Thursday, December 10, 2015

Dear Chipotle: Would you like some crow with that karma?

By Angela Bowman


Consumers are literally sick of hypocritical restaurant giant Chipotle – and so are America’s farmers and ranchers.

Earlier this week, at least 120 Boston College students contracted norovirus after eating at a nearby Chipotle restaurant – the incident marks the restaurant’s fourth foodborne illness outbreak this year.
So, to put this into perspective, in 2015:
  • Chipotle has sickened more than 300 people;
  • GMOs, on the other hand, have sickened 0 people.
So much for “Food with Integrity,” Chipotle’s main slogan plastered across their billboards, website and social media accounts.

To make matters even worse for Chipotle, according to Fortune magazine, the hypocritical food titan blames the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and media, especially concerning their E. coli nightmare.

Naturally!

“Because the media likes to write sensational headlines, we can probably see when somebody sneezes that they’re going to say, ‘Ah, it’s E. Coli from Chipotle’ for a little bit of time,” Chief Financial Officer Jack Hartung told reporters an investor conference this week.
The blame is falling on deaf ears though. A poll by YouGov Brand Index, which interviews 4,500 people daily, showed Chipotle's brand perception index plummeting from a 6.5 on Oct. 31 to -15.7 on Nov. 15.

Chipotle has warned its same-store sales could fall this quarter for the first time in company history – all because of the outbreaks. The company is anticipating a decline between 8 percent and 11 percent. Analysts expect these same-store sales to slump through at least June 2016.

Read, “Chipotle's nightmare is just beginning”

For America’s farmers and ranchers, however, the response is poetic justice after years of attacks from Chipotle. From its 2013 “Scarecrow” advertisement to the four-part 2014 “Farmed and Dangerous” satire, Chipotle made it loud and clear it doesn’t stand with most of America's farmers and ranchers.

 

No comments: