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The first Chipotle restaurant started by Steve Ells in Denver, Colorado. He still serves as chairman, and CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill. He got started in the Mexican food industry after getting a job as a line cook at a restaurant called Stars in San Francisco. He attended the Culinary Institute of America [1]. Over 500 restaurants have since opened throughout the U.S. Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants are company-owned, rather than franchised. In 1997, McDonald's made an initial minority investment in Chipotle Mexican Grill. By 1999, it had grown to a controlling interest, and, by 2005, it was 92%. The McDonald's connection allowed the firm to quickly expand, from 14 restaurants in 1998 to 480 at the end of 2005.

On October 25, 2005, Chipotle initially filed for its IPO. On December 23, 2005 in an updated filing, Chipotle indicated the size of the offering would be approximately 6.3 million shares with a price of $15.50 to $17.50 per share. The price range was increased to $18.00 to $20.00 per share on January 23, 2006, an indication that the demand for the offering was strong. Morgan Stanley and SG Cowen led the offering. The public offering priced on January 25, 2006, at a price of $22 per share. The offering raised approximately $133M in primary capital to fund new store growth. McDonald's sold $66M, including the 15% greenshoe, which was exercised in full. On its first day as a public company, Chipotle stock rose exactly 100%, closing at $44.00 per share. On September 8, 2006 McDonald's Corp. announced it had started an offer for its shareholders to exchange McDonald's stock for shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill. The exchange will allow McDonald's shareholders to acquire Chipotle shares at a 10 percent discount. The offer is capped at a level of 0.9157 Chipotle shares for each McDonald's share exchanged owned by McDonalds Corporation.