Chipotle's Food-Safety Crisis May Be Over But the Stock Is Still Way Down
- Sales haven’t recovered as marketing spending gets a boost
- ‘They’re going to have to find a different way to operate’
Chipotle: The Complete History in About Three Minutes
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Maybe Chipotle just needs to grow up.
Before what’s obliquely referred to as the food-safety issues -- the norovirus, E. coli and salmonella contaminations that sickened about 500 diners between July 2015 and December -- Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. was a superstar that flouted some big-company norms. The investor relations team, for example, consisted of a single employee, working the IR job half-time to boot, and ad spending was sparing. But no problem, revenue grew an average 22 percent annually, and the stock kept climbing.