ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
The Chipotle Mexican Grill in Swampscott has reopened for business after closing on Monday for a chain-wide food safety meeting.
BY GABE MARTINEZ
SWAMPSCOTT — The Chipotle in Vinnin Square has reopened for lunch after closing on Monday.
The fast, casual Mexican chain closed all of its restaurants nationwide for lunch on Monday, after several health scares nationwide forced many restaurants, including one in Brighton, to close their doors.
While the Swampscott location did not receive any complaints, according to Swampscott Public Health Director Jeff Vaughn, who believes the closings were a good move.
“It seems like it’s a smart move,” said Vaughn. “It’s a good way to to let their employees and customers know they’re taking the issue seriously.”
According to Vaughn, although the restaurant did not receive any complaints, the town has procedures in place to ensure all restaurants in Swampscott are handling food properly.
“We would take a menu of what the person has eaten in the last 72 hours,” said Vaughn. “We would then work our way down to inspecting the establishment and see if there were any obvious violations.”
During Monday’s lunchtime meeting, workers joined a video conference with co-CEOs Larry Ells and Monty Moran. Ells is also the company’s founder. The meeting discussed new food safety measures, and new guidelines for sick employees.
The restaurant has been reeling over the last few months. Its stock is trading 40 percent lower than its record high last year, according to Wired. The company plans to win back customers, and the first part of that plan is to give away free burritos.
On Monday, social media was in a frenzy over news that Chipotle was offering free burritos. Customers who texted “raincheck” 888-222 were able to download a coupon to their smartphone for a free burrito.
The move seems to have worked for some customers.
“We’ve been coming here since it opened,” said Nicole Benson of Swampscott.
Some customers said they have been eating there more, despite the health concerns.
“To be honest, it’s the best time to go,” said Keith Elliott. “They will be paying more attention after something happens.”
Many customers are attracted to Chipotle’s “food with integrity” mission statement. According to the company website, in 2015, Chipotle became the first restaurant to remove GMOs from all of their food.
““Over the last few months, we have been implementing an enhanced food safety plan that will establish Chipotle as an industry leader in food safety,” said Ells. “Most of the new protocols are already in place, thanks to the hard work and dedication our excellent restaurant teams. Additionally, we have implemented unprecedented food safety standards with our suppliers, which make the food coming into our restaurants safer than ever before.”
According to a press release, Chipotle used to prepare all food at their restaurants, but will now move preparation of some products, such as tomatoes, to a central facility. The chain will also offer paid sick time to ensure that employees have no incentive to work when sick.