Chipotle Mexican Grill, the fastest growing company with over $826 million dollars in revenue with over 37,000 employees. A heavenly food experience involving burritos, tacos, quesadillas, burrito bowls, etc; with the choice of picking between chicken, steak, or pulled pork. Then get additional sides with everything, including lettuce, pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole, and corn. All started froma man named Steve Ells. Mr.Ells created chipotle as a funding for his fine dining restaurant that he had always dreamed of. It started getting a lot of attention with its fast yet good quality food. In 1993 Steve had opened the first store with the help of his father. Within one month the store was selling more then 1,000 burritos a day. Steve had no intention of opening more than just one restaurant. He had stated in his interview with fundable’ that he just wanted to build a place where you could eat delicious food made of the best and most affordable ingredients. As it turns out many people went crazy for it. Later in 1995 the second store opens using the cash flow from the first restaurant. Then in 1996 the third store opens using a loan where his father invested in an additional $1.5 million. Steve then creates a board of directors and raises an additional S1.8 million. Just two years later McDonalds invests into chipotle for about S360 million. Allowing this company to grow faster then any other company.
What people don’t understand is that as chipotle was growing rapidly the way most of the food being processed in the US is horrible. Animals are grown in tight spaces, they see no sunlight where they grow on these large factory’s. Where most of these animals are injected with hormones and living in their own feces. But the great thing about Steve ells was that he took his time out to meet with ranchers and farmers that were dedicated to growing produce and livestock in a responsible and respectful way. Which made all the products he used in his food used with naturally raised meats. This was one of the many reasons why I had chose this leader.
Steve Ells stated in his last interview with the World Street Journal “So many people told me it was not a good idea to a start a restaurant, especially a fast-food restaurant. There was so much wrong with it; it was too spicy; everything was done by hand, from scratch. Everything was wrong. But that’s why customers liked it; it’s different, in the right way. If you have an idea, just go for it. If everybody is telling you that it’s wrong, maybe that’s an indication that it’s an original idea.”
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What an awesome quote which leads me to his leadership skills. One definite trait Mr. Ells has is drive. He has so much energy and motivation to do what’s best for his company, as I stated in the second paragraph Steve was willing to go out and talk to dedicated farmers about growing all natural food. Not feeding all this pesticide affected food that McDonald’s and any other fast food restaurant sells to us. Any other owner would be worried about making money fast and effective not caring about its people and what they are selling to us. And as a leader he tried to make many improvements in the company and his products. Leaders typically have more energy, they have to, given the long hours they put in and follower’s expectations they need to be positive and upbeat.
Another trait that Steve Ells pursues as a leader is honesty. He is truthful to his customers about the ingredients he puts in his food. His passion for fresh products evolved into an embrace of humanely raised and antibiotic free meats. He talks in an interview with a fast company about the “exploitation” inherent in traditional fast food. He deploys his company’s signature phrase as “food with integrity.” He cares about taste, value and convenience. Somewhere down the line, he cares about great customer service. He cares about the design of the restaurant, the music. He cares about lots and lots of little details. When leaders are honest, subordinates are willing to overlook other flaws. Without honesty and integrity, leaders aren’t trusted. As stated in the textbook, integrity is the extent to which leaders do what they say they will do.
The last trait that Steve Ells has in himself is self confidence. Self-confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of our lives, yet so many people struggle to find it. Confident people inspire confidence in others: their audience, their peers, their bosses, their customers, and their friends. And gaining the confidence of others is one of the key ways in which a self-confident person finds success. The quote I stated in the third paragraph shows how Steve believed in himself that it was right what he was doing. Even if others had mocked it or criticized the idea, he was willing to take risks and opened this restaurant, he made it known that eve rythi ng made from scratch. And as in any other articles he admitted certain mistakes he had made opening the second restaurant on how he didn’t have the right tools for all the food and it just didn’t work out for him. But he later on learned from all these mistakes and made everything better. As a leader of such a big company you need to have positive thoughts. Positive thinking attitude sees the bright side of life and is vital for achieving success.
Chipotle was almost an immediate hit and began seeing profits within months of launching the first restaurant. Thanks to the leader himself, Steve Ells. With the three characteristic traits drive, honesty, and self-confidence, Steve had created the fastest growing food company. Inventing a fast casual dining and its use of organic ingredients. Being a successful leader, Steve had a strong desire to promote change and solve any problems that arose for Chipotle. He had the physical, emotional, and mental vitality. He took the time to be in charge and think about ways to influence and convince others about how these animals should be taken care of so that our food was naturally raised.
