Chipotle CEO Admits Lackluster Customer Service

(RTTNews) - Shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) fell after its co-CEO Steve Ells said that the company does not expect to reach its 2017 forecast due to poor customer service at its many restaurants.

Ells said that the company was "nervous" about reaching the guidance it provided in October. Chipotle expected same-stores sales to fall at a low-single digit rate in the fourth quarter and to increase at a high-single digit rate in 2017.

"I'm not satisfied with the rate of recovery and the quality of the restaurant experience," Ells during a Barclays Plc investment conference in New York. "I'm particularly not satisfied with the quality of experience in some of our restaurants."

Chipotle's reputation as well shares were hammered by an outbreak of E. coli that afflicted at least 53 people in nine states last year. That was followed by a norovirus contagion at a Boston location that sickened more than 140 college students.

Chipotle has been struggling with a sales slump caused by those series of food-related disease outbreaks and has been trying new avenues to woo back customers to its outlets. The company, a burrito and tacos chain, was spun off from McDonald's in 2006.

Chipotle shares fell nearly 8 percent to close at $366.37. The stock was above $750 per share before last year's E. coli and other outbreaks.