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Chipotle Case Study
Rachel Struxness

Facts

On October 31, authorities in Oregon and Washington announced an investigation into
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. in response to evidence of a food-borne illness. On the same day,
Chipotle voluntarily closed 43 restaurants in the area and began conducting an internal
investigation. On November 9, Washington health officials announced they were unable to
identify the specific source of the E. coli. On November 11, Chipotle reopened the stores they
voluntarily closed after deep cleaning the restaurants and ordering new ingredients. On
November 20, the CDC announced the E. coli outbreak had spread to six states and affected 42
people nationally.

Chipotle used social media and public statements to keep the general public informed
about the outbreak and the measures Chipotle took to ensure the safety of its customers. On
November 20 Chipotle updated its Food Safety Update page on its website. The page includes
several paragraphs with the most current information and what Chipotle is doing about it. The
next sections address what happened, what actions Chipotle has taken, and FAQ. Founder and
Co-CEO Steve Ells also released a public statement including an apology to all those affected
and a promise to make things right. Chipotle promoted the information page on its website on
its Twitter and Facebook. The restaurant replied to all tweets from concerned customers but
did not reply to comments on its Facebook page. Chipotle took drastic measures, including the
voluntary closure of restaurants, conducting thousands of tests, throwing away potentially
contaminated food and reevaluating sanitization procedures.

Analysis

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Chipotle fell on the sword by profoundly apologizing to its customers and remaining
communicative and transparent during the investigation. Rather than blaming a third party
food vendor for providing them with contaminated ingredients or denying responsibility,
Chipotle conducted investigations and sought to make things right with affected customers.
When no cause was immediately identified, Chipotle explained: [] there are many past
incidents at other food companies whose cause has never been determined. This is primarily
due to the gap in time between when ingredients are eaten and when illnesses arise. This
statement suggests that it is not abnormal for an E. coli outbreak to occur in a restaurant, and
strategically reduces the blame from Chipotle alone. The verbiage used in all of Chipotles
statements suggests that Chipotle is going above and beyond in its response to the outbreak.
Words such as additional, voluntarily, conducting, response, priority and apologize
are all used in the page and letter from Steve Ells. These words all imply an offensive and
proactive response rather than a defensive reaction.

Strengths:
Posted regularly on Facebook, Twitter and Website with current information about the
E. coli outbreak, establishing transparency and willingness to cooperate with
investigation
Engaged with followers on Twitter and directed them to appropriate resources if they
claimed to feel unwell from eating at Chipotle.
Made the response feel human rather than corporate with a letter from the CEO
New procedures implemented will likely prevent future outbreaks from occurring

Weaknesses:
More cases discovered in six states in mid to late November after the Oregon and
Washington restaurants had been reopened.
No cause was identified after investigations.
No responses to customers on Facebook, so posts, questions and complaints with
incorrect information were left unanswered.
According to BrandIndex, Chipotles buzz score underwent a decline by 19 points in
the weeks following the incident, which is considered a steep decline.

Opportunities:
A salmonella outbreak in imported cucumbers has affected 838 people, which takes
some of the attention off the E. coli outbreak.
Chipotle already brands itself as food with integrity, so the responses to this incident
reinforce its branding.
New procedures to check food for contaminants might rival competitors food safety
protocol, which would make customers happy

Threats:
With each outbreak spread out over the month, the story has stayed in the news cycle
for longer than a singular outbreak would

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According to Investors Business Daily, competitor restaurant Paneras stock went up

after Chipotles E. coli outbreak was announced
Chipotle has not taken a broad enough approach to reassure customers their food is not
contaminated, and people who do not follow the restaurant on social media may lose
faith in the restaurant.

Recommendations

Chipotle has begun the recovery from the E. coli outbreak by establishing transparency
and issuing a promise to ensure the safety of its customers. From this, Chipotle needs to take
action to permanently improve its food safety standards. According to Jon Entine, writer for
Business Digest, fast food chain Jack in the Box experienced a bacteria epidemic in its food that
killed three customers. It saved its integrity by hiring a microbiologist as VP of quality assurance
and product safety. This showed Jack in the Box customers that the brand was dedicated to a
long-term change in the way food safety was handled.
Chipotle should take on a similar long-term plan. The implementation of both a long
term plan for higher food quality assurance and an accompanying PR campaign to publicize this
should occur immediately. Unlike other restaurants in the fast food industry such as
McDonalds and Burger King, Chipotle has a non-traditional marketing strategy, which focuses
on the farm-to-table sentiment of Chipotles food with minimal mainstream TV commercials.
Chipotle should not change this strategy, but rather capitalize on the ways it stands out in the
industry, and promote the message that they do things differently, specifically in its food
quality assurance procedures.

According to Millennial Marketing and Bruce Horowitz of USA Today, Millennials are the
target market of Chipotle. Twitter, Instagram and YouTube are all viable platforms for this
audience, which is why Chipotle should rely on these platforms to reach its customers. Also
according to Millennial Marketing, this demographic is very interested in food and cooking as a
hobby. Because Chipotle has already fallen on the sword, it may be beneficial to create a
message that says We messed up in our food safety, and we want to teach you what weve
learned so you can practice safe food preparation in your own kitchen. This could include tips
about meat temperature or how to wash produce. This would continue transparency and
transform Chipotle into the leading brand for food safety, which would change the attitude of
consumers after the E. coli incident lowered brand trust.