After a series of food illness outbreaks that sickened hundreds of customers, Chipotle Mexican Grill is still reeling its proverbial head from convincing consumers that they're still a safe place to eat. And the task isn't really a walk on the park. Adding to its list of woes is the possibility of a domino-effect for local food sources.
The famous chain of restaurants was hit with two separate counts of E. Coli outbreaks over the past three months. The most notable one happened in October where 52 people fell ill in Washington and Oregon, according to the data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another incident was recorded in Kansas, North Dakota and Oklahoma last November, where five people were affected, as told by the organization.
One more occurrence struck in December wherein a number of students suffered from vomiting, nausea and diarrhea, an outbreak that was caused by a norovirus, according to Chipotle.
As a result, these incidents may scare off consumers from going local, since it would be easier to guarantee that your clientele won't get sick when you get your produce from one or two large farms, CNBC says. CNBC's restaurant expert Joe Bastianich also notes that using actual ingredients from actual farms is quite risky, "because it comes from the earth - the dirt. It's not grown in some lab, in some vaporless environment. It's real stuff. And that is both a positive and a negative."
Approximately 10% of Chipotle's produce this past year come from local farms.
For the past decades, larger farming corporations have been dominating small local farmers in terms of sales and revenues, as most supermarkets and restaurants turn to huge farms whenever they need massive amounts of produce. But due to the onset of healthier living, diets, and environmental concern, locally grown products suddenly became huge hits, thus picking up the whole "locavore" movement.
Originating from Colorado more than 20 years ago, the Chipotle presented itself as a company that serves "food with integrity", a healthier alternative to the customary fast-food chains.
It was almost ethically and ecologically the right thing to do, says Andrew Alvarez, an analyst for a market research firm called IBISWorld.
However, according to John Stanton, a food marketing professor at St. Joseph's University, the incidents totally turned their image upside down. It's highly likely that the slogan "Food with Integrity" will be called into question, but not just for Chipotle itself. Among the many factors that consumers and restaurants take into consideration is compliance with food safety standards, something that huge farms are more consistent with.
While integrating local produce with large-scale operations is still possible and actually desirable, there is still a long way to go, as restaurant chains would be less likely to push the local angle after the highly publicized Chipotle incidents.
