Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. has a new game online, a new executive director of food safety on payroll, a new public relations firm in New York City and new ways of cooking its food away from its restaurants. Now all it needs is new sales. Keeping with corporate promises about transparency in the wake of six foodborne illness outbreaks in the last six months of 2015, the Denver-based burrito chain’s executives revealed projections for the first quarter of this year recently. They said the good news was that sales across their 2,000 restaurants in February were down only 26 percent compared to 2015. The bad news was that sales in January this year were down more than 36 percent compared with 2015. The worse news was that the executives expect the chain to post its first quarterly loss since going public in 2006 when the hard numbers are in for early 2016. Chipotle stock is expected to log a loss of about a dollar per share for the first quarter, compared with about $3.80 on the plus side for the first quarter of 2015 The new brain on the block Among the top executives at Chipotle now is James Marsden, known for his research work with meat.
“We are not stepping back from anything. Any changes we may make to our food safety programs will be changes for the better,” said Chipotle’s communications director. He did not respond to requests for details. One thing Chipotle is stepping away from is fully cooking meat at the individual store level. The steak used in its burritos, bowls and tacos will now be cooked at centralized kitchens and sent to individual restaurants in bags. At the store level the meat will be marinated and seared, according to Chipotle officials’ recent statements to some media. Three strikes and you win To help get the word out and the customers in, Chipotle recently hired New York City public relations firm Burson-Marsteller, known for its expertise with Facebook and YouTube campaigns. Chipotle is hoping to snag customers with a new guacamole-themed online media game, “Guac Hunter.” It follows mass mailings and text message deals for free burritos, which company officials partly blamed for poor sales numbers. The game launches March 21 and is set to run through April 10. Skill level isn’t as important as persistence in the Chipotle game, which rewards three failed mobile attempts by a player with a free coupon. (To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)