CHIPOTLE MEXICAN GRILL INC

“Food safety is our top priority, and we dedicate significant resources to ensuring that our food products are safe; however, even strong preventative controls and interventions from farm to restaurant cannot completely eliminate food safety risks. Incidents of food-borne illnesses have occurred and may continue to occur in our and other restaurants resulting from the failure of restaurant employees to properly cook or maintain ingredients; employees or guests entering a restaurant while infected with communicable diseases; or contaminated ingredients resulting from the failure of a supplier, d…”

“We may have higher risk for food safety incidents than some of our competitors because we use fresh, unprocessed produce, handle raw chicken in our restaurants, rely on employees cooking with traditional methods and don't use artificial preservatives or frozen ingredients in our menu items. The risk of illnesses associated with our food also may increase due to our delivery and catering businesses, in which our food is transported, stored and/or served in conditions that are not under our control. All of these factors could have an adverse impact on our ability to attract and retain guests, wh…”

“Failure to maintain the value and reputation of the Chipotle brand could negatively impact our financial results”

“Additionally, consumer demand for our products and our brand value could diminish significantly if we, our employees or business partners fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, take positions or actions that may be considered controversial, fail to deliver a consistently positive guest experience or fail to foster an inclusive and welcoming environment. In addition, we cannot ensure that our restaurant crew or business partners will not take actions that adversely affect our brand reputation and relevance.”

“The restaurant industry is highly competitive on factors such as taste, price, food quality and selection, customer service, brand reputation, digital engagement, advertising and promotional initiatives, and the location, attractiveness and maintenance of restaurants. We also compete with non-traditional market participants, such as “convenience meals” in the form of entrées, side dishes or meal preparation kits from grocery stores, meal kit delivery services, and “ghost” or “dark” kitchens, where meals are prepared at separate takeaway premises rather than a restaurant. Delivery aggregators a…”