Chipotle Aftermath: Quality vs. Safety?

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>>8192559
>Because of Ells’s high standards and insistence upon preparing pork and some beef through time-consuming techniques such as braising, Chipotle has had to employ the same third-party, industrial-scale "central kitchens" that work with fast-food giants such as McDonald’s and Subway. The term is sort of a euphemism Chipotle uses for these outside partners, which help the company handle, distribute, and even source some of its ingredients.

>Central kitchens took over precooking steak in March. It would now be reheated at the restaurants. The company considered having its chicken, which constitutes 55% of sales, precooked at these outside facilities but concluded it wasn’t logistically feasible.

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>>8192563
>In January, not long before Chipotle’s stock dropped below $400, the company sent managers a new "Food Safety Rollout Guide" to highlight the changes that would be phased into Chipotle’s supply chain. The week of January 4, the guide said, fresh oregano would be replaced with a dried alternative.

>On January 11, the company introduced blanching of produce: Chipotle’s lemons, limes, onions, avocados, and jalapeños would now be plopped into 185-degree water for five seconds—a so-called kill step that eliminates pathogens. By January 16, bags of the precut lettuce and bell peppers, now chopped at central kitchens with samples tested in laboratories, arrived at all Chipotle restaurants.

>Internally, however, Ells and Moran soon began doubting the very food-safety practices they were touting.. They tell me that the taste of the lettuce and bell peppers suffered markedly due to being prepared off-site. "The quality wasn’t what it was," Moran says. "Customers thought we went to iceberg lettuce. That broke our hearts."

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>>8192569
>All the changes alarmed many employees. On a practical level, if more preparation was happening in central kitchens, some feared their labor would no longer be needed. They were not wrong. "We started cutting their hours," says a former general manager. "People took pride in cutting bell peppers and lettuce. When we took that away, morale started getting lower." (Hartung, the CFO, tells me that the company did not reduce its hours as much as it could have given how steeply same-store sales declined.)

>"'What’s the difference between Taco Bell and Chipotle?’ The difference is you pay much less at Taco Bell."

>"It’s not fresh anymore!" says a source familiar with Chipotle’s food-safety program. "Sooner or later someone is going to say, ‘What’s the difference between Taco Bell and Chipotle?’ The difference is you pay much less at Taco Bell. The tomatoes, the lettuce—they’re all coming from the same place. Taco Bell is [precooking] your meat and now Chipotle is too. There is no distinction."

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>>8192574
>Local sourcing has been among the casualties of the E. coli outbreak. Ells, citing safety concerns, says the company has cut its dependence on these local growers—by as much as 83%. Curious how the company determines what sources count as "local," I ask whether that one-tenth seasonal produce figure could include Taylor Farms (one of the world’s largest lettuce suppliers) if there’s a Chipotle restaurant within 350 miles. Ells says, "I don’t think so," and Moran adds that the program is not really for large producers and promises to get me a specific answer. Arnold ultimately confirms that Taylor Farms could qualify. "Correct," he writes via email. "Proximity is the determining factor for our local produce program, not farm size."

>For some of these smaller purveyors, which substantially ramped up production to meet Chipotle’s demand, the lost revenue has materially affected their businesses. "Chipotle went around to all the suppliers and they just tore those places apart looking for [traces of] foodborne illness," one supplier tells me. "Everybody came up clean, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t damaged [from the lost sales]."

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>>8192577
>Jim Marsden, the executive food-safety director, says the company has also added a number of pasteurization methods, including "high-hydrostatic pressure processing (HPP)," which essentially sterilizes food such as chorizo by blasting it with 87,000 pounds of water pressure for three minutes. (This practice takes place at specialized, off-site facilities that can support these 85-ton HPP machines.) Marsden boasts that Chipotle is now an industry leader in the practice, though, he admits, it’s long been used for "things like sliced turkey breast, prepared salads, usually foods that are in the ready-to-eat category."

>An FDA report on HPP says the process results in changes that are usually "undesirable because the food will appear to be processed and no longer fresh or raw." Arnold says that chorizo has been well received. Chipotle has since rolled it out to restaurants nationwide.

>That said, Miniat is the only central kitchen that allowed me inside—only at Ells’s request—and even then, the company doesn’t allow photographs of its facilities.

>Sanitizing this place, for example, requires the "Miniat Elite," a 64-person team, which, each night over the course of seven hours, rinses and washes every single inch of the facility (including all 975 disassembled parts of the Injector) and cleans up 12 tons of goopy carcass remains, grease, and oil, using 52,000 gallons of water in the process.

>Although McDonald’s relies on a similarly centralized model, Chipotle supporters contend that the chain has higher-quality ingredients and preparation standards.

There's a lot more, but it seems like eating out is now is a compromised experience between mediocre bland meals and food poisoning and Chipotle is learning that the hard way unless you pay out the nose.

I don't see how this ends well for them or the chain franchises at large long-term.

You know, these things happen and yet I never hear about anyone I know or anyone that they know having this actually happen to them. How many people were affected?

>>8192615
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipotle_Mexican_Grill#Food_safety
>In early November 2015, The Oregonian reported that there was a little-known E. coli outbreak that had occurred earlier in July in which five persons were infected with the O157:H7 strain of E. coli.

>In a January 2016 article, the New York Times reported that the number of victims involved in the Simi Valley norovirus outbreak was actually 207, twice the number that was reported earlier

>At almost the same time as the Simi Valley norovirus outbreak, Minnesota health officials confirmed a Salmonella outbreak that affected 17 Minneapolis-area Chipotle restaurants in mid-August 2015. Later, the state officials reported that the total of persons who became infected was increased to 64 and the number Chipotle locations in which they had acquired the bacterium was increased to 22, all located within the state of Minnesota

>On February 1, 2016, the CDC official closed their investigations on the larger E. coli that started in Pacific Northwest in October 2015 and also the smaller outbreak that started in Kansas and Oklahoma in November since no new cases were reported since December 1. In their final report, the CDC stated that 55 persons in 11 states were infected with the same strain of STEC O26 during the major outbreak with 21 of those persons requiring hospitalization. The five persons infected in the later outbreak were made ill by a generically different strain of STEC O26.

>Boston Globe reported on December 10 that 141 persons were reported to have gotten ill and that some of the newer victims had not visited Chipotle before contracting the virus and most likely became infected by being in close proximity to someone who had gotten ill at Chipotle, such as a roommate or dorm-mate.

>>8192638

Ahh, thanks for the answer.

[spoiler]You're pretty unusually dedicated. I honestly think you're some kinda stealth marketer but it probably pays well, so I ain't mad[/spoiler]

Quite an interesting in depth article. I wonder how often other chains experience similar problems.

They're not such a big chain here in the UK. Does their food actually taste noticeably better than the fast food chains that they contrast themselves to?

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>>8192649
I wish I got paid to do this sorta thing.
Food safety is my pet hobby. If you're interested, browse here for updated recalls and outbreak info:
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/

>>8192672
>Does their food actually taste noticeably better than the fast food chains that they contrast themselves to?
I wouldn't know as I'm a beans 'n rice-tier poorfag that can't afford to eat out.
>I wonder how often other chains experience similar problems.
The impression I got from the article is that this issue was specific to Chipotle whose in-house produce prep environment and partially-decentralized sourcing was highly-susceptible to contamination. Other larger chains which are all basically middlemen for giant suppliers like SysCo & US Foods have the logistics and safety of their inventories locked more firmly down.

This same tension between industrial and natural food products with regards to safety is showcased in a few articles this year on "Triple-washed" lettuce and how people that do it themselves at home using a whole head, knife, and kitchen sink get sick more often.
http://www.businessinsider.com/washing-bagged-salad-produce-triple-washed-2016-7
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2016/04/why_are_salad_greens_always_labeled_triple_washed.html

>>8192589
>There's a lot more, but it seems like eating out is now is a compromised experience between mediocre bland meals and food poisoning and Chipotle is learning that the hard way unless you pay out the nose.
>I don't see how this ends well for them or the chain franchises at large long-term.
How do other places do it then? Like burger joints? Don't a few of those get locally grown stuff and chop their own veggies and so forth?

>>8192672
>Does their food actually taste noticeably better than the fast food chains that they contrast themselves to?
I haven't eaten at one in a really long time, but in 2004-8 when I had one at my college campus, it was fairly good tasting stuff for the money. I used to get a burrito bowl and it had nice chicken and veggies. It always gave me the shits though, there was even a south park episode about how chipotle gives you the shits even though it tastes good.

>>8192672
Their food is 10x the quality of traditional fast food like McDonald's, Taco Bell, Subway, etc. They call it "fast casual"

A Chipotle opened up at a mall near me. I can bike over there within 10 minutes. It doesn't taste as good as I remember Chipotle tasting a couple years ago though. Sounds about right, that they would go through a drop in quality in favor of safety. It's not too bad though, and decently cheap so I still eat there somewhat rarely.

>>8192978
If I was kept in a news vacuum I would have thought the company cut quality in order to preserve profits. As in they are using cheaper ingredients.
Of course I am not in a vacuum but the end result is the same: The food is not as good as it once was. Also as a result of making the food more prepared is the food is even saltier. It was already salty but now it is an actual inhibitor of taste.

>>8192989
Their food was 10x the taste, now the lines have blurred a lot. Some things like the tortillas are superior, yes. But the rice and beans and vegetables? Not enough to justify the price. Their meats taste better but that is because they spice the shit out of it not because the meat itself is any better.
I went to a qudoba for the first time in years last week. I was shocked to realize how similar the foods between it an chiptole were so similar now. Except qudoba is 25% cheaper and offers more flexible options.

The brand needs to find its identity fast. They keep sending me free vouchers which is the only reason I go. I see no reason why I should go otherwise.

>>8192999
How did you get on the free voucher list?

>>8192999
>Not enough to justify the price
A burrito costs less than a bag of grease combo meal at any of the major burger joints

>>8193009
It was just a direct mail campaign the local owners gave out. I still have one left. It is thicker then a note card, super fancy. Will give a pic later.

>>8193010
Those combo meals include a side a drink. That burrito you list does not include either. Also, here, a combo meal at a fast food place is ~5-7 dollars. You pay ~7-8 just for the burrito. With drink you are approaching 10. This has occurred over several states I have seen while traveling.

>>8193014
Drink water. It's good for you.

>>8193014
I agree...which makes comparing a combo meal for one place to the standard item at another place even more useless. If you go without a combo you can eat at a fast food place for less then 3 dollars.

>>8193014
>grease combo meal

>Unfortunately, a new study in The New York Times found that the "typical" Chipotle order (a meat burrito with cheese, salsa, lettuce, sour cream, rice, and beans) has a little more than 1,000 calories, includes almost a full day's worth of sodium, and 75 percent of your daily recommended amount of saturated fat.
http://www.cosmopolitan.com/food-cocktails/news/a36622/chipotle-calories-sodium-guac-is-extra/

N

>>8193014
$1 more is worth it to not eat mcdolans tier food and drink water like an adult

>>8193014
>"typical" Chipotle order (a meat burrito with cheese, salsa, lettuce, sour cream, rice, and beans) has a little more than 1,000 calories
No wonder Americans are so fat and disgusting

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>>8193030
>a cheap burger costs 1.50
>a fast casual burger costs 3.95
>chiptole costs 7-8 dollars

>better to pay 1 dollar more and be an adult

>>8193050

Given the fact that the burrito contains far more food than either of the other options, yeah, makes a lot of sense.

If you want to compare the burrito to burgers it's best compared to a big fancy one, not something off the dollar menu.

>>8193050
Did you really compare a tiny dollar menu item to a Chipotle burrito, you fucking retard

Chipotle is for suburb scum. Inoffensive Americanized Mexican for white people who live in franchise ghettos.

Reminder not to reply to shitposters.

>>8193063
>franchise ghettos
What a good way to accurately sum up my problem with suburbia
thanks anon

>hire shit-tier employees who can't cook
>hire morons and diversity shits
>don't pay competitively

Chipotle has two issues, hiring and image. Their food safety was fine. They served what, multiple millions of people and 5 got e.coli from ONE specific restaurant? That's not a problem with your system, it's a problem with your employees.

Going back on their promises of quality is going to kill them.

Oh well !