Last
week Chipotle released their quarterly earnings report and it showed a decrease
in revenue of 23.4%.(2016)
After
a series of disease outbreaks last summer and fall, customers do not appear to
be rushing back. That surprised me as
many of the people I had spoken to had already gone back, choosing to believe
that it would never happen to them.
But,
it appears that Chipotle's most loyal users are not in such a hurry -- hence
the freebies.
Foursquare
Inc. analyzed traffic data from its location-sharing mobile apps (that in and
of itself is worth noting) and discovered that heavy users were actually 50%
more likely to stay away. Hmm. (Jargon, 2016)
Since
they were the most frequent visitors they could be concerned that they would be
more likely to get sick. Or is it a
trust issue - they never did identify the actual source of the outbreaks. And closing the stores for a day to tell
employees that they should wash their hands wasn't exactly reassuring. But, it also appears that some of the changes
that have been made to increase safety have negatively impacted taste.
Why do
I think that might be the real issue?
So now
the stores have gone back to slicing and dicing their own produce. And there was another store closing for two days in March.
Coincidence? Or maybe fresh foods are simply incompatible
with the fast food model.
(2016,
April 26) Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.
Announces First Quarter 2016 Results Chipotle
Investor Relations. Retrieved May, 6,
2016, from
Jargon,
J. (2016, April 25) Chipotle Banks on
Freebies. The Wall Street Journal. pB2
Whitehouse,
K. (2016, March 9) Chipotle store closed
for second day on norovirus fears. usatoday.com. Retrieved May 6, from
