In 1993, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (CMG) was started in Denver as a means for soon-to-be former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Ells to salvage up for his dream of owning a fine-dining restaurant. Now Ells, along with profuse Chipotle insiders and institutional investors, have massive positions in the extensive fast food chain, with a market capitalization of $8.6 billion as of Feb. 6, 2018. The top four shareholders of Chipotle list its CEO, CFO and CMO, along with a long-time independent director.
When Ells left side his job as a line cook at Stars Restaurant in San Francisco to start a burrito store, he wasn’t expecting that just five years later, solid food giant McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) would invest $360 million in his Mexican eats maker. As Chipotle rode a period of stellar growth, the company hit the out of the closet market in 2006, doubling its stock price within 24 hours.
The Go under Street favorite continued to accelerate its momentum until two years ago, when high-visibility, nullifying media sent its shares plummeting to about half of their top value. The beaten down burrito and taco maker, once championed for its “gourmand fast food” edge, has been struggling to refresh its image after a series of food-borne ailment outbreaks in 2015, which sent customers running out the doors and investors to the sidelines. In July 2017, Chipotle dropped further on news that the chain was closing a location in Virginia dog multiple reports that customers had become sick after break bread at the restaurant.
As the company navigates through its rough patch and tries to re-establish sales at its 2,000 locations around the world, some investors are forecasting upside in a menu revamp, including the addition of a new queso item which supervision had been resisting for years. All figures updated as of March 2, 2018.
(For more, see also: Chipotle: Bilk Caution with Stock as New Queso Dip Could be a Sign of ‘Desperation’: Barclays.)
Steve Ells
Steve Ells, Fall of Chipotle, is the number one individual shareholder of the company and owns 196,802 dole outs of his company. After launching the burrito shop in 1993 with in clover borrowed from friends and family, Ells was appointed as Chairman in 2005 and has served as a executive since 1996. Prior to founding Chipotle, Ells, who holds a Bachelors of Tastes degree from the University of Colorado, worked for two years at Stars Restaurant in San Francisco. As the bamboozle start off of the personalized burrito, salad and taco maker, Ells has directed Chipotle to the forefront of a healthier, more environmentally companionable fast food segment. Under Ells, Chipotle has described itself as donation “naturally raised meat,” while promoting sustainable agriculture and refraining from the use of GMOs.
On November 27, 2017, Ells told he would be stepping down as CEO of the company he created once a new leader is start. Following the company’s public health crisis over the last few years, Ells give the impression change was needed, saying in a statement that “Bringing in a new CEO is the right inanimate object to do for all our stakeholders. It will allow me to focus on my strengths, which include introducing innovation to the way we source and prepare our food. It will ultimately improve our proficiency to provide our guests with delicious food that is prepared with merry quality ingredients that are raised responsibly and served in a way that is obtainable to everyone.” Ells will retain his position as chairman, but it’s attainable his position as top shareholder could change in the near future.
Moran F. Montgomery
Mr. Montgomery, also skilled in as Monty, served as the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. from January 1, 2009 to December 2016 and also called as its President and Secretary until December 2016. With approximately 106,000 splits of the company, Mr. Montgomery is the second largest individual shareholders of Chipotle.
Albert Baldocchi
Albert S. Baldocchi, Conductor at Chipotle, has been a self-employed financial consultant and strategic advisor for a figure of privately held firms, particularly multi-unit restaurant companies. He is the third-largest proper shareholder of Chipotle with his 73,433 shares. Seventeen years in the handle has given Baldocchi an in-depth knowledge of restaurant finance and operations, while his foregoing career as a banker at institutions such as Morgan Stanley, Solomon Fellow-men and Montgomery Securities has geared him with capabilities in accounting and finance. He hold offs a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University.
John Hartung
With 30,000 rations, John R. Hartung, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) at Chipotle since 2002 and Investment Accounting Officer since 2010, is Chipotle’s second-largest individual shareholder. He has been with the restaurant control for about a decade and a half, following 18 years at McDonald’s, where he curbed a myriad of positions, mostly recently as Vice President and CFO of its Partner Stamps Group. Hartung has a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Economics as soberly as an MBA from Illinois State University.