Chipotle shuts Massachusetts location after workers get sick

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc., still trying to recover from a series of foodborne-illness outbreaks, temporarily shut a restaurant in Massachusetts after four employees got sick.

The location in the town of Billerica, outside Boston, was closed for a full cleaning, company spokesman Chris Arnold said in an e-mail on Tuesday.

Chipotle has been reeling from a food-safety crisis since early November, when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was investigating an E. coli outbreak linked to the chain’s restaurants. That brought attention to previous foodborne illnesses among the chain’s customers. The concerns only grew after a norovirus outbreak sickened scores of college students in Boston in December, weighing on Chipotle’s sales.

It’s not known if the sick employees in Billerica had norovirus, and there are no reports of customers falling ill, Arnold said.

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“Any employees who reported feeling ill will be tested and held out of the restaurant until they fully recover,” he said.

Chipotle shares fell as much as 3.9 percent to $504.40 in New York on Wednesday, their biggest intraday drop in a month. The stock had declined 20 percent in the 12 months through Tuesday.

The Massachusetts health department confirmed that the restaurant was closed voluntarily and that there were no known ill customers.
Chipotle also has locations in Warwick, Cranston, Johnston, Middletown, Smithfield and Providence in Rhode Island, and restaurants in Mansfield, North Dartmouth, Raynham and Seekonk in Southeastern Massachusetts.

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