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Back in October, there were reports of people having been affected by E. coli, a bacteria that can cause severe food poisoning, after eating at Chipotle. Since then, the restaurant chain has gone through an outbreak of the bacteria that has affected at least 53 people in nine states; 43 stores have already had to close because of the outbreak. Customers have also suffered from salmonella and norovirus, and Chipotle has lost the support of many of their investors.

While the company has already created new food safety measures to reassure customers that the outbreak has been handled—and won't ever happen again—they've decided to go the extra mile and close all stores on Feb. 8 for a few hours to guarantee each and every store reviews all the new procedures.

"We are hosting a national team meeting to thank our employees for their hard work through this difficult time, discuss some of the food safety changes we are implementing, and answer questions from employees," Chipotle spokesperson, Chris Arnold, told Mashable.

Steve Ells, CEO of Chipotle, is confident that customers should have no more worries eating their food. "We know that Chipotle is as safe as it's ever been before,” he shared in a conference last week. "We are all very confident that this E. coli outbreak would not happen again.”

As for a bonus, many Chipotle stores have plans to give away free food after the reopening in a bid to invite customers back into the restaurant. Each store will have a set amount of food to give away to customers, but not every store will participate on the same day, so keep your eyes and ears open for info for when a location near you will make it happen.

Are you happy that Chipotle is finally making some changes? Will you feel safer eating there now? Share with us in the comments below.

by Alexa Matthews | 2/1/2016