One intrepid man's Chipotle eating streak is officially over. Los Angeles-based animator Andrew Hawryluk, who chronicled his daily consumption of Chipotle for the "culinary endurance art piece" and website Chipotlife, has called it quits. The Chipotle fan ate at the chain "at least once per day" for 186 days straight, according to Business Insider.
"There was almost no way for the joke to top itself"
Hawryluk estimates he spent approximately $1,884.42 and consumed nearly 133,960 since he began the experience during Lent last year. Like any stunt, Chipotlife wasn't meant to last, Hawryluk writes in a post on his website. "After the media whirlwind, there was almost no way for the joke to top itself, and I decided to stop eating Chipotle a month later." He adds, "I'm going to Berlin."
Hawryluk tells Business Insider, that he's only eaten at Chipotle a few times since the end of his experiment but isn't deterred by the E. coli and norovirus outbreaks that have plagued the chain since August. "I'm upset by [the health scares], mainly because I truly believe in the restaurant's mission," Hawryluk says. "Watching shares meteorically rise and fall almost directly in line with the Chipotlife press has given me a bizarre sense of divinity, though. Probably a very good time to buy stock, which I'm seriously considering."
Chipotle's CEO is probably wishing for a European vacation too right about now. The company's reputation has plummeted as multiple outbreaks affected locations across the U.S. last fall. Chipotle's stock has taken a serious hit and investors are suing, claiming the company failed to disclose that its "quality controls were inadequate to safeguard consumer and employee health." The chain has also been served a subpoena from a federal grand jury as part of a criminal investigation of the August 2015 norovirus outbreak that that sickened nearly 100 customers at a Simi Valley, California restaurant in August 2015. Still, some conspiracy theorists claim the whole DOH crisis is the result of GMO industry food terrorists seeking to "destroy both the reputation and finances of the Chipotle food chain," which famously serves organic and non-GMO ingredients.