Last year, Chipotle seemed to be the go-to restaurant for fast food takeout. The locations were abundant and the lines were infamously never ending. That was until many diners, sickened by food poisoning [E.coli] were traced back to the restaurant.

According to CNNmoney, Chipotle’s stocks are significantly lower than last year, considering that the company’s individual shares were once worth around $700 each, “Chipotle dipped below $400 a share Wednesday before recovering a bit Thursday. But Chipotle's stock is still down 15% this year.” For a long time, Chipotle has been a company promoting a “healthy” image for consumers, serving ample vegetables, loads of proteins and grains in their meals. According to Sarah Halzack of The Washington Post, Chipotle’s abrupt decrease in revenue, drop in stock value and sullied public image is not solely traced to the discovery food poisoning in some of its food.
Mark Crumpacker and his team collected data and analyzed why the restaurant’s popularity has decreased over the last couple of years. He states that it is most likely not due to the fear of contaminated food, “‘The data, everything that we have, suggest that there are not large numbers of customers staying away from Chipotle because they feel like either we didn’t address the problem properly or that they are afraid of Chipotle.’” According to Halzack, Chipotle’s long lines, lack of ingredients at the burrito station and messy tables may instead be the culprit.

Perhaps Chipotle’s current problem may not be ensuring that they’re food is clean, but nourishing an enjoyable dining environment. The executives of the restaurant believe that this is rectifiable if employees are more aware of the importance of paying “attention to the dining room instead of just the kitchen” which would hopefully resolve the issue with messy tables. A lack of particular ingredients is a harder problem to solve. Chipotle executives believe that hiring more people will not be the most effective solution, instead training them on how to work together more efficiently.

Chipotle is also initiating new ideas to move the lines along faster; they are   experimenting with digital orders. They are hoping that people will order online, and be able to pick up their meals at a counter separate from the line of people waiting to build their meals. 

Hopefully, after initiating these new ideas, we will see more success for Chipotle    Mexican Grill.

Citation:

Halzack, Sarah. “Why Chipotle Hasn’t Bounced Back.” The Washington Post, WP Company   LLC. 15, Dec. 2016. Web. 17, Dec. 2016.

La Monica, Paul R. “Will Chipotle Ever Recover From E.coli Woes?” CNNmoney, CNN. 22, Sep. 2016. Web. 17, Dec. 2016.