Dive Brief:

• Several E. coli outbreaks in Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants across the U.S. affected more than 50 people, and the company is now planning a brand rehabilitation marketing campaign to win back wary customers, the Wall St. Journal reports. 
• According to Chipotle, there have been no new E. coli cases at its restaurants since late November, although there was a norovirus outbreak at Boston restaurant last month.
• “I’m confident we’ll recover from this and win back our customers," Chipotle founder and co-CEO Steve Ells told an investor conference on Wednesday, as reported by the Wall St. Journal. 

Dive Insight:

2015 was a rough year for a number of brands – Subway took a big reputation hit when its longtime spokesman Jared Fogle was arrested in a child pornography scandal, while automaker Volkswagen was found to be bypassing clean air standards across the globe with its line of “clean diesel” vehicles. The issue harmed not only the Volkswagen brand but even affected Germany’s reputation.

Now, Chipotle Mexican Grill’s is facing its own set of problems. The damage went beyond its brand image as an alarming number of customers across the U.S. became ill as a result of foodborne diseases after eating at Chipotle locations. After a month and half of outbreak-free news, Chipotle believes that the Centers of Disease Control will soon call an end to the outbreak.

Next month, the fast-casual chain will begin the process of rebuilding trust with a currently worried customer base through a new marketing campaign. Part of the effort will include closing all its restaurants on February 8 for a few hours to educate employees on what the company knows about the outbreak and what it’s doing to prevent a recurrence. 

Chipotle’s stock price is down 37% since October, when the first news of the E. coli outbreak began surfacing in Oregon and Washington.