Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG) Stock Is Virtually Un-Ownable Now
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It finally looked like Tex-Mex eatery Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) had shaken off the adverse impact of its late-2015 E. coli debacle. And then, something came along to remind consumers — and owners of CMG stock — that Chipotle’s problems are anything but in the past.
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On Tuesday, the corporation temporarily closed a Sterling, Virginia, location in response to reports that several patrons who had recently eaten there had contracted the norovirus.
Details are still sketchy, but the evidence gathered thus far is damning enough in itself. Investors are now forced to wonder if it’s even possible for Chipotle Mexican Grill to separate itself from food-safety concerns.
Here We Go Again
If it seems oddly familiar, it may be because it was only in October 2015 that Chipotle was found to be the source of a major E. coli outbreak that ultimately infected more than 50 people in nine different states. That helped accelerate what would be a nearly 50% rout in CMG stock that was initially triggered by disappointing Q3 earnings in mid-October.
While it may be a flippant extreme to chalk it up to “it happens,” in Chipotle’s defense, its insistence on serving up fresh ingredients means its sources its food as locally as possible. Such an arrangement makes oversight and inspection difficult, if not impossible.
To its credit, CMG went through a major overhaul to combat food-borne illness as much as possible. But it didn’t do itself any favors on other fronts. Namely, rather than fix the mistake and ask for forgiveness, Chipotle’s legal team opted to somehow blame the Center for Disease Control for the poor publicity of the matter.
This go-around is different than the 2015 nightmare, though.
This time, the culprit appears to be norovirus, which is a distinctly different bug than E. coli … not that the difference makes it any more reassuring to consumers. Norovirus is primarily spread because of poor hygiene, particularly when it comes to bathroom usage.
To date, at least 13 customers of the Sterling store are known to have developed an illness after eating there on July 14 or 15. Chipotle was pegged as the source after several of them posted an update at www.iwaspoisoned.com and the common thread was determined.
The company’s PR team responded just as unapologetically and as oblivious as it had in the past, commenting, “The reported symptoms are consistent with norovirus. Norovirus does not come from our food supply, and it is safe to eat at Chipotle.” This ignores the fact that unwashed hands make it anything but safe to eat at its restaurants.