Chipotle closing all stores February 8th for food safety training

All U.S. Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. restaurants-including two located in Long Beach-will be closed for part of the day on February 8 for a national food safety meeting, Chipotle officials said.

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.

Chipotle indicated last week that the federal authorities were pursuing a criminal case. He said Chipotle is planning to lure back customers with a new marketing campaign in February.

This video includes images from Getty Images. The meeting is to mark a new start for the company's new food safety program invented to prevent the problems that plagued the company past year. Several weeks later, norovirus sickened dozens at a Chipotle in Boston. In August, nearly 100 were sickened by norovirus after eating at an outlet in Simi Valley, California, and in September more than 60 became sick in Minnesota.

The chain had expected comparable restaurant sales (those at restaurants that have been open for at least 13 months) to fall by as much as 11 percent for the quarter ending Dec. 31, but revised the outlook, saying they are now slated to tumble by almost 15 percent. It announced it hired a food safety expert, instituted "high resolution testing" of produce before it is shipped to stores and more testing of food at restaurants, and updated and improved its food handling training.

State health officials blamed that outbreak on contaminated tomatoes and the chain switched suppliers to stop the outbreak. The third E. coli outbreak happened before the others and was not made public.

The WSJ also reported that executives said no customers have reported sickness since last November and that Chipotle founder and co-Chief Executive Steve Ells said he's confident the chain will win back its customers.

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