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Chipotle closing all stores February 8th for food safety training, Report

By Jan 21, 2016

The meeting will discuss food-safety changes, allow employees to ask questions and thank them for their "hard work during this difficult time", Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said in an email.

The delayed openings next month are so employees can take part in a team meeting to discuss changes the company is making to tighten its food-safety measures. Last week, Chipotle also revealed that it had received a grand jury subpoena during the investigation of a norovirus outbreak in California.

The recent illness outbreaks related to Chipotle which were reported in several states of the United States had triggered a federal criminal probe and a shareholder lawsuit against the company. Additionally, some 200 people were sickened by norovirus in December after eating at a Boston Chipotle.

Chipotle says it has chosen to not begin a marketing campaign to restore customer trust until its ongoing safety problems are officially resolved, which may put an even bigger constraint on its ability to restore its image in the short term.

In December, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was investigating five cases of E. coli in in Kansas, Oklahoma and North Dakota. This type of service set Chipotle apart from other fast food Mexican restaurants and gave customers the feeling of having fresh ingredients in their meals.

Still, Ells said, "I don't think we'll ever be finished". According to The New York Times, Chipotle said that its same-store sales plummeted 14.6 percent during the last quarter.

College students and burrito connoisseurs are going to have to face one of their biggest fears and live in a Chipotle-less world for one day.

In October, the company launched an "enhanced food safety program" that involved a "comprehensive reassessment" of its practices and its ingredients, The Hill reported. The stock, which has lost almost half its value since the outbreaks surfaced, jumped almost 6 percent Wednesday.

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