Chipotle CEO Steve Ells has been trying to reassure the public that food safety is being taken seriously, saying he had pledge to make its restaurants "the safest place to eat".

CNBC notes that sales have fallen at Chipotle and its stock price is down 40 percent from its high-water mark previous year.

The chain's approximately 1,900 stores will open at 3 p.m. on that day to address the E. coli outbreak that has led to dozens of illnesses nationwide. In December, a Boston-area location was shut down temporarily after health officials reported that almost 200 Boston College students came down with a food-borne illness.

The company said in a regulatory filing that it was asked to produce a broad range of documents tied to a norovirus outbreak this summer at its restaurant in Simi Valley, Calif.

The news comes after Chipotle executives announced Wednesday they plan to start a marketing campaign next month to win back customers.

Federal officials haven't confirmed if the E.coli outbreak is over.

In October, the company launched an "enhanced food safety program" that involved a "comprehensive reassessment" of its practices and its ingredients, The Hill reported. Part of the effort will include closing all its restaurants on February 8 for a few hours to educate employees on what the company knows about the outbreak and what it's doing to prevent a recurrence.

As a result, at least nine lawsuits were filed against Chipotle after people became ill from eating at the restaurants.

Authorities have yet to find the source of the outbreak, however, the company has been working with a food-safety consulting firm to help resolve the issues, Bloomberg reports. He outlined steps the company is taking with suppliers to check the quality of ingredients, but noted that the process would be hard because Chipotle sources its 64 different ingredients from more than 100 local producers.