Chipotle Mexican Grill, which is moving its HQ to Newport Beach, California, has informed the states of Colorado and New York that the company plans to begin closing its corporate headquarters in those states in October, according to state labor filings.
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About 399 employees in Denver and 32 employees in New York could be affected by the closures. Layoffs would begin on Oct. 5 and are expected to be completed by March 1, Chipotle said in both filings.
It is unclear how many total employees will be laid off. Some of the employees in both Denver and New York are being offered relocation packages to Newport Beach, according to Nation's Restaurant News.
Chipotle filed the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, more commonly known as the WARN Act, notice June 29.
In an effort to protect employees and their families, the WARN Act requires employers to provide employees facing employment loss with a 60-day notice prior to a layoff.
The filings come a month after the fast-casual restaurant chain announced the company would relocate its main corporate office in Denver, where it has been for 25 years, to Newport Beach — the home of its newly hired CEO Brian Niccols, who had previously served as CEO of Yum Brands' Taco Bell division in Irvine.
Niccols cited competition and being able to lure talented midlevel and high-level executives in the industry from Southern California as one of the reasons for the move.
Orange County and Southern California is the headquarters for several of Chipotle’s rivals, such as Taco Bell, Del Taco, Wahoo’s Fish Taco and Rubio’s.
The company is still reviewing new sites for the headquarters in Newport Beach, Chipotle officials told Restaurant News.
Additionally, Niccols said in a recent conference call that the company plans to close 65 of its retail stores as part of a repositioning strategy to modernize the operations and focus on digital sales.
The company's repositioning and relocation plans are expected to cost the company up to $135M, according to several news sites.
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