News that the man who was supposed to recover the company Chiptole was arrested on the charges of drug possession does not surprise me to a certain level. The reason for this is that he had a lot of burden on his shoulders and was responsible for regaining the good ratings and the customers’ loyalty after the outbreak of E. coli. According to the article (2016), “Chipotle saw sales at established locations drop 30 percent in the first quarter of the year“ (Choi). The executive had to regain the trust of the customers and even though that was his job, it is possible that he could not cope with the pressure and had to seek for an alternative ways to decrease the pressure. However, this does not mean that I do not justify his usage of drugs. There are many people at responsible positions who are able to deal with everyday pressure and he should have resigned if he thought that he could not achieve the goal.
This news may hurt the company’s sales because the company already had one scandal with E. coli and this news only made things worse. It is easy to lose loyalty of the costumers, especially in the food industry. The food industry is a competitive market and there are a lot of alternatives that the customers may turn to. The foundation was already bad and this news aggravated things. Even though his arrest on drug charges does not directly impact customers, it sends a bad image of the company and its executives. It can be seen as a negative marketing. Now, the company needs to make a new strategy how to return their old customers and gain their trust. They need to appoint a new executive who will lead the company and the eyes of the public will be on his every move. In the eyes of the public and the customers, he is the company and they will watch his every move.
Reference:
Choi, Candice. (2016). Chiptole Executive Turns Himself in to Face Drug Charges. FinanceYahoo. Retrieved from: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/chipotle-executive-charged-drug-possession-arrested-153337677--finance.html
