History
Steve Ells attended the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. Afterward, he became a line cook for Jeremiah Tower at Stars in San Francisco.[15] There, Ells observed the popularity of the taquerías and San Francisco burritos in the Mission District. In 1993, Ells took what he learned in San Francisco[16] and opened the first Chipotle Mexican Grill in Denver, Colorado, in a former Dolly Madison Ice Cream store at 1644 East Evans Avenue,[17] near the University of Denver campus, using an $85,000 loan from his father.[10] Ells and his father calculated that the store would need to sell 107 burritos per day to be profitable. After one month, the original restaurant was selling over 1,000 burritos a day.[8] The second store opened in 1995 using Chipotle's cash flow, and the third was opened using an SBA loan. To fund additional growth, Ells' father invested $1.5 million. Afterwards, Ells created a board of directors and business plan, raising an additional $1.8 million for the company.[18] Ells had originally planned to use funds from the first Chipotle to open a fine-dining restaurant, but instead focused on Chipotle Mexican Grill when the restaurants saw success.[19][20]
In 1998, the first restaurant outside of Colorado opened in Kansas City, Missouri.[21]
In 1998, McDonald's made an initial minority investment in the company. By 2001, McDonald's had grown to be Chipotle's largest investor.[10] The investment from McDonald's allowed the firm to quickly expand, from 16 restaurants in 1998 to over 500 by 2005.[22] On January 26, 2006, Chipotle made its initial public offering (IPO) after increasing the share price twice due to high pre-IPO demand. At the time Chipotle had 500 stores.[23] In its first day as a public company, the stock rose exactly 100%, resulting in the best U.S.-based IPO in six years, and the second-best IPO for a restaurant after Boston Market. The money from the offering was then used to fund new store growth.[24]
In March 2005, Monty Moran was appointed president and chief operating officer of Chipotle while Ells remained chairman and CEO.[25]
In October 2006, McDonald's fully divested from Chipotle.[26] This was part of a larger initiative for McDonald's to divest all of its non-core business restaurants—Chipotle, Donatos Pizza, and Boston Market—so that it could focus on the main McDonald's chain.[27] McDonald's had invested approximately $360 million into Chipotle, and took out $1.5 billion.[18] McDonald's had attempted to get Chipotle to add drive-through windows and a breakfast menu, which Ells resisted.[28][29] In 2008, Chipotle opened its first location outside of the United States in Toronto.[30]
In January 2009, president and chief operating officer Monty Moran was promoted to co-CEO, a position that he would share with Ells, while Moran retained his president position.[31]
In a list of fastest-growing restaurant chains in 2009, Chipotle was ranked eighth, based on increases in U.S. sales over the past year,[32] and in 2010 Chipotle was ranked third.[33] Consumer Reports ranked Chipotle as the best Mexican fast-food chain in 2011.[34] The company serves approximately 750,000 customers per day.[35] In December 2010, Chipotle hired chef Nate Appleman to develop new cuisine. Appleman has won Rising Star Chef from the James Beard Foundation, was named "Best New Chef" by the Food & Wine magazine, and competed on The Next Iron Chef.[36]
In 2010, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) audited Chipotle's Minneapolis restaurants, and found that some employees had been hired using fraudulent documents. In December, Chipotle fired 450 employees from its Minneapolis restaurants as a result of the audit, resulting in protests by local groups.[37][38] In February 2011, ICE expanded the audit to include 60 restaurants in Virginia and Washington, D.C.[39] which resulted in 40 workers being fired. In April 2011, the criminal division of the attorney general's office in Washington, D.C., joined the case, and ICE agents began interviewing employees at 20 to 25 restaurants in other locations, such as Los Angeles and Atlanta.[40] In response to the government investigations, Chipotle hired former director of ICE Julie Myers Wood and high-profile attorneys Robert Luskin and Gregory B. Craig.[41]
In April 2014, Chipotle announced an increase in menu prices for the first time in nearly three years, due to increasing costs for steak, avocados, and cheese. The price increase was expected to be rolled out from the end of second quarter of 2014 through the end of the third quarter.[42] In late 2015, Chipotle expanded its mobile strategy through delivery partnerships with tech startups like Tapingo, a delivery service that targets college campuses.[43]
In December 2016, Chipotle announced that co-CEO Monty Moran has stepped down from his role effective immediately with Ells becoming the sole CEO.[44][45] Eleven months later, Ells announced in November 2017 that he would be stepping down as CEO.[46]
In December 2017, Chipotle announced it signed a 15-year lease and in late 2018 will move around 450 corporate employees—currently housed in multiple buildings around downtown Denver—into the new 1144 Fifteenth Tower and occupy around 126,000 square feet or 5 floors of the 40-story tower.[47]
In February 2018, Chipotle announced that Taco Bell CEO Brian Niccol would replace Ells as CEO starting on March 5 while Ells would retain his chairman position.[48] Many industry analysts praised Niccol's appointment saying that Chipotle "needed new blood".[49] Chipotle stock went up $30.27, or 12.04%, as a result of the announcement. However, other analysts criticized the announcement by saying that "the move goes against everything the burrito chain stands for".[50]
In May 2018, Chipotle announced that it would relocate headquarters from Denver to Newport Beach, California, in Southern California. Corporate functions handled in their Denver and New York offices would move to Newport Beach or to an existing office in Columbus, Ohio. This move would impact 400 workers, some being offered relocation and retention packages.[51]
In May 2018, Chipotle announced the "Chipotlane" and began testing it in the U.S.. The Chipotlane acts as a drive-thru, but it is for mobile order pickup only; customers are unable to order food at the handout window but are welcome to pick up their mobile orders through the Chipotlane or inside the restaurant. As of 2023, there are over 500+ locations which include the Chipotlane in order to make the restaurant run more efficiently.[52]
In June 2018, the company announced the closing of 65 under-performing restaurants.[53][54]
Ells broke all ties with the company in March 2020 by resigning as its chairman and departing from its board of directors.[55]
In January 2023, the company announced plans to hire 15,000 workers and expand to 7,000 locations, up from a previous goal of 6,000. This would double its footprint. At the time of the announcement, it had more than 100,000 employees.[56][57] An article in The Wall Street Journal in July noted the chain would focus on opening 700–800 new locations in small towns and cities as part of its plan to expand by nearly 3,800 locations, in territory traditionally dominated by chains like McDonald's and Applebee's.[58]
In 2023 Chipotle saw $9.9 billion in revenue with 14.3% growth year on year and $3 million in average unit volumes (per restaurant revenue) and 7.9% growth in comparable sales; in 2023 37.4% of their revenue came via online orders, third-party delivery services or their new Chipotlanes.[23]
In September 2024, Chipotle announced it was collaborating with Vebu, a company that develops automation and robotics equipment for the food industry,[59] on a new automated avocado processing machine, Autocado. The companies claimed that this machine could peel and cut an avocado in less than 30 seconds and operate unattended on a large batch, which could significantly reduce the time and labor required to prepare large quantities of guacamole.[60]
Chipotle's share price fell more than 9% after fiscal second quarter results showed same-store sales shrinking by 4%, compared to 0.4% in the prior quarter.[61]
In April 2025, Chipotle announced the opening of a location in Mexico by early 2026, looking to expand into new markets in the region.[62]
In August 2025, Chipotle announced plans of delivering food via drone aircraft within the greater Dallas area through a partnership with Zipline.[63]
Expansion attempts into other types of cuisines
In the 2010s, Ells tried to diversify the company by creating or acquiring several subsidiaries. These subsidiaries offered very different cuisines compared to their parent company. Examples include soul food (Soul Daddy), Asian cuisine (ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen), pizza (Pizzeria Locale), and burgers (Tasty Made). In 2023, Chipotle had also tried incorporating California-inspired bowls into the Farmesa Fresh Eatery concept. The few test locations were not a financial success and all concepts were discontinued.
In 2011, Steve Ells was a judge for the TV show America's Next Great Restaurant and investor of ANGR Holdings, the company that will be running the winning concept's restaurants. Chipotle has agreed to purchase Ells' investment in ANGR at his cost, provide support for ANGR operations, and invest a total of $2.3 million in cash contributions.[64] The winning concept, Soul Daddy, was quickly closed after operating for 8 weeks.
In September 2011, Chipotle opened an Asian fast-casual concept restaurant named ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen in Washington, D.C.[65] The company has said the new restaurant "would follow the Chipotle service format and its focus on 'food with integrity' in ingredients".
