NEW YORK — Chipotle’s stock took a dive on Tuesday following reports the company temporarily shuttered a restaurant in Virginia after people got sick.
“We are aware of a small number of reported illnesses isolated to a single restaurant in Sterling, Virginia on Tripleseven Road, and have notified local health department officials,” said Jim Marsden, Chipotle executive director of food safety, in a statement to CNNMoney.
The reported symptoms are consistent with norovirus, said Marsden. He said the restaurant was closed Monday after the company received reports of people falling ill. The restaurant is undergoing a “complete sanitization” and will reopen on Tuesday, he said.
It was not clear how many people became sick or whether they were customers or employees.
Denver-based Chipotle’s share price dipped more than 6% on Tuesday.
Wall Street is familiar with Chipotle’s past woes with ill customers. The company was hit by multiple outbreaks of E. coli starting in 2015, sickening hundreds of customers across about a dozen states and dragging down sales. It temporarily closed restaurants to fix the problem and suffered its first quarterly loss last year.
Marsden said they are working with health authorities to confirm the cause of the illnesses in Sterling, outside Washington, D.C. Norovirus can spread quickly in closed places like daycare centers, nursing homes, schools, and cruise ships, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.