bright ght ideas
The Bean Counter How one maddeningly particular chef transformed the lowly burrito into a global business juggernaut BY CRISTINA ROUVALIS
PHOTOGRAPH: CHRISTOPHER LANE / CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES ES E S
FOR STEVE ELLS, no detail is too small. The fluff of a tortilla. The fineness of diced onion ... The air conditioning in his chauffeur-driven SUV. The same scene unfolds every time Ells, the founder of burrito chain Chipotle, is picked up at the airport. A er he sinks into the back seat, he asks the driver to adjust the temperature and flow—higher or perhaps a little to the le —until the air hits him just so. “He makes the driver crazy, absolutely crazy,” says Ells’ co-CEO Monty Moran. “But Steve is a walking barometer. He senses things more than other people, even more than he cares to.” Over the past 18 years, Ells’ heightened senses have recast the burrito from gloppy Tex-Mex staple into what the chain touts as “a handcra ed, local-farm-supporting, food-culture-changing cylinder of deliciousness.” In the process, he has grown Chipotle to an 1,100-store, $1.84 billion chain on pace to open about 135 new locations this year. It’s the second-fastest-growing
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OCTOBER 2011 • HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
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