It has been a few weeks since Chipotle opened in the EMU, and it doesn’t look like the line has slowed down since the gate lowered to reveal the rusty red menus. The vendor sat behind a grate as the grand opening dates were postponed time and time again. Dan Geiger, the EMU renovation manager, said that he received countless emails from people prodding him for the opening date and reasons for the multiple pushbacks.

On Feb. 8, every Chipotle restaurant will spend several hours closed to discuss all issues pertaining to the restaurant’s recent food safety crisis involving E. coli outbreaks. 

The process of finding vendors and designing the new EMU atmosphere started back in 2010, so Chipotle has had a secure spot in the fishbowl for quite some time, before the cases of E. coli started popping up nationwide. 

For Geiger, the EMU never wavered. “It didn’t shake us at all,” he said. “We knew that they were a responsible company and that they were going to get on top of it, and they assured us that they were and we believed them.”

The restaurant has made public steps toward regaining their reputation by employing new protocols that should decrease the chance of contamination.

“I think … they’d be extra safe because they could not survive another set of lawsuits,” said UO student Jeff Steinberger.

The opening of Chipotle is another move towards having a whole and enjoyable EMU once again. More vendors will open such as Townshend’s Tea and a fresh market.

Despite Chipotle’s E. coli scare, they are open and seeing long lines .

“We all recognize that they’ve been through a challenge these past few months and that they’re working to make sure that their health issues are cleaned up. And I think that they’ve made great progress in that,” Geiger said.