Chipotle's E.coli Supply Chain

A story about how Chipotle's E. coli outbreaks forced them to completely change their food preparation and supply chain, impacting food quality.

"When Chipotle had all those E. coli scares, they had to change their whole supply chain. What they used to do was prep in the store - in the back they would chop the veggies right there. Now it all comes prebagged, sealed from a central headquarters where they can have really tight food safety, vacuum seal it, and ship it to the store. The store just has to open it - they're not doing the food prep on-site.

The result is the food tastes less fresh. They also cut down the number of suppliers they were working with because it was too much risk. Instead of local produce and local farms for the meat, they started going with a few vendors that are shipping out much farther distances and maybe are more mass production, less taste. So the taste actually has gone down not just because of perception but because of these supply chain changes."