After the Outbreak, Chipotle Struggles To Find Alternative Food Peparation Method

This 2015 is not a good year for Chipotle. Since the second half of this year, the restaurant chain has experienced multiple cases of virus outbreak in their restaurant nationwide. The restaurant will have to change its method of food preparation, as CEO Steve Ells said in NBC's Today show last week on Thursday, December 10 to show his commitment.

CNBC reported that Steve Ells, CEO and co-founder of the Mexican grill restaurant apologized to those who have been sickened. Ells also made a promise of stringent new guidelines to protect its customer from any health-related issue. Ells told Matt Lauer, the presenter of the talkshow, "The procedures we're putting in place to eat are so above industry norms that we are going to be the safest place to eat,''

It seems that is a greater stake for Chipotle, after a series of terrible food-borne illness hit the restaurant chain started in the second-half of 2015. Starting with norovirus and possible salmonella outbreak in Minnesota and California that sickened more than 160 people, followed by E. coli outbreak in November that hit its Washington and Oregon and caused 42 people to get sick. The recent case was norovirus in Massachusetts earlier this December, which affected 80 students from Boston College.

Market Watch reported that Steve Ells also spoke at investor conference in New York of a plan to alter Chipotle food preparation method. "You could bring fresh cilantro right out of the field into the restaurant and wash it there. I don't think that would be any better than washing the cilantro in the commissary," said Mr. Ells to investors. "And if dried properly and then sealed in the bags, it's a delicious product."

However, according to New Yorker, Chipotle built its reputation with its reliance on fresh, often locally sourced, ingredients. Whilst that approach has always been a major branding advantage for the company, but that makes the task to ensure food safety become far more complex, since Chipotle has to deal with many different local suppliers.

Chipotle is also famous for preparing meals by hand, right in front of the customer. That is the determining factor that make Chipotle stand out from other fast-food chains. Altering the method and procedure of food preparation will be very hard for Chipotle and its loyal customers.

Similar cases of notorious virus outbreak in a restaurant also happened in 2006 in Taco Bell and 1993 in Jack in the Box restaurants. After the E.coli outbreak in Taco Bell's Northwest restaurant, the sales in the affected area dropped for four quarters consecutively. As for Jack in the Box case, that is dubbed as the biggest case of virus outbreak, the sales dropped for two years and the company's bond was relegated as junk-bond.

As a consequences after series of virus outbreak, Chipotle struggles to regain its customers' trust. Nevertheless, it is still uncertain whether and when Chipotle will be able to recover in this aftermath.