Chipotle shares tank after actor Jeremy Jordan said he 'almost died' after eating at the chain

• "Supergirl" actor Jeremy Jordan says he was hospitalized after eating at a Chipotle.
• Representatives from Chipotle say they were able to identify the location but have not been notified of any other similar problems at that restaurant.

Chipotle founder, CEO Ells to step down

Nov. 29, 2017

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is looking for a new CEO.

The Denver Mexican restaurant chain (NYSE: CMG) said Steve Ells, who founded the company in 1993, will become executive chairman after a new CEO is found.

"It is clear that we need to move faster to make improvements. Simply put, we need to execute better to ensure our future success," Ells said.

Chipotle has been battered in the past few years; food-borne illness scandals roiled the company and sent the company's revenues spiraling.

The company's share price has plummeted from $749 in August 2015, before the illness outbreaks, to just under $302 today.

The company is slowly fighting back. Last month, the Denver Business Journal's Ed Sealover detailed Chipotle's efforts to rebound, such as adding the cheesy queso dip to its menu in the summer and experimenting with other new offerings.

But the company's stock has been hammered recently. In mid-March, Chipotle shares were trading near $500; on Tuesday, they closed at around $285.

Chipotle said the new CEO search will be led by board members Robin Hickenlooper (the wife of Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper) and Ali Namvar, as well as Ells.

"Steve made the decision, and the board agreed, that now is the right time to identify a new CEO who can reinvigorate the brand and help the company achieve its potential," said board member Neil Flanzraich, in a statement.

USA Today quoted Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData Retail, as saying that Ells' move is "the inevitable consequence of Chipotle's inability to get to grips with its various problems."

Chipotle's Outgoing CEO Will Need Shares to Soar to Get Payoff

December 1, 2017

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. founder Steve Ells, who announced plans this week to step down as chief executive officer, will be awarded stock options with an ambitious price target -- a sign the company has high hopes for its shares in the coming years.

Ells will get 175,000 options in January with an exercise price of $500 or the closing price on the date they’re granted -- whichever is bigger. The stock has slid 18 percent this year to $307.59 on Friday, meaning the shares will have to gain than 60 percent for the executive to see a payoff.

Even as Ells vacates the CEO role, he plans to remain closely involved with Chipotle, staying on as executive chairman. The company embarked on a search for a new leader on Wednesday after struggling to pull out of a two-year slump. Foodborne-illness outbreaks and other woes -- including a data breach -- have dogged the burrito chain, hammering its share price and reputation.

He can exercise the options 18 months after they’re granted, the Denver-based company said Friday in a regulatory filing. The securities will expire after five years, which is shorter than the usual seven- or 10-year life of options granted to public company executives.

Ells, who’ll remain CEO until a successor is found, will also receive a $900,000 base salary in his new role, down from $1.54 million, and be eligible for a $900,000 target annual bonus.

Another Chipotle restaurant is under investigation after customers complain of vomiting and diarrhea

Dec. 20, 2017

Public health officials are investigating a possible illness outbreak tied to a Los Angeles Chipotle restaurant.

In an email to Business Insider, the Los Angeles Health Department's Acute Communicable Disease Control unit, which investigates contagious illnesses and diseases, said the agency was "aware of reports of illness and is investigating."

The restaurant under investigation is at 4550 W. Pico Blvd. The health department did not immediately respond to questions about the nature or scope of the possible outbreak.

Chipotle said that it was aware of illness reports tied to that location but that it had not heard from any customers directly.

"We take any report of illness very seriously," said Chris Arnold, a Chipotle spokesman. "We are aware of three reports (two of which appear to be the same) on a user-generated reporting site, but there is no clinical validation associated with those reports, and we have not been contacted by customers directly to substantiate these claims."

He added: "As a precautionary measure, we have implemented heightened sanitization measures at this restaurant, which we do as a matter of policy if ever we receive reports of illness (even if they are not substantiated)."

Several people who said they recently ate at the Pico Boulevard Chipotle reported symptoms such as vomiting, diarrhea, and nausea to the website iwaspoisoned.com, which allows people to anonymously report suspected foodborne illnesses.

In total, five reports on the website indicate at least seven customers fell sick after eating there around December 13.

"My whole family and I ate at Chipotle two days before we started experiencing stomach pains and nausea," one person wrote. "It was constant vomiting every two hours and weakness. We all had burrito bowls with meat, beans, rice, and guac. The symptoms lasted for two days now. We're starting to feel better, but it was a very uncomfortable experience and we won't be going to Chipotle anymore after this."

Another customer said: "Ate there on Wednesday and symptoms started late the next day with nausea, stomach distress, diarrhea, and vomiting. I only linked it because a co-worker is having the same symptoms and that is what we had in common."

A similar cluster of illnesses tied to a Chipotle in Sterling, Virginia, was reported to the website in July, and Chipotle temporarily closed the restaurant as a result. Chipotle's shares dropped more than 7% on that news. Health officials later determined that norovirus, a highly contagious virus, was the source of the outbreak.

Norovirus is different from E. coli, the bacteria that two years ago sickened more than 50 people who had eaten at Chipotle restaurants in 14 states.

Chipotle's brand perception is worse than during the 2015 food-safety crisis

• UBS analyst Dennis Geiger says Chipotle's reputation for food safety is still tarnished.
• Customer reviews of Chipotle are now below what they were during Chipotle's 2015 crisis.
• More than a third of those polled by UBS said they ate Chipotle food less frequently because of safety concerns.

Published 54 Mins Ago

Chipotle Mexican Grill can't seem to put its food-safety woes behind it.

Shares of the burrito chain fell more than 4 percent on Thursday to below $311 after UBS analyst Dennis Geiger said the brand's food-safety reputation was still tarnished.

Geiger downgraded the brand to sell from neutral and slashed his price target to $290 from $345.

In partnership with the UBS Evidence Lab, Geiger analyzed online customer review scores and found that they have continued to decline and are now below what they were during Chipotle's food safety crisis in 2015.

"Despite aggressive efforts to improve brand perceptions through a new national advertising campaign and the launch of new products including queso recently, customer review scores have not shown any signs of improvement," he wrote in a research note.



"Chipotle's brand perceptions remain challenged and headline risk from potential future incidents remains elevated," Geiger wrote. "As a result, it remains unclear how long it will take for Chipotle brand perception to reach previous levels."

Earlier this week, shares of the burrito chain plummeted on anecdotal food-poisoning reports that surfaced on Twitter and the iwaspoisoned.com website, where people can report food poisoning incidents. At the time, representatives for Chipotle told CNBC they had not been informed of any widespread food-safety incidents.

According to Geigor, 37 percent of the more than 1,600 customers polled online by UBS said they ate Chipotle less frequently because of food safety concerns.



Chipotle is set to report fourth-quarter 2017 earnings after the bell on Feb. 6.

Chipotle earnings: Brand is still ailing from illness outbreaks

Feb 6, 2018

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. was downgraded at UBS ahead of the fourth-quarter earnings announcement based on concerns that the restaurant chain still has brand issues tied to illness-outbreak reports that began in 2015.

UBS analysis of about 137,500 online customer reviews shows that scores since 2010 have continued to fall to all-time lows.

“We remain concerned about deteriorating review trends and potential implications for the trajectory of sales,” analysts led by Dennis Geiger wrote in a note. “Heightened competition, a difficult industry environment, and brand perception challenges highlight risks to sales and earnings growth.”

Analysts also think Chipotle should slow the opening of new restaurants.

“Over the last five years, Chipotle’s cannibalization share increased about 450 basis points at a five-minute drive time and about 700 basis points at a 10-minute drive time,” UBS said. “This reflects increasing competition from Chipotle’s own store base."

Earnings: Chipotle is expected to report earnings per share of $1.32, according to FactSet, up from 55 cents last year. Estimize, which crowdsources estimates from sell-side and buy-side analysts, hedge-fund managers, executives, academics and others, expects per-share earnings of $1.34.

Revenue: FactSet analysts expect sales of $1.11 billion, up from $1.03 billion last year. Estimize expects sales of $1.12 billion. Chipotle has missed FactSet sales expectations the last two quarters.

FactSet expects same-store sales to grow 0.8%.

Other issues:

Analysts think the company has done damage to itself, as reports of illness outbreaks persist.

Analysts there also think recent price increases of about 5% to 7% could have an impact.

Chipotle Picks Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol to Be Its New Chief

Feb. 13, 2018 4:30 p.m. ET

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. on Tuesday will name Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol its next chief executive, tapping a fast-food veteran to try to revive the struggling burrito chain.

Mr. Niccol, 43 years old, has run Taco Bell for three years as the chain has been the most successful in the portfolio of Yum Brands Inc ., which also owns Pizza Hut and KFC . He will succeed Chipotle founder Steve Ells on March 5.

Mr. Ells said last year that he would step down as chief executive and become executive chairman to allow an outsider to address Chipotle’s struggles with food-safety problems and a decline in customer visits. Mr. Ells said Mr. Niccol’s “expertise in digital technologies, restaurant operations and branding make him a perfect fit for Chipotle.”

Mr. Niccol must also get along with Mr. Ells, who has been described by people who know him as a hands-on leader and a perfectionist. “I fully intend to have the new CEO be in charge,” Mr. Ells had said when Chipotle reported earnings earlier this month.

Mr. Niccol has experience turning around a brand with perception problems regarding quality. He helped revive Taco Bell’s image and financial performance after a disgruntled customer filed a lawsuit in 2011 alleging that its taco mixture was more filler than beef. The suit was withdrawn, but the publicity hurt Taco Bell’s reputation and sales.

As marketing and innovation chief of Taco Bell at the time, Mr. Niccol repositioned the chain as a youthful lifestyle brand. The company hired interns to handle the brand’s Twitter and Pinterest accounts, circulated a petition to create a taco emoji, created a taco lens on Snapchat and developed an ad showcasing photos of people posting Taco Bell food on Instagram.

Mr. Niccol aims to draw on that work at Chipotle, using social media to make the brand more youthful and culturally relevant, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Mr. Niccol is also known at Taco Bell for welcoming ideas from employees, including its restaurant workers. During a visit to a Taco Bell, he noticed employees using tortillas to make miniature wraps, which became the inspiration for Taco Bell’s crunchwrap sliders, he has told investors.

Also under Mr. Niccol’s watch, Taco Bell introduced breakfast, mobile ordering and payment, and hit products like Doritos Locos Tacos, Quesalupas and Nacho fries. Taco Bell also opened “Cantina” restaurants in urban markets to compete directly for Chipotle customers with open kitchens serving small bites and alcoholic beverages.

Some of those ideas earned him a reputation as a risk taker. That could help Chipotle win back the 75% of former Chipotle customers who now favor other fast-food brands, according to investment firm Cowen & Co.

Chipotle preview: Pickup shelves and catering expected to drive sales

July 26, 2018

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is scheduled to announce second-quarter earnings on Wednesday after the closing bell, and while analysts want details about the company’s turnaround, they’re already bullish about some of what they’ve heard.

“In our opinion, several of Chipotle’s same-restaurant sales initiatives hold promise – two of our favorites are expanded catering options and rapid pick-up for digital orders,” wrote Stifel analysts in a note published July 11.

The latest earnings announcement comes just a few weeks after a hotly-anticipated business update call that largely fell flat.

However, there were a couple of things that analysts latched onto: pickup shelves that Chief Executive Brian Niccol said “caused a double-digit increase in our digital sales within the first few weeks” when it was introduced in Denver; and catering.

Earnings: FactSet is guiding for earnings per share of $2.81, up from $2.32 last year. Estimize, which crowdsources estimates from sell-side and buy-side analysts, hedge-fund managers, executives, academics and others, expects earnings of $2.86 per share.

Chipotle beat earnings guidance the last two quarters.

Revenue: FactSet expect sales of $1.26 billion, up from $1.17 billion last year. Estimize expects revenue of $1.27 billion.

Chipotle beat sales guidance last quarter, but fell short the previous three.

Chipotle falls more than 3% after closing restaurant over reports of customer illnesses

July 30, 2018

- Chipotle closed down one of its restaurants in Powell, Ohio on Monday after several reports of customers becoming ill.
- At least nine people suffered from symptoms including nausea and fever after eating at the restaurant.

Nearly 400 reports of people getting sick after eating at Powell Chipotle

POWELL, Ohio —

UPDATE: As of 5 p.m. there have been 368 reports of people getting sick after eating at a Powell are Chipotle.

With a growing number of people reporting getting sick after eating at a Chipotle restaurant in Powell, Delaware County Health officials are asking people to reach out to them.

The Health Department says the number of reports of people getting sick jumped to more than 100 by noon Tuesday. Monday night, there were seven reports. People reporting getting sick say they ate at the Sawmill Parkway location over the weekend. The restaurant was closed Monday as health officials investigated the reports.

Chipotle earnings: Some analysts are bearish while others upgrade the stock

Published: Oct 23, 2018 4:17 p.m. ET

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is scheduled to report third-quarter earnings on Thursday after the closing bell, and analysts differ on the fast-casual chain’s prospects for this quarter and moving forward.

On the bearish side, there are those like Wedbush analysts who expect a same-store sales miss. The FactSet consensus is for 5% same-store sales growth. Chipotle has beaten the FactSet same-store sales consensus the last three quarters.

And the UBS Evidence Lab analysis of customer reviews shows a decline after reports of a food-related illness incident in July.

And for the bulls, there was an RBC Capital Markets upgrade on Monday, with analysts led by David Palmer moving shares to outperform from sector perform and raising the price target to $510 from $450.

While RBC expects lackluster third-quarter results, they’re optimistic about same-store sales growth further down the line.

“Our survey work demonstrates significant upside from menu and digital/delivery opportunities – and we believe this management team will increasingly execute against these in 2019,” the note said. “While we expect quarter-to-quarter sales volatility throughout this turnaround, we believe new management will grow same-store sales.”

Earnings: Chipotle is expected to report earnings of $2.02 per share, according to FactSet, up from $1.33 last year. Estimize expects $2.08 per share. Chipotle has beaten FactSet’s earnings expectations the last three quarters.

Revenue: FactSet expects revenue of $1.23 billion, up from $1.13 billion in the same period last year. Estimize forecasts revenue of $1.24 billion. Chipotle beat the FactSet revenue consensus the last two quarters, but missed for the three quarters prior.

Chipotle shares drop as company misses same-store sales estimate

Here's what the company reported compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on a survey of analysts by Refinitiv:
.

• Adjusted earnings: $2.16 per share vs. $2.00 per share
• Revenue: $1.23 billion, in line with estimates
• Same-store sales: 4.4 percent growth overall vs. 5 percent growth

Net income rose 3.1 percent to $38.2 million, or $1.36 per share, up from $19.6 million, or $0.69 per share a year ago. Excluding items, the company earned $2.16 per share, topping estimates of $2.00 per share, according to Refinitiv.

Revenue rose 8.6 percent to $1.23 billion, inline with what Wall Street had expected.

Same-store sales rose 4.4 percent, weaker than the 5 percent analysts has expected.