales figure after an outbreak of E. coli linked to its restaurants.
The chain known for touting its quality ingredients said Friday it expects sales to drop between 8 percent and 11 percent at established locations for the fourth quarter if current trends continue. That would mark the first time the figure fell since Chipotle went public in 2006.
Chipotle’s stock was down 3.5 percent at $541.53 in midday trading Monday.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Chipotle said sales have been “extremely volatile” since it closed restaurants in Oregon and Washington in early November as a result of the outbreak. Sales plummeted by as much as 22 percent as additional cases were reported, and were down 16 percent for November.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had said earlier Friday that the outbreak had widened and sickened 52 people in nine states. It has not yet identified the ingredient that made people sick.
The first cases were reported at the end of October, and the agency said the most recent illness started on Nov. 13
About 48 million people get sick from a foodborne illness each year, according to the CDC.
Thirty Boston College students, including at least eight members of the men’s basketball team, complained of gastrointestinal symptoms after eating at a Chipotle restaurant, school officials said Monday.
It was not immediately known if the illnesses were part of a national outbreak of E. coli that has been linked to the Denver-based chain.
Boston College said several students came to the school’s Health Services center and the “common factor” among all 30 students was that they had eaten at the Chipotle restaurant in the Cleveland Circle neighborhood near the BC campus.
The school said it notified the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, which is investigating.
“We cannot confirm a cause of the illness at this time, but we are coordinating with Boston public health officials to determine the cause,” said Scott Zoback, a spokesman for the public health agency.
Chris Arnold, a spokesman for Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., said in an email that the Boston restaurant has been closed temporarily while the company works with local health officials to investigate the illnesses.
The company has no evidence to suggest that the incident is related to previous cases, Arnold said, noting that there have been no confirmed cases of E. coli connected to Chipotle in Massachusetts.
Chris Cameron, a spokesman for the school’s athletics department, said at least eight basketball players reported gastrointestinal symptoms overnight Saturday.
Head Coach Jim Christian said he got a call from two players Sunday morning saying they had food poisoning. One was Dennis Clifford, the team’s leading rebounder, who did not play in the Eagles’ 68-66 loss Sunday to UMass-Lowell.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the outbreak has sickened 52 people in nine states so far, but the ingredient that made people sick has not been identified.
Chipotle, which has more than 1,900 locations, has said it is adopting stricter food safety standards.
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., based in Denver, says whatever the likely ingredient was that made people sick is out of its restaurants and that it is adopting stricter food safety standards.
The company, which has benefited from marketing its use of local ingredients, said some of its local produce suppliers might not be able to meet the new standards. Locally sourced produce accounts for a “relatively small percentage” of the produce the chain uses, said Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman.
Jeffrey Bernstein, a Barclays analyst, noted that fast-food chains have recovered from similar foodborne illnesses in the past. But he said Chipotle’s recovery will likely take longer given greater social media awareness.
Bernstein also noted that Chipotle is known for its “Food with Integrity” slogan, which makes the E. coli cases “all the more damaging.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article
I find it very interesting that Chipotle was hit with this shortly after announcing that they would NOT be using any GMO ingredients in their food. And it is not the first time that they were hit this way since their anti-GMO stance was announced. Gee, I wonder who is behind this? No other restaurant chain has been affected. Of course, none of them have dared to announce that they wouldn’t be using Monsanto-poisoned, GMO products.
Right on! This has the fingerprints of the vicious and criminal biotech industry all over it. While I’m afraid I won’t be eating at Chipotle for a while, now is a great time to show support by picking up some of their stock.
Health investigators need to determine whether all the victims are suffering from the same strain of e-coli. Perhaps they can test each of the ingredients to try to isolate what made the people sick.
Investigators should not overlook the possibility that an employee of the restaurant intentionally contaminated some ingredient. Many fast food restaurants hire minimum wage workers who work in an environment which breeds low morale. They should also consider that this is being done by someone who has a monetary interest in lowering the stock price. In other words, this should possibly be handled as a criminal investigation.
Yes–it absolutely should include investigations into possible criminal conspiracy. There is no doubt that there is more than coincidence involved here. If it had happened just once–okay, maybe it was just a bad batch of something. But it has happened, I think, three times at various Chipotle sites accross the country–and none before Chipotle announced that they would not be using any GMO ingredients. It practically screams “set up”. How difficult would it be for an agent of one of the bio-tech firms to approach a Chipotle employee who had control of supplies entering the restaurants, bribing him /her to take certain kinds of produce from a “selected” supplier? At first, the purchasing agent would be happy–good produce and a little extra something for his /her “consideration”. Only the ones providing the bribe would know when those supplies were contaminated with e. coli. And then, even if he / she suspected, the purchasing agent would be too scared to come forward, understanding that he / she would be in a lot of trouble. I doubt that Chipotle execs. have not thought of this possibility.
Many corporations have rules that purchasing agents must be cycled out of positions on a regular basis in order to avoid the obvious chance of suppliers bribing purchasing agents. I’m guessing that is where investigators should focus their attentions. Something smells to high heaven–and I don’t think it is the garlic.