First Tests Find No E. Coli At Washington Chipotle Locations; Restaurants To Reopen In Next Few Days

• Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. CMG gained nearly two percent early Tuesday morning.
• Chipotle said that it will reopen all 43 restaurants in the Seattle and Portland region that were voluntarily closed following an E. Coli outbreak in the region.
• The company noted that health officials have concluded there is no ongoing risk from the outbreak and it has taken additional steps to ensure the safety of clients.

Chipotle Mexican Grill announced in early November that it will close dozens of stores in Seattle and Portland following an E. coli outbreak in the region. The company acknowledged at the time that the E. coli outbreak affected customers who ate at six of its restaurants. No Chipotle locations outside of Oregon and Washington have been connected to the West Coast outbreak in any way. There has also been no established cause of the issue and ongoing tests have yet to confirm a link to any ingredient. Shares of Chipotle immediately sold off following the announcement of store closures. The stock has now lost more than 15 percent over the past month and is trading lower by more than six percent year-over-year. Stores To Reopen In ‘Coming Days' Chipotle announced on Tuesday that it will reopen all 43 restaurants in the region "in the coming days." The company said that health officials have concluded there is no ongoing risk from the outbreak. "The safety of our customers and integrity of our food supply has always been our highest priority," said Steve Ells, chairman and co-CEO of Chipotle in the company's press release. "If there are any opportunities for us to do better in any facet of our sourcing or food handling – from the farms to our restaurants – we will find them. We are sorry to those affected by this situation, and it is our greatest priority to ensure that we go above and beyond to make certain that we find any opportunity to do better in any area of food safety." Chipotle also notedit has replaced all the ingredients in the closed restaurants and will test its new supplies "above and beyond" normal testing procedures. The company will also implement additional safety procedures, and audits, in all of its two thousand stores to ensure that "robust food safety standards are in place."