The owner Steve Ells was born September 12, 1956, in Indianapolis, the son of a pharmaceutical executive. Ells first graduated from the University of Colorado, studying his undergrad in primary Art History and where he was also a member of a fraternity called Delta Chi. After receiving a bachelor’s degree, he became a culinary school student at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. In 1990, he graduated and was a chef for a restaurant called Stars in San Francisco.  

After taking out a loan of $75,000 from his father, Ell could afford to put the money towards a small company called Chipotle Mexican Grill. In Denver, where a small college town was located near Denver University, students would go to his restaurant on the weekends; it became such a success that students would come more and more.   

At the time, it was only known for its excellent quality burritos in tin wraps. After a couple of months in the tiny little restaurant in Denver, he would soon sell a thousand burritos in a day by the end of the first month.   

With the help of his parents, who asked friends and family to help raise money for Chipotle to grow, they reached 1.3 million dollars. Still, they needed more, so that’s when McDonald’s took an interest in the company investing $360 million and then soon became their most significant contributor as a business partner until they parted ways with McDonald’s in 2007.

With its new CEO, Chipotle is doing better than ever since they had the E. coli lawsuits in 2018. They have now picked up the pieces and dedicated time and money to raising the awareness of cooking their meat to staff and are now paying employees and staff a fantastic salary, including college scholarships and other health benefits.   

With over 38 chipotles in the country, Chipotle has campaigned with multiple business partners like e.l.f. Cosmetics. It even has its clothing brand with denim jackets, sweats, and gym clothes all made with the same idea of quality which made Chipotle so successful around the nation.