The Chipolte conspiracy.......

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: Krakatoa
a reply to: Edumakated

I tend to concur on this aspect. How many people today remember a time before the use of pesticides, GMO, etc... foodstuffs? These viral and bacterial infections were all commonplace back then. That was one of the initial reasons to begin those programs to improve the health of the food chain. However, over the decades it has morphed into a money-making venture where profit is king.

"All Natural" means it can contain the things that can make you sick and/pr die. These pathogens, however nasty, are natural after all.

My prediction is that Chipotle management is going to realize this and will eventually take the company back to being private so they don't have unrealistic growth pressures from Wall Street.

Have you given this prediction serious contemplation? Maybe you mean 'activist shareholders' as opposed to management? I could see corporate sabotage as a possibility if there are/is a means to move against the current management - Dell had to fiend off Carl Icahn - and have a controlling stake of the company. I have no idea who the current management is and what their respective stock shares are, but absent a couple having a controlling stake in sum, it is an extremely low probability that current management could ever move to take the company private.

a reply to: BeefNoMeat

I haven't looked at who still has controlling stakes. The original founders are still running the company though. A large shareholder probably isn't itching for the company to go private. The original founders would be the ones wanting it as they still probably care about the company holistically and not purely in it for stock price gains. Most of the institutional investors would have gotten in early, so they would still make out like bandits most likely if management raised enough capital and bought them out.

Pure speculation on my part. My main point was really that I don't think Chipotle's model will work well across thousands of restaurants as they eventually lose what made them special in the first place and I think the operational issues are rearing its head with the contamination.

But hey, I could be wrong.

While a conspiracy theory is interesting, I just don't see it. I think it is just an issue of dealing with non processed foods on a such a large scale.

a reply to: Asktheanimals
It seems you are correct.
Announced GMO free 2015 April


Intriguing. I suppose if they would invade Ukraine for Monsanto, then why not a restaurant?

a reply to: Edumakated

Aren't there any other chains that use non-gmo foods? It just seems amazingly coincidental that Chipolte is the only chain with these issues, and this many times. I could be wrong and this might be nothing, but that's why I brought it here.

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: Edumakated

Aren't there any other chains that use non-gmo foods? It just seems amazingly coincidental that Chipolte is the only chain with these issues, and this many times. I could be wrong and this might be nothing, but that's why I brought it here.

None that I'm aware of that is even remotely the size of Chipotle. Chipotle has 1900 locations now. That is a ton of restaurants. Not a lot compared to say Subway or McDonald's in terms of numbers, but it is a huge chain. It is no easy to task to supply that many restaurants with non-GMO and non-nuked foods.

I thought I heard on NPR months ago that it was related
to corporate sabotage. Something along the lines of there
being a Major fast food or restaurant that helped start or
started Chipoltle...then Chipoltle started doing really well
& They decided to break away & be on their own.

The Major player was not happy about that & so possible
sabotage? Sorry I can't remember who the Major was...
don't know why McDonaids pops in me head...but I
honestly don't remember.

Cheers
Ektar

a reply to: Edumakated

Gotcha. I don't know what it is. They're business model was starting to show some signs of weakness before this. Somebody said something about McDonald's looking into an acquiring interest. Not sure if anything came of it. The latest food-borne illness breakouts are purely coincidental to its business model. I worked very closely with the FDA on food recalls and when to simply issue an advisory (many were processors of raw inputs such as peanuts and lettuce and tomatoes). I can tell you that small processors are not statistically more likely to issue a recall or advisory over a large processor (this includes both raw inputs that end up processed and raw inputs that ended up as raw outputs). Your inclination seems intuitive enough, but it's not true. I can also tell that 'local' is subjective. I think anything within a 50 mile transportation radius is a local processor. It may be a large processor given planting densities but also local.

just my opinion - but :

chipolte has not " been attacked " because of its very recent anti GMO policy

they have a history of contamination and food " poisoning "

further - its anti GMO pandering - has forced it to make logistical changes

last ` wholefoods ` - theres a clue in the name - and they are bigger than monsanto [ by 2014 revenue ] - " attacks " or claims of " attacks " zero

chipolte is a minnow - if you want to attack the anti GMO movement - deep-six wholefoods

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
just my opinion - but :

chipolte has not " been attacked " because of its very recent anti GMO policy

they have a history of contamination and food " poisoning "

further - its anti GMO pandering - has forced it to make logistical changes

last ` wholefoods ` - theres a clue in the name - and they are bigger than monsanto [ by 2014 revenue ] - " attacks " or claims of " attacks " zero

chipolte is a minnow - if you want to attack the anti GMO movement - deep-six wholefoods

Don't be ignorant to the facts: Monsanto 2014 revenue = $15.8B; Whole Foods 2014 revenue = $14.2B. Moreover, Chipotle is not a minnow in comparison: 2014 revenue = $4.1B. Again, hardly a minnow.

There's a usefulness in researching, not simply spewing ignorance to the facts.

a reply to: BeefNoMeat

it was a typo - i meant 2015 - but otherwise - thanks for demonstrating my point

whole foods = nearly 4 times the size of chipolte - so who is the prime target ???

PS - chipoltes history of abysmal food hygine was not addressed - wonder why

a reply to: network dude

Hey

Yeah I read about this. The going theory is true IMHO. Its about non GMO compliance.

A good establishment, especially a lucrative one will be ON TOP of any sanitation violations as they can bring MONTHS of inspections and annoying crap NO ONE wants to deal with. Especially workers who eat there and take the stuff home and who ultimately will spend HOURS cleaning walk ins and the such.

I forget the technical data, but the nature of the contamination is not consistent with a standard cross contamination issue.

It has to be at the source / shipping level, though the way you receive merchandise is usually pretty clean and safe.

At hunts point (produce whole sale market) in nyc for example, the regulatory agencies test and test all day. They have NO problem tossing entire pallets of produce if even the storage temperature was not consistent from point A to point B. Really. Even the vendors dont mess around. They can afford to toss anything they dont want to risk mutli million dollar fines over.

The same is more so true for the meat market right next door.

This is the case in every major point of distribution.

I cant imagine how a contamination this severe would not leave evidence or a trail of contamination that can be easily traceable.

Its because Chipotle didnt play ball when they stuck to a non GMO menu.

Monsato is behind this.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

I didn't demonstrate your point. I demonstrated you were wrong. Simple.

Again, $4.1B in annual sales is hardly a minnow. And Chipotle was the poster child for non-GMO food and humanely raised animal products. They were the disruptor, not Whole Foods. Whole Foods followed suite. I'm a mile and half away from Whole Foods Lamar Headquarters here in Austin. I'm very plugged into the issue. I'd make an example of Chipotle if this were truly a conspiracy to take them down based on non-GMO practices.

As I said before, if there is corporate sabotage occurring it's most likely from activist shareholders who would want to take control of the company and buy back stock making it a private company again. And it wasn't until 2015/2016 that Chipotles hygiene became a possible issue; their 3 year, year over year average revenue growth was 24% from 2012-2014 -- I'll go out on a limb as assert that hygiene wasn't a problem until very recently as it relates to revenue growth.

a reply to: BeefNoMeat

you have got to be taking the piss - do you realise what the entire wholefoods " selling point " is ?

chiplolte is a bandwagon jumper who got it wrong - again

and as i said previosly - thier history of food contamination is abysmal

it got worse cos they tried to make unrealistic changes

a reply to: ignorant_ape

I do understand Whole Foods marketing strategy. You do understand that Whole Foods non-GMO verified campaign isn't something they themselves started? Whole Foods is NOT driving the non-GMO bandwagon. Chipotle is. They were the disruptor. They're the one that rolled out the 2012 local/non-GMO/non-factory farm animal products campaign. Whole Foods didn't engage in the non-GMO project until 2013. If you decide to respond you better come correct and provide some evidence of your assertions, assertions I now have more than once proven wrong.

a reply to: BeefNoMeat

sigh - if you " bring down " chipolte thats it - thats all you achieve

bring down wholefoods - and other dominos drop for reasons that should be obvious

lastly - as we are nitpicking - what was that date that chipolte " went gmo free " again - and more important - did they ACTUALLY do it ?

and chipoltes abysmal food hygine record ??????????????????????

ETA - you keep calling chipolte " the disruptor " ????????????????

of what exactly - the only thing they have disrupted is the lives of thier customers - and thats not something to be proud of

originally posted by: jimmyx

originally posted by: Elton
I work in a lab, I try and avoid the microbiology department (smells bad). Noro is really really easy to catch. Since it's a virus you don't know you have it until later when the symptoms really kick in.

I think many of the 'mystery illness' on cruise liners a few years ago was noro.

When we get one positive noro, we usually get more from the same 'wing' soon after.

So maybe it is a conspiracy or a plot, but noro does spread quickly (poo hands and vomit... ugh it's awful to think about.)

and to further this discussion, I ask this question, how many other fast food places have employees with "poo hands and vomit"??.....chipotles can't be the only place where this is happening.

Well, I think this sort of thing happens all the time. At all sorts of restaurants. It just isn't considered newsworthy. Chipotle had a really bad outbreak (possibly from a supplier) that was newsworthy. Now every incident hits the news. "Chipotle food-poisoning" is a ready made story. It's already got public interest.

"Alden, NY Burger King gives 12 Novovirus" isn't going to be a national story. Chipotle closing, is.

I found Chipotle to be decent, but overpriced so it has basically no effect to me.

a reply to: ignorant_ape

Sigh. I can't help you with your baseless assertions. Can't help you that you don't read or comprehend well, either. Can't help you with your lack of ability to understand the term "disruptor". But, I'd venture the idea/notion that you may see the hole in your 'logic' with asserting that to "bring down" Chipotle you only achieve the that in singular. This, of course, all buoyed on the idea that Chipotle's revenue is only a quarter of Whole Foods. That's just stupid.

I haven't suggested once in this thread that there is/was a conspiracy to "bring down" Chipotle because of they're non-GMO policy. I presented facts regarding revenue and the non-GMO campaign/policy dates of the respective corporations. My only assertion in this thread was centered on an attempt to take the company private -- if there was a true case of corporate sabotage it would likely be carried out by one or 2 (acting in collaboration) shareholders in an attempt to dilute the share price and facilitate a much cheaper buy-back. Cheap buy-back may equal a hostile takeover to take the company private, using bad PR surrounding Chipotle's food safety practices and corporate sabotage as the means for achieving such.

And I'm fairly certain you only need to use one, maybe two, question marks in an attempt to illustrate your text is understood to be a question.

I don't think it's sabotage. At least around here people do not go to chilpotle bc no gmo, people go because they like the food. I suppose there are people I do not know and places I have no been who are adamantly anti-gmo.

To me GMO is a selling point, to stand out in a now crowded market even though others have taken up the non-gmo stance as well . Chiptole took that risk trying to making their products as good as they claimed without raising prices.

There is chiptole, qdoba, moe's, panchero's, hot head, baja fresh, etc who all make basically the same food. And then these all have to compete with the conventional taco bell and taco bell like chains.

Qdoba in my area decimates chipotle, right across the street. Try both and then it's apparent chiptole is quite bland. and qdboa's oily thin chips are amazing.

a reply to: jellyrev

I don't believe it's sabotage, either.

Love Qdoba! How do you pronounce it? It's: Q-dough-BA for me. Only drawback is they charge for salsa and chips and Moe's salsa bar is good - not great - and free. It's either Moe's if I'm broke, or Qdoba if I want the best fast food burrito.

a reply to: BeefNoMeat

oh FFS - you are just making it up as you go - i dont know what fantasies you have - but i CBA playing your idiot games any more