WHEN ARE YOU GOING BACK TO CHIPOTLE????
2:05 PM
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"I'll take 3 tacos, 2 chicken and one Veggie Please!"
Man I haven't said that is so long. Thats because back in October/November of 2015 people claimed that they were getting sick with E. Coli from Chipotle. When I heard the news I didn't want to believe it. NO not Chipotle! Chipotle was one of my favorite places to eat. It was my wife and my default place to eat when we couldn't figure out where else to go. So you know we ate there quite a bit. But this would all stop for fear of getting sick. I mean people were hospitalized! They were even closing restaurants in the Pacific Northwest. I felt so strongly about not going to chipotle that I didn't even use my 3 free burrito/taco or burrito bowl cards that I had received. It was a shame. When I got them I was so pumped! I was visualizing me walking in and ordering my food and hitting the cashier with my free meal cards. But that didn't happen at all. Instead I let them expire. What a shame!
After I got over the initial shock of the news I thought this might be a set up by those GMO pushers trying to get back at them from announcing that they weren't going to be providing food that was Genetically Modified. And no evidence of where the strand of E. Coli same from, something wasn't right. Then there was news that dog and cat remains were found in their factory. I never believed this one for one second. With all this news coming out, Chipotle shares were falling fast and they needed to do something and do something fast. They responded to all this by adding additional deep cleaning, replacing ingredients and providing supply chain data to the investigators that were snooping around.
My wife and I would play alittle game when we'd drive past Chipotles. We would guess how many people would be in each restaurant as we passed by. I would usually go with 3 and she would say 2 or 3. Then we would drive past and see that there would be 2 or 3 people in the restaurant or sometimes even no customers. It was a weird sight to see because usually every Chipotle would have a line of faithful customers waiting to get their chipotle fix on.
Today Chipotle has closed its doors at all their locations until 3pm Pacific time in order to train all employees on food safety. CEO Steve Ells will field questions from employees during this meeting. The meeting is going to cover Chipotle's "From Farm to Fork" safety program which they implemented in January. Some of the things that they will be going over are, DNA-based testing of ingredients before they’re shipped to restaurants, and some changes in food preparation protocols. Now the chain will cut/wash their tomatoes, lettuce and cheese at a central location instead of their previous practice of doing these task at each individual restaurant. They will also be blanching their avocados, onions and limes. And will explore new ways to marinate their steak and chicken. Hopefully implementing all this will see a return in the Chipotle faithful.
As for me, I have not decided when I will make my return to one of my favorite places. My parents have already gone back, going on Saturday night. They said the food was great and they aren't sick after eating it. LOL! Those are good signs to me. I must admit that I have been craving my 3 tacos and those amazing tortilla chips and the feeling seems to be getting stronger with each passing week. Sooooooo, I'm guessing it won't be too long before you see me and my wife back stuffing our faces with Chipotle. When I do return, I will be sure to post a photo, letting you all know that I went back and didn't get sick hopefully. (fingers crossed)
Let me know if and when you are planning on going back to eating Chipotle. And let me know what you order when you do go back.
Thanks for your time!
3 comments
Great writing, great read, I need my pork quesadilla.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jay! I appreciate you stopping by.
DeleteI'm sticking with Chick-Fil-A for now until I start seeing full restaurants again and no reports of getting sick.
ReplyDelete