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Chipotle’s forecasting its first quarterly loss (down $1/share) since its IPO, after E. coli outbreaks have weighed heavy on the fast-casual giant’s profits.
The chain’s newly increased spending on food safety, along with more marketing to shed their food-poisoning stigma (free burritos for all!), has done some damage to the company’s margins, Bloomberg reports.
The slacking sales even have the company considering backing off its food safety changes—things like pre-cooking the meat, DNA-testing ingredients—just a month after starting the new measures.
Disease couldn’t have struck at a worse time for the Tex-Mex giant, as its competing with a swath of new fast-casual chains, like Shake Shack and BurgerFi, for market share. [Bloomberg]
