Quotes by Steve Ells - Page 2

After a two-year stint at Stars, I wanted to start my own full-service restaurant, but I didn't have the funds to do so, so I got a modest loan from my parents and opened Chipotle with the goal of having it fund that restaurant.
Steve Ells /
Fund
Loan
Modest
My Own
Stars
Wanted
After
Having
Parents
Opened
Restaurant
Start
Two-Year
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I thought we were going to get customers excited by telling them there were no antibiotics in our meat or no growth hormones used to raise the animals or no RBGH in our cheese or sour cream. Well, that's not a very appetizing message.
Steve Ells /
Antibiotics
Cheese
Cream
Customers
Growth
Hormones
Meat
Sour
Animals
Raise
Telling
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We have a terrific team, and our managers are terrific managers, but we have made it too complicated for them and too complicated in a way that they just can't do an excellent job in many cases when it comes to the customer experience.
Steve Ells /
Cases
Managers
Terrific
Customer
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Our economic model allows us to invest a disproportionate amount in our food costs. We have a very efficient system: customers go through a single line, the people who serve you are the ones who make the food, and our menu board is not cluttered.
Steve Ells /
Efficient
Board
Cluttered
Invest
Disproportionate
Menu
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I'm very much looking forward to relentlessly focusing on ensuring an excellent guest experience, removing unnecessary complexity from our operations, championing innovation, and pursuing our mission of making better food accessible to more people.
Steve Ells /
Complexity
Innovation
Looking Forward
Operations
Unnecessary
Relentlessly
Championing
Ensuring
Focusing
Guest
Mission
More People
Pursuing
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You know, I hate to borrow Apple's tag, but think different. Really. From the very beginning. I didn't know what the fast-food rules were. I got my training at the Culinary Institute Of America, and then I opened up a fast food place according to fine dining rules.
Steve Ells /
Apples
Hate
Thinking
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If we really want to change the way Americans eat, we need to make delicious, sustainably-raised food accessible to everyone. Most people are not willing to sacrifice taste or pay a lot more when it comes to eating better. That's why the Chipotle model is so important.
Steve Ells /
Delicious
Sacrifice
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The traditional fast food model is built on buying the cheapest ingredients - and that usually means poor-quality, heavily processed foods. But you can use quality ingredients, cook food using classic cooking techniques, and still serve something that's fast and inexpensive.
Steve Ells /
Buying
Classic
Cooking
Fast Food
Inexpensive
Cheapest
Foods
Processed
Techniques
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If I had taken money from, say, venture capital, they would have wanted a certain return in a certain time period. McDonald's, on the other hand, seemed very interested in my passion about creating this brand. I trusted them, and they did not really interfere with the brand.
Steve Ells /
Creating
Interfere
Passion
Return
Taken
Trusted
Venture
Venture Capital
Brand
Capital
Period
Hand
Mcdonald
Seemed
Time Period
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I was so terrified that the business would not do well and that there would be no way that I would be in a position to pay my dad back this $80,000. At Stars, as a line cook, I think that I was making $10 or $12 an hour. So $80,000 - to have to pay that back was incomprehensible.
Steve Ells /
Position
Stars
Terrified
Cook
Hour
Incomprehensible
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The gimmicks that have driven the fast food sector for years - dollar menus, limited time offers, and merchandising partnerships - are not producing results like they used to, as consumers simply want better tasting, nutritious food and a more compelling experience, not gimmicks.
Steve Ells /
Compelling
Driven
Fast Food
Limited Time
Merchandising
Offers
Tasting
Dollar
Limited
Partnerships
Producing
Sector
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When I told my friends and family that I was leaving Stars to open a burrito shop in Denver, they thought I was crazy, but not long after the success of the first Chipotle, I knew I had to open just one more, so I opened a second one on Colorado Boulevard, which turned out to be even busier than the first.
Steve Ells /
Boulevard
Busier
Colorado
Denver
Just One
Leaving
Friends And Family
Shop
Opened
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To eat chicken that was raised with antibiotics is safe, right? But long-term, relying on antibiotics as part of our livestock production is probably not the right thing to do. To not serve chicken means that there's not an economic engine that's making it possible to build up a supply of antibiotic-free meat.
Steve Ells /
Antibiotics
Livestock
Long Term
Meat
Right Thing
Chicken
Engine
Relying
Supply
The Right Thing
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My undergraduate degree was in art history! Raising money for Chipotle was really my MBA. The money for my first restaurant came from my dad, the second from mostly cash flow. The third was an SBA loan. After my dad invested $1.5 million to open a few more, he suggested I raise the money myself for the experience.
Steve Ells /
Dad
Art History
Cash
Flow
Loan
Undergraduate
Art History Experience
Open
Came
Degree
Few
History Experience Art
Invested
Million
Mostly
Raise
Restaurant
Second
Suggested
Third
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I remember looking to McDonald's, and, my God, they have 13,000 restaurants in the United States. Well, we have almost a couple thousand Chipotles. What if Pizzeria Locale is a few thousand, and Shod. All of a sudden, we're bigger than McDonald's in the U.S. I mean, that's not an unreasonable way to think about this.
Steve Ells /
Restaurants
Thousand
Unreasonable
What If
Mcdonald
Sudden
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We're not best in the world at burritos and tacos. What we're best in the world at is building a people culture, sourcing really great ingredients, cooking according to classic cooking techniques, understanding the corresponding economic model and how to tweak that and drive that and provide this really great, new fast food experience.
Steve Ells /
Classic
Corresponding
Fast Food
Ingredients
Tweak
Best Experience Food
According
Best Experience Great
Techniques
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One of the pivotal moments for me was realizing that our 'food with integrity' approach at Chipotle was satisfying my passion. That's about bringing the best quality, sustainably-raised ingredients to everyone: chicken without antibiotics; beef without hormones. These ingredients were only available in high-end restaurants, not mainstream places.
Steve Ells /
Quality
Antibiotics
Approach
Available
Beef
Hormones
Ingredients
Integrity
Mainstream
Moments
Passion
Pivotal
Realizing
Restaurants
Satisfying
Bringing
Chicken
High-End
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When I created Chipotle in 1993, I had a very simple idea: Offer a simple menu of great food prepared fresh each day, using many of the same cooking techniques as gourmet restaurants. Then serve the food quickly, in a cool atmosphere. It was food that I wanted, and thought others would like too. We've never strayed from that original idea. The critics raved and customers began lining up at my tiny burrito joint. Since then, we've opened a few more.
Steve Ells /
Cooking
Ideas
Simple
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Steve Ells Quotes - Page 2

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