Chipotle Eats Itself – IOTW Report

Chipotle Eats Itself

Monday, 17 October 2016, 19:30 MJA Uncategorized 22

FastCompany: Chipotle’s annual shareholder meeting on May 11 was set to be a doozy. Angry activists and investors were poised to unload on the restaurant chain’s co-CEOs, Steve Ells and Monty Moran.

Chipotle co-CEOs Steve Ells and Monty Moran [Photos: João Canziani (Steve Ells); Benjamin Rasmussen (Monty Moran)]
Chipotle co-CEOs Steve Ells and Monty Moran [Photos: João Canziani (Steve Ells); Benjamin Rasmussen (Monty Moran)]
Just two weeks prior, Chipotle had reported a $26.4 million quarterly loss—its first in a decade as a public company—following a high-profile E. coli outbreak and several subsequent food-safety incidents. Nearly one-third of restaurant sales had disappeared, and the stock had sunk by 30%. An attempt to shake up the company’s board of directors was almost certain, reports said. Its “failures,” as one major investment adviser had phrased it, “damaged the brand and erased billions in shareowner value.” Ten billion dollars since its peak, to be precise.

I arrive at Denver’s Grand Hyatt hotel shortly before 8 a.m. The meeting space, a windowless conference room, is surprisingly small and awkwardly intimate, with just three rows of nine chairs facing a cloth-draped table. Apparently, this is standard for Chipotle’s annual meetings, as is the fact that the proceedings are closed to the press. (I find my way inside by showing that a mutual fund in my 401(k) includes Chipotle shares.) As board member Kimbal Musk strides to the front row, he surveys the tiny room and jokes to another director about how this setting pales in comparison to the elaborate events that his brother, Elon, throws for Tesla’s shareholder meetings.

Ells and Moran march in minutes later and take their seats at the table. “Good morning,” Ells says, coffee in hand. Moran quickly runs through the agenda and other formalities. He soon opens the floor to questions. One of Chipotle’s harshest critics, CtW Investment Group’s Michael Pryce-Jones, stands and berates the company’s CEOs for nearly two minutes. “You’ve gone from a beloved brand to one that’s been unprecedentedly abandoned,” he scolds. Comparing their recent blunders with Volkswagen’s emissions scandal and BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, he implores the board to “seriously consider resignations.”

The two CEOs remain stone-faced. Moran replies, “I think the best plan of action for us at this point is to focus like a laser on the things that have made Chipotle so popular over the years, most notably running terrific restaurants with great food and great customer service.” He tries to move on to another question, but Pryce-Jones interjects to press his case again. Moran shoots him a grave look and cuts him off, saying: “That’s the answer.”

The tongue-lashings continue.  MORE

22 Comments on Chipotle Eats Itself

  1. Chitpotle is nothing more than a rip-off. I can go to my favorite hold-in-the-wall taco joint and have three very fresh tacos, rice, beans and a drink for about a third of the price. And it tastes much fresher. BTW, I have never gotten sick from eating at my local joint and neither has anyone I know.

  2. I read that whole article and found it very difficult not to hurl at some of the projections made by the writer of this article. They called chipotle food with a conscience and able to save the world? They are owned by McDonald’s for frigs sake!

  5. I remember eating there a few years ago and reading leftist drivel printed all over the bag. I never went back.
    I agree with the first comment, above… local places are always better.

  7. I always try a place twice, to give them a fair shot.
    I’m not the type of person who judges people on their looks (until they say something stupid and that opens the door. heh.) but I’ve gone to Chipoodle twice and on the second time, I was served by a guy (I think) who looked ill, scratches on his arm, had some sort of nail polish on and some sort of sore on his mouth. Yeah, they didn’t wear plastic gloves. And a month after that, the eColi mess started. Ugh. Never again. The food wasn’t good anyway.

    I go to Baja Fresh or a hole in the wall Mexican joint that serves actual Mexican food, not some bullshit manhattan twist on Mexican food. Pfft.

  9. It’s a small point but Chipoli is not owned by McDonalds. Only 5 institutions own more than 3% of the company and only 1.58% of the shares are held by “all insider and 5% owners” according to Yahoo Finance. (That number is confusing) but 596 institutions own 93.88% of the float. The article is about “activists” who don’t own any shares who are there to demand management quit because sometimes, a tiny tiny subset of the millions of people who ate there came down with a stomach cramp. That article goes on and on and on about nothing. I couldn’t even skim the whole thing.

    What is interesting is that it is trading for 56.81 X this years earnings. It will take and investor 56.81 years to earn their investment back at that rate. Of course the stock is falling. It is ludicrously expensive as an investment. Only a leftist with leftist math skills would own it (hence all those institutions)

  14. In the summer of 2013 I ate a burrito bowl at a Shitpotle. Then came the cyclosporiasis which was probably in the lettuce. There was an outbreak in the midwest and linked to lettuce at Chipotle and Olive Garden. The lettuce supplier was identified. They provided lettuce from Mexico to various chain restaurants. Unfortunately the restaurant sources could not be nailed down 100%.

    Even with Bactrim antibiotic the symptoms lasted 2 months. I thought my intestines were disintegrating. It took 3 months to feel normal again.
    Never again.

  17. Ate there a long time ago.
    Cilantro is an aromatic herb. It does not please everybody.
    Especially when you ask the hipster with the Easter Island earrings not to put any on your food, but they know better.
    Local grub and Trump for President!

  18. Learn from this people, the Shareholders meetings are more influential than you think. If you want to embarrass a CEO (which they completely hate), go ask a a controversial question at a Shareholders meeting.

    This is one strategy a Constitutional Conservative group can use against the media. Buy some shares, go to the annual meeting, ask controversial questions about their media coverage. Trust me, the shit will hit the fan in Corporate (though you may not see it in the press). ABC, NBC, and CBS can be influence if the stock price is remotely threatened. This stock price is their “Bread and Butter” and tied to bonuses.

    P.S. Shareholder protests is one of the reasons I have a job.

  22. I’ve never eaten there but did read the article and got some interesting insights into the guys that created the joint. While I did watch with interest the e-coli and other pathogen disasters that hit the place and their attempts to come back from that, it was the scandal (well, kind of a scandal) that hit a few years ago when the actual calorie count and healthiness of their product came under fire. They always advertised the healthy, natural aspect of their product but then some firm began to publish the calorie’s and fat content of their burritos (not loaded to the gills but jest an average one). I seem to recall it was off the charts, way more heavy than any of the fast food chains big meals with lots more fat (and not all of it “good” fat). The owners of the Chioptle’s blew a head pipe but couldn’t challenge the numbers so went after the company that published calling them a shill for the competition. It was pretty fun to watch for awhile. In any event, those of you that chow down better watch what you tell them to put in your burrito and lay off the sides and ask for water as your beverage else you may be whizzing around in one of those little obese people go-carts you see banging around more and more often these days. After all you can’t always count on a novovirus burrito to give you a couple of days of weight reducing uncontrolled diarrhoea to keep that svelte figure.

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