Every Chipotle restaurant in the US will be closed for lunch on Monday.
The company is closing all its restaurants from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. local time for a company-wide food-safety meeting after two E. coli outbreaks that sickened more than 50 people in 14 states.
The meeting will be broadcast live to hundreds of locations across the US, where more than 50,000 employees will be gathered.
Chipotle co-CEO Monty Moran says the meeting will be an opportunity for executives to "describe in detail to our whole team all of the steps that we have taken to make our food safer before it ever arrives at the restaurants as well as to highlight and explain the reasons behind some of the new procedures that have already been implemented in our restaurants."
Chipotle is hoping the meeting results in "a really excited and motivated group," Chipotle CFO John Hartung said last week on an earnings call.
The E. coli outbreaks have sent Chipotle's sales sliding in recent months. Chipotle's same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, fell 14.6% in the fourth quarter, which ended in December, and dropped 36% in January.
The company is launching a massive marketing campaign this month to officially invite customers back to its restaurants.
