Chipotle had been planning its Feb. 8 private company meeting
for weeks, which also meant closing down its restaurants until 3
p.m. local time on Monday. It also previously said promotions and
coupons could be part of its comeback plans. On Monday it combined
the two ideas, offering patrons who participated in a text offer a
chance to score a raincheck code good for one free burrito, burrito
bowl, salad or an order of tacos.
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The meeting was held days after the company said the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention had concluded its E.coli
investigation. Though the meeting ended at around 12:30 p.m. ET,
the company will not be serving lunch on Monday, with plans to stay
closed until 3 p.m.
During the event, which was largely closed to the press and
public, Chipotle aired a livestream on Periscope to show Co-CEO
Monty Moran announcing plans to spend up to $10 million to support
local farmers who might not be able to meet its new food safety
standards.
"It's important to us to support small- and medium-sized farmers
whenever we can. However, it may be difficult for some of our small
suppliers to meet our new food safety standards. But we're there
ready to help them," Mr. Moran said.
The funds could be used for safety support and education on the
new standards, as well as to offset the cost of some of the new
testing that is being put in place, he said.
For now, the rest of the meeting remains under wraps, though the
company did issue some tweets during the event. Many of the
comments in the tweets echoed ideas that had already been shared
with Wall Street in recent presentations.
Shares of Chipotle fell 3.5% to $444 early on Monday afternoon.
The stock had traded above $750 in October, before the food safety
issues drew headlines. Chipotle's fourth-quarter sales at
longstanding locations fell 14.6% following the food-borne illness
reports, which attracted attention in early November.
Here are a few of Monday's tweets:
Meanwhile, smaller rival Moe's Southwest Grill appeared to poke
fun at its competitor's closure on Monday with a song played by a
guy in a burrito costume, repeatedly singing "we're open all day,
February 8th."