Jan. 19--Chipotle said Tuesday that it will close all restaurants from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Feb. 8 for a companywide meeting on food safety efforts after E. coli, salmonella and norovirus were linked to illnesses at its restaurants.
And at least one competitor plans to take advantage of Chipotle's planned lunchtime closure. Freshii, which has about 30 Chicago locations, said Tuesday that it will offer 50 percent off to anyone who orders its "Mexican-inspired" food at one of its restaurants on Feb. 8.
"Like millions of other people, we at Freshii are big fans of Chipotle," CEO Matthew Corrin said in a statement. "We figured the least we would do was look after their customers while Chipotle pauses to recalibrate."
Chipotle first announced plans to close "for a couple hours" last week to allow everyone to listen in to messages broadcast via satellite from top brass at Chipotle's Denver headquarters.
The company said it will share information about what it believes caused the outbreaks, what it's doing to prevent more, and thank workers for implementing new food safety procedures.
An E. coli outbreak linked to Chipotle restaurants first surfaced in the Pacific Northwest late last year and eventually stretched across nine states. Salmonella was also linked to some cases across the nation, and norovirus was linked to restaurants in Simi Valley, Calif., and Brighton, Mass. Chipotle's stock price has lost nearly half its value since the first outbreak surfaced.
Earlier this month, the company revealed it had been served with a federal grand jury subpoena as part of a criminal investigation of the California norovirus outbreak.
The food safety scandal has led the chain to revamp food safety policies, including implementing DNA testing on all ingredients before they are shipped to restaurants. It is also chopping tomatoes and lettuce at a central kitchen instead of individual restaurants, so it can better test the ingredients for pathogens.
But many customers are still staying away. Chipotle said its sales at established stores sank 30 percent in December.
Chipotle also warned last week that its financial results will be "messy" this year as it recovers from the food safety crisis, but that it is "extremely confident" that it will eventually get its customers back.
sbomkamp@tribpub.com
