Dive Brief:

• Chipotle is launching a new loyalty program to regain lost customers and encourage repeat visits to its restaurants over the summer, according to the Chicago Tribune.
• The restaurant chain has faced a brand crisis after a series of health scares over the last year, including E. coli outbreaks.
• The loyalty program, called "Chiptopia," will run through the summer and offer customers free food depending on how often they visit the restaurant.

Dive Insight:

In an effort to get customers back into its locations, Chipotle's new loyalty program will incentivize repeat visits.

The program will have three levels: mild, medium and hot. The lowest level, which requires four visits in a month, rewards the customer with a free burrito, bowl, salad or taco. Medium status requires eight visits while hot equals eleven visits. Each new level comes with another free meal; the free meal counts toward the next higher level in the program.

The loyalty program will also provide Chipotle with something it doesn't currently have much of: Data on its most valuable customers, Kate Hogenson, a loyalty analyst at Kobie Marketing, told the Chicago Tribune. That kind of data could be essential information for the company's marketing efforts. 

In early 2016, Chipotle began the process of rebuilding its brand reputation after the health scares in late 2015 with a new marketing campaign. The campaign was comprised of a highly publicized day where the restaurants closed so that employees could be briefed about health safety, and offers to provide customers with free food to get them back into the restaurants. But in March, the company faced another health issue with a norovirus scare at a Boston-area restaurant. Before the health scares, Chipotle's stock was around $730 per share but is now under $400 today.