Rank #3079
Steve Ells
Net worth $1.0B
Chipotle · United States
- Born
- Sep 12, 1965
- Age
- 60
- Source
- Chipotle
- Residence
- New York, New York
- Citizenship
- United States
- Marital status
- Children
- 0
- Education
- Diploma, Culinary Institute of America; Bachelor of Arts, University of Colorado - Boulder
Net worth over time
Biography
- Steve Ells helped pioneer fast-casual dining as the founder of Chipotle.
- After studying at the Culinary Institute of America, Ells opened the first Chipotle in Denver, Colorado in 1993.
- He hoped to use the profits to fund a fine dining restaurant, but Chipotle was so successful he ended up expanding to a second store in 1995 and a third in 1996.
- Today, Chipotle sells $11.3 billion worth of burritos, bowls and salads each year across 3,700 stores around the world.
- Ells stepped down as CEO in 2018 and as executive chairman in 2020.
- He opened a new restaurant concept, a robot-manned "restaurant of the future" named Kernel, in New York City in 2024.
- Ells sold big chunks of Chipotle to McDonald's beginning in 1998 to help the brand expand. By the time Chipotle went public in 2006, he owned less than 4%.
Financial assets
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