ICR Roundup: Diets, Delivery and Chipotle

Chipotle Mexican Grill plans to close all of its restaurants in the US for a few hours on February 8 to address food safety in an all-staff meeting.

While its fresh, non-GMO ingredients used to be a popular selling point for the fast-casual chain, public opinion took a dive after E. coli, norovirus, and salmonella outbreaks sickened more than 500 people across 10 states in 2015. Sales slid 30 percent and its stock price dropped almost 40 percent, the Oregonian/OregonLive reported last week. Nothing says "safe food" like a national chain closure.

New sanitation procedures are also rolling out at Chipotle restaurants as well as the implementation of additional food safety training for all restaurant employees, officials stated.

"I'm confident we'll recover from this and win back our customers", Chipotle founder and co-Chief Executive Steve Ells said at an investor conference in Florida on Wednesday, according to the Journal. Additionally, some 200 people were sickened by norovirus in December after eating at a Boston Chipotle.

On Wednesday, Chipotle announced that the company would be launching a new marketing campaign geared towards kicking off the restaurant chain's "road to recovery", Fox News reported.

The Chipotle shutdown is part of a marketing plan to restore faith in customers that biting on a yum burrito won't decimate our insides. The company has hired a food safety expert, has changed food handling practices, and has also started testing produce before it is shipped to stores, the Tribune reports. The temporary close is for a company-wide meeting on how to prevent further issues with food safety, Refinery29 reports.

These infections were followed by an E. coli outbreak in October and November that affected 53 people in nine states.

The rise and fall of Chipotle has been one marked by E. coli outbreaks, declining stock and bad press.