Chipotle has been struggling to get their earnings up since the end of last year. Meaning, their sales are slumping. Everyone remembers the tragic news of the E. Coli outbreak in stores across 14 states, leaving customers questioning whether it’s safe to go back now. And it's still hurting the company.

Chipotle has done countless promotions and giveaways in attempts to win back some of their customers over the past year. Yet, they're still struggling to get earnings back to their original pre-outbreak high and bring back new customers. 

According to Business Insider, Chipotle reported third-quarter results that showed sales fell more than expected — one year after the outbreaks of E. Coli.

While this is the case, Chipotle’s chief marketing officer, Mark Crumpacker released a statement saying that Chipotle has been struggling with food shortages due to the difficulty that the restaurants face to “keep up with the demands in exactly the right way.” He says that restaurants are miscalculating the demand and not making enough food. That might be bad news for the guac lovers out there. 

But this doesn't sound like sales are slumping. In fact, it sounds like more people are going to Chipotle and the chain can't keep up with the demand of the customers. 

Chipotle’s earnings have actually gone down during this fiscal quarter. This means that they shouldn’t have to keep up with a demand higher than previous months because that is not the case.

My guess — this is Chipotle’s latest marketing ploy to make the restaurant seem like it’s in higher demand than it actually is. It's a weak attempt to get people into its restaurants. Does this mean we can't order double rice? I sure hope not.