The chief marketing officer of Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG), the popular Mexican burrito chain, has resigned, according to a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The departure of Mark Crumpacker on Thursday signals that Brian Niccol, Chipotle’s new chief executive and the former boss of rival Taco Bell, is looking to shake up his senior management team and revive the burrito maker’s tarnished image.
Decline in traffic the issue
Niccol faces a difficult assignment at Chipotle, which is seeing traffic through its stores slowly decline after reports of a series of food-borne illness outbreaks in 2015.
Chipotle was hit with a slew of downgrades in February from Wall Street analysts who felt its latest earnings were more evidence that the chain is struggling to bring back diners.
Last month, Chipotle posted better-than-expected fourth quarter earnings, but shares slumped after a bearish ‘sell’ note from US broker Stifel.
For the three months ended December 31, Chipotle saw revenues rise 7.3% to US$1.1bn, while comparable sales – a key industry metric – increased by 0.9%.
Revenues were in line with Wall Street expectations, while the sales figure was slightly ahead of forecasts.
The issue for analysts was the decline in traffic, a trend that Chipotle expects to continue over the next few months at least.
In early trade on Thursday, Chipotle’s stock was up slightly at 1.2% to US$323.38.
Crumpacker will get a severance package equal to 26 weeks of his base salary and will have 12 months to exercise his stock options, as part of his leaving package.