Despite its recent troubles, Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:$CMG) saw its stock rise by more than 3.5% in after-hours trading on July 25. This was largely due to the company surpassing earnings expectations in its second quarter report. Chipotle saw an adjusted earnings of $2.32 per share in its second quarter, about $0.14 more than the average analysts’ expectation of an adjusted earnings of $2.18 per share. However, the company’s second quarter revenue didn’t meet analyst expectations of $1.19 billion, coming in at a revenue of $1.17 billion.
Shortly after Chipotle released its second-quarter report, the company had a conference call with investors and analysts. During the call, CEO Steve Ells finally addressed the topic of food safety issues that had been troubling the restaurant chain since 2015. Just a few days ago the company had to temporarily shut down a restaurant in Virginia due to a norovirus outbreak.
Ells apologized for the outbreak in Virginia during the call, saying he was disappointed that the company had failed to keep the food-borne illness from spreading. The CEO also ensured that, unlike the E. coli incident Chipotle faced a couple years ago, the incident at the Virginia location was not due to the company’s food supply.
During the call, Ells also detailed how Chipotle will be taking steps and procedures to strengthen the company’s commitment to food safety. Ells said that Chipotle is working towards planning and implementing one of the most advanced food safety systems. Additionally, Ells said that extra training will be provided to each Chipotle manager to ensure they know how to execute foodborne illness prevention procedures. He noted that this training is non-negotiable.
Featured Image: twitter
