Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. is still struggling to attract customers nearly a year after its first big E. coli outbreak sickened customers in Oregon and Washington.
The burrito chain on Tuesday reported same-store sales fell a worse-than-expected 21.9% in the third quarter. Analysts were anticipating a drop of 18.7%. Profit fell 95% in the quarter. Still, the decline marks a recovery from prior months, including its steepest sales decline in January, when same-store sales fell 36.4%.
"While we're on the road to recovery, we're not satisfied," Chipotle Co-Chief Executive Steve Ells told investors on Tuesday.
The company outlined several new initiatives to speed its recovery, including more efficient food production lines to fulfill online orders, order-taking tablets in restaurants to bypass the lines and new mobile ordering technology.
Chipotle also said it might sell its ShopHouse chain of Southeast Asian food. The secondary brand didn’t attract enough customers to warrant further investment and expansion, Mr. Ells said. The company plans to continue supporting the Pizzeria Locale chain in which it has a financial stake and will develop a better burger concept.
The company, which has been averse to television advertising, is considering airing national commercials to reach a wider audience.
Mark Crumpacker, the marketing chief who recently returned to the company after months on leave following a drug arrest in July, apologized to investors and said he had learned from his mistakes. "I'm sorry I caused a distraction for the company," he said.
Mr. Crumpacker explained that the company is reviewing ad agencies ahead of a new spring advertising campaign.
Chipotle largely relied on food giveaways in the months following the food safety incidents, which also included norovirus and salmonella outbreaks. But this summer Chipotle introduced a loyalty program that drew back some of its most frequent customers. The company also ran ads highlighting its food safety systems.
Activist investor William Ackman last month disclosed a 9.9% stake in Chipotle, making his Pershing Square Capital Management LP the second-biggest holder of Chipotle shares.
Chipotle also plans to study new menu items, including desserts. The chain has stuck to a limited menu for much of its 23-year history, but recently rolled out chorizo sausage, which now accounts for 7% of entree sales.
Chipotle will slow its new restaurant openings in 2017 to between 195 to 210, down from the 220 to 235 targeted for this year. Mr. Crumpacker said the reduction is temporary. A new restaurant design will be cheaper to build and maintain, he added.
Chipotle reported a profit of $ 7.8 million in the third quarter, or 27 cents a share, down sharply from a last year's $ 144.9 million, or $ 4.59 a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were looking for per-share profit of $ 1.59. Revenue fell 15% to $ 1.04 billion, below expectations for $ 1.09 billion.
The company's sales comparisons are likely to improve in the fourth quarter because the year-ago period is when sales started slumping amid the E. coli outbreak, the biggest in a series of food-safety scares that turned off customers.
Chipotle said it expects its fourth-quarter same-store sales to decline by a low-single-digit percentage, which would be a marked improvement from recent results.
—Anne Steele contributed to this article.
Write to Julie Jargon at julie.jargon@wsj.com
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