It was a year ago next week that the national Chipotle food safety crisis began on Halloween, when the chain shut down restaurants in Washington state and in Oregon after reports of E. coli infection in some customers. Things haven’t been going well for the chain since then, with sales plummeting, then slowly recovering with free food promotions and a loyalty program. The chain’s sales still haven’t fully recovered, but Chipotle hopes to coax customers back with some dessert. [More]
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Chipotle Reassures Customers That Guacamole Supply Is Not Threatened By Avocado Shortage
By 10.24.16 — Updated: 10.31.16
Despite an ongoing avocado shortage that has already affected some in the food industry, Chipotle is reassuring customers that no, the chain will not run out of guacamole, and no, prices for the stuff won’t go up. [More]
Chipotle Giving Away Even More Free Burritos
By 10.12.16
It looks like Chipotle is just going to keep figuring out ways to give away free food until it either convinces customers to come back or exhausts the world’s supply of flour tortillas. After giving away free food to kids, offering a buy one-get one deal, and letting people drink booze for free, the burrito chain is still plugging away, offering yet another way to eat without paying. [More]
Chipotle Adding Chorizo To The Menu Nationwide
By 10.3.16
More than an 16 months after Chipotle began testing chorizo as a protein option at its Kansas City-area locations, and four months after it began allowing customers in four other states and Washington, D.C. to add the meat to their burritos, burrito bowls, salads, and tacos, the company is ready to bring the spicy meat nationwide. [More]
Chipotle Giving Loyalty Program Members More Than $20M In Free Catering
By 9.30.16
Chipotle customers who joined the chain’s temporary loyalty program — a program aimed at winning back customers after a spate of food-borne illness outbreaks at its restaurants — are finally getting a reward, in the form of free catered food. [More]
Chipotle Shows Off New Food Safety Measures In Effort To Win Back Customers
By 9.21.16
Still reeling from a string of food-borne illnesses in 2015, Chipotle is making a big public push to alert customers to its improved safety measures. [More]
With Sales Sagging In The U.S., Chipotle Eyes European Expansion
By 9.19.16
Here in the U.S., where Chipotle runs some 2,000 eateries, the burrito chain has trying to cope with sagging sales following a handful of food-borne illness outbreaks in 2015. But overseas, where the brand is still a novelty, Chipotle apparently sees a bright future. [More]
Lawsuit: Chipotle Worker Fired After Complaining That Coworkers Got Preferential Treatment
By 9.14.16
A new lawsuit filed in California claims that a former Chipotle worker was fired after she complained to her bosses that her coworkers were receiving preferential treatment, giving them coveted daytime shifts while she was stuck working at nighttime. [More]
One Sickened Chipotle Customer Will Get Her Damages In The Form Of Free Burritos
By 9.13.16
Apparently it can be hard to quit Chipotle. Despite reports that 25% of former customers have yet to return — or visit less frequently — to the fast casual restaurant after its very public food-borne illness issues, one woman who was actually sickened after eating at the chain hasn’t completely shunned the burritos. In fact, she asked for — and received — free food as part of her recent settlement with the company. [More]
Chipotle Settles 100 Customer Complaints Over Food-Borne Illness Outbreaks
By 9.9.16
More than 100 customers who fell ill after dining at Chipotle restaurants last year will receive an undisclosed financial settlement as the fast-casual restaurant continues to put a series of E. coli and listeria outbreaks behind it. [More]
Google Will Actually Deliver Burritos By Drone To Some Lucky College Kids
By 9.8.16
The eternal college conundrum: I am hungry, but too tired, busy, lazy, hungry, or hung-over to go to the place where the food I want is being sold. Why can’t lunch just appear on command and drop out of the sky? [More]
Activist Investor Takes 9.9% Stake In Chipotle, But Will It Help Business?
By 9.7.16
As we’ve seen with Olive Garden, where activist investors mocked the menu and accused staff of wasting breadsticks before claiming seats on the board, a brash stakeholder with big ideas can bring about change in a slumping company. Could a similarly vocal new investor in Chipotle provide the jolt the burrito chain needs to get over the sagging sales that followed a rash of food-borne illnesses? [More]
Got $3.8M To Spare? You Can Buy The House Chipotle’s Founder Built With Burrito Money
By 9.2.16
It took a whole lot of burritos and guacamole (which costs extra) to build Chipotle founder Steve Ells’ house, but if you’ve got about $4 million just collecting dust in your bank account, his former Denver home can be yours. [More]
Chipotle Hopes Freebies For Kids & Students Will Convince Customers To Return
By 8.30.16
In its continuing effort to make everyone forget about all that food-borne illness stuff from last year, Chipotle is trotting out two new promotions in September aimed at the younger set. [More]
Chipotle Worker Lawsuit Now Has Nearly 10,000 Plaintiffs
By 8.30.16
Nearly two years after a Chipotle employee filed a class-action seeking lawsuit accusing the fast casual restaurant of wage theft, the case has signed on nearly 10,000 former and current employees. [More]
Chipotle Is Now Testing Burritos At Its Asian-Inspired ShopHouse Chain
By 8.26.16
Chipotle is pulling quite a fast food ouroboros with its latest efforts: even though it’s already serving up burritos in its Mexican-themed food business, the company is testing out how burritos might do at its Asian-inspired chain as well. [More]
NLRB: Chipotle Wrong To Make Employee Delete Critical Tweets, Fire Him For Having PTSD
By 8.23.16
Do you have a right to complain about your job and your employer on social media? It might not be advisable for your career, but a recent National Labor Relations Board decision is that Chipotle was wrong to fire an employee for his Tweets about the company’s labor practices and because his manager feared that he may become violent. [More]
Chipotle Now Giving Away Free Booze At Some Midwest Locations
By 8.9.16
Free burritos, a loyalty program, and constant reassurances that its food is safe hasn’t exactly been enough for Chipotle to win back customers following very public foodborne illness outbreaks. Now the fast-casual restaurant is taking another approach to bringing customers in the door: giving out free booze — at least in the Midwest. [More]
