The Centers for Disease Control has cleared Chipotle. The CDC says the e-Coli crisis is over.
Certainly, that’s good news after six months of mystery about what was causing people to get sick after eating in a number of Chipotle restaurants. Unfortunately, that mystery remains unsolved.
Now the speculation over Chipotle’s fiscal well-being is underway.
Consider this conversation on Bloomberg TV between an anchor and one of the reporters covering Chipotle. Several questions are discussed. Answers still are to come:
So, Chipotle still has these crisis aftermath issues to resolve, or simply live with:
- Rebuilding the company’s name and image.
- Rebuilding the company’s value.
- The mysterious cause of the e-Coli.
- The CDC’s suggestion Chipotle’s record-keeping makes it difficult to discover the cause.
- The mis-communication that Chipotle would close its stores for a couple of days to brief employees, when the fact is they will be closed for a couple of hours.
- Chipotle’s marketing plans to attract its formerly loyal customers back to the restaurants.
- Analysts’ predictions at least two quarters of negative sales may lie ahead.
Crisis plans should be designed to get your business back to normal as quickly as you can. Make sure you consider what needs to be addressed, and resolved, after the immediate crisis has ended.