Steve Ells

Chief Concept Officer at Counter Service

Speaker

Steve Ells is the founder of Chipotle Mexican Grill, where he invented the fast-casual restaurant category and built a single Denver burrito shop into a $40 billion global brand. Trained at the Culinary Institute of America and shaped by his time cooking under Jeremiah Tower at Stars in San Francisco, Ells opened the first Chipotle in 1993 with a radical premise: that fast food could be made with real ingredients and real technique. He led the company as CEO until 2018, and as Chairman until 2020.

After leaving Chipotle, Ells founded Kernel Foods and spent years developing his next concept. In 2025 he launched Counter Service, a New York-based sandwich brand built on artisanal bread, beautifully roasted meats, and scratch-made sauces—proving once again that great food prepared with care can be delivered fast and change the way people eat.