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Denver Chipotle Customers Didn't Mind Changing Lunch Plans Because Of Food Safety Education

DENVER (CBS4) - Chipotle closed all of its restaurants nationwide for a few hours on Monday for efforts to educate its workers about food safety.

Chipotle, based in Denver, has been in crisis mode ever since dozens of customers got sick from E. coli and the norovirus.

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A Chipotle customer finding the doors locked on Monday (credit: CBS)

Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. postponed opening their doors to train about 50,000 employees about food safety. Their CEO also apologized for the inconvenience to customers and to the people who got sick from their food.

"I guess I'm not the only one who didn't know about it (the closing)," customer Edwin Hernandez said after he went to a Denver Chipotle for lunch. "They're doing the right thing I guess by meeting with people, doing the necessary thing. I just wish I would have known about it ... save me a drive."

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Chipotle customers finding the doors locked on Monday (credit: CBS)

Two-thousand locations nationwide closed for the company-wide food safety training.

"I steered clear, to be honest with you. I went elsewhere," customer Trevor Mars said about Chipotle after the food issues.

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(credit: CBS)

Chipotle took a hit with stocks and sales plummeting, but customers say the temporary shutdown restores their faith in the food. As part of the Chipotle's apology, on Monday they also offered free burritos. Customers could text the word "raincheck" to 888-222.

On the company's Twitter feed, they posted pictures of employees in the training classes and Periscope videos of its CEO.

"I think it's good, think it's wise. I don't know where it all stems from. If it's manufacturing of the food, or where it comes from, but everyone needs to be on board." Mars said.

Chipotle also announced they're giving $10 million to help small farmers keep up with their new food safety standards. The money will go toward education and to offset the cost of testing protocols.

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