Chipotle Founder Tries New Asian Format With ShopHouse

WASHINGTON -- Suppose Chipotle took its wildly popular Mexican concept and gave it an Asian twist.

You can stop supposing — and start waiting in line.

The lunch-hour line to enter the newly opened ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen curves out the door, around the corner and down the block on a recent Monday here in the nation's capital, where the eclectic-but-electric restaurant is attracting far more buzz than any political candidate.

It's no exaggeration to say that the restaurant world is salivating to see whether Steve Ells, the food-centric, bespectacled fellow who founded Chipotle 18 years ago with a single shop in Denver, can successfully expand his company beyond the burrito to the Asian noodle. If he can turn this repeat performance, Ells will accomplish something that even mega-giant McDonald's (which briefly owned a big stake in Chipotle) couldn't: excel in two restaurant concepts at once.

"Chipotle is the most successful restaurant concept of the past decade," says John Glass, analyst at Morgan Stanley. He compares it to nothing less than what Starbucks did in the 1990s. "Chipotle transformed the way people think about Mexican food. ShopHouse can do the same for Asian."

Or not. If ShopHouse succeeds, it could ultimately play a central role in turning the very definition of fast food on its head by keeping the service fast yet making most of the ingredients sustainable, better-for-you — and tasty. Or, if it's a flop, it puts serious egg on the face of not only Ells, but the many industry analysts who already are christening ShopHouse a success and the many investors who are buying into it as Chipotle's stock reached record highs the week ShopHouse opened before moderating this week.

Just days after the "soft" opening of ShopHouse, Ells, 46, and co-CEO Monty Moran, 45, spent nearly two hours with a USA TODAY reporter — their very first media interview to take place inside the tiny but bustling restaurant. While ShopHouse has had zero advertising, the buzz has gone utterly viral. Executives have given up trying to keep a lid on the hype and soaring expectations for the chain whose name is derived from ShopHouse style architecture popular in Southeast Asia where the family typically lives upstairs and the restaurant or retailer is on the ground floor.

"We have more potential than anyone else to change the food culture in a positive way," says Ells, speaking for both ShopHouse and Chipotle, while noshing on a ShopHouse bowl of grilled steak, brown rice and veggies. "The act of eating shouldn't be based on any form of exploitation," says the rail-thin CEO. Both Chipotle and ShopHouse, he says, are about treating customers, employees, farmers and even animals with respect. "I'd like to change the way Americans think about and eat fast food."

Going all-natural

At ShopHouse — like Chipotle — all ingredients are natural, some are organic and the meats have no antibiotics or added hormones. Ells stops in mid-bite and stares down at his bowl. "Gee, this is delicious," he says to no one in particular.

These are the best-of-times for Chipotle. In Chicago on Saturday, the company is hosting its first-ever food festival, bringing together celebrity chefs, artisan food producers and musicians who all embrace the same cause: food with integrity. (If you recognize that, it's Chipotle's slogan.)