Chipotle founder testing Asian restaurant

Steve Ells, founder of Denver-based Chipotle, is exploring entering the Asian restaurant market.

Steve Ells, the Denver restaurant entrepreneur who founded Chipotle, now is exploring re-creating the magic he had with the giant-sized burrito market, but this time with Asian fare.

The latest issue of Fortune magazine describes how Ells is opening the first of a possible new restaurant chain in Washington, D.C. called ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen.

You can be assured that if the restaurant concept takes off, Ells will continue his passion for sustainability and the use of fresh materials. Ells is a classic case of someone doing well by doing good.

Chipotle has been flourishing, even in these tough times. Here is what Fortune said about the company:

“Chipotle’s (CMG) growth has been remarkable. Revenue for the 12 months ending June 30 was more than $2 billion, up 23.5% from the prior year. Since 2006, revenue has nearly tripled; in the same period the number of restaurants in the chain doubled. In restaurants open at least a year, sales were up 11% in the first half of 2011. Profit margins in Chipotle restaurants have been in the 25% to 26% range — among the highest in the fast-food industry. That’s all the more notable since Chipotle says it spends more on food and more time preparing it.”

Here is what Ells had to say: ”Chipotle succeeds not because of the burritos…It works because of our system: fresh, local, sustainable ingredients, cooked with classic methods in an open kitchen where the customer can see everything, and served in a pleasing environment.”

The company’s three-word mantra is simple: “Food with integrity.”

Do you think Steve Ells can have the same success with Asian food as he had with creating Chipotle?

Yes. I can't wait until a ShopHouse opens in Denver.

No. Chipotle is more of a one-hit wonder, whose success won't be repeated with the ShopHouse concept.

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