Chipotle Stores Set To Re-Open Following Nationwide Staff Meeting

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG stores will open at 3 p.m. on Monday as it conducted a meeting to discuss the recent food safety scares. Over 50,000 employees were said to have tuned in via satellite in 400+ viewing locations nationwide.

"Meeting over. All restaurants will re-open at 3pm today," the company announced via its Twitter handle.

Chipotle's stock was battered after outbreaks of norovirus and E. coli at its restaurants sickened customers last year. In October, people who ate at Chipotle started showing symptoms of E. coli, and since then shares and sales have taken a beating.

The company’s fourth-quarter comparable restaurant sales decreased 14.6 percent and sales fell 6.8 percent to $997.5 million due to lower footfalls. Shares have plunged 41 percent in the last six months.

Shares were down more than 4 percent at $440.69 mid-Monday afternoon.

"We've implemented high res testing of ingredients, on the farm and our central kitchens," according to company's official Twitter handle released today.

Late January, Chipotle was served with a subpoena broadening the scope of the previously-announced criminal investigation related to the outbreak. The new subpoena requires the company to produce documents and information related to company-wide food safety matters dating back to January 1, 2013, and supersedes the subpoena served in December 2015 that was limited to a single Chipotle restaurant in Simi Valley, California.

More than 50 people in 14 states have been affected by the latest E. Coli outbreak.