How Chipotle's Founder Made His Millions

Fourteen years ago, a 28-year-old chef borrowed money from his dad to open a taqueria in Denver.

Today, that taqueria is Chipotle, the hottest restaurant chain in the U.S., and that chef, founder Steve Ells, is doing very well indeed.

How well?

Take a look at the public filings.

Steve Ells has seen his personal fortune soar to nearly $100 million since Chipotle Mexcan Grill (CMG Quote) came to the stock market just 16 months ago.

That works out at about $1.4 million a week since the company filed to go public.

Not bad. You want guacamole with that?

Ells trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., and began his career working at Stars restaurant in San Francisco.

The success shouldn't surprise anyone who has walked past America's hottest restaurant chain. Whenever you go, there's a line stretching to the door.

Chipotle's stock, which went public at $22 in January 2006, doubled on its first day on the market, and it has been all hot sauce since. It just hit a record $83.42 before easing to $81.91. It has jumped $16 in the last couple of weeks alone as the company's latest figures shot out the lights again.

Today it employs 16,000 people, most of them full time, in more than 600 restaurants around the country.