---
title: "The Founder of Chipotle Says Customers Have ‘Slop Bowl’ Fatigue — Here’s What He Says Is the Next Big Thing"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/62753364-7081-4875-9a02-aa3e779f8f48
source: "Entrepreneur Franchise"
original_url: https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/the-man-who-invented-the-chipotle-bowl-doesnt-think-bowls-are-the-future
author: "Jonathan Small"
category: "Mexican"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Mexican"
published: 2026-07-28T13:31:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T22:32:12.797Z
image: https://www.entrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/07/chipotle-bowls-future-0726_g1094154326.jpg
---

# The Founder of Chipotle Says Customers Have ‘Slop Bowl’ Fatigue — Here’s What He Says Is the Next Big Thing

**TL;DR:** Steve Ells, founder of Chipotle, is launching a new concept called Counter Service, a high-tech sandwich shop with plans to expand to North Carolina and Texas. Counter Service specializes in slow-roasted meats and made-in-house sauces and relishes.

*By Jonathan Small, originally published in Entrepreneur Franchise on 2026-07-28. [Read the original](https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/the-man-who-invented-the-chipotle-bowl-doesnt-think-bowls-are-the-future).*

## Story

Steve Ells invented the Chipotle bowl by accident in 2003. Now he thinks the future is in slow-roasted sandwiches.

Steve Ells invented the burrito bowl, and now he thinks people might be suffering from “slop bowl” fatigue. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, the founder and former CEO of Chipotle talks about his new concept, Counter Service, a sandwich shop that launched last year in New York City and plans to expand to Charlotte and Dallas next year.

Counter Service specializes in slow-roasted meats, homemade bread and made-in-house sauces and relishes. The concept pivots away from an earlier post-Chipotle venture, a vegan restaurant built around robotics. It uses technology that flags incorrectly assembled orders, part of a broader system predicting sales using traffic, transit and weather data.

Ells says the appeal is in the details that most chains skip. “The pieces of meat are not perfectly shaped like the things you see in these chain sandwich places,” he said. “We’re making all of our sauces and relishes and garnishes. It’s difficult to do these things.” After 27 years eating Chipotle nearly every day, he says he now eats at Counter Service just as often.

## Entities

- unit expansion (topic)
- QSR (sector)
- Entrepreneur (publication)
- texas (location)
- new york (location)
- menu innovation (topic)
- north carolina (location)
- Chipotle (company)
- Dallas (location)
- charlotte (location)
- technology integration (topic)
- Jonathan Small (person)

---
Originally reported by Jonathan Small, Entrepreneur Franchise (https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/the-man-who-invented-the-chipotle-bowl-doesnt-think-bowls-are-the-future). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/62753364-7081-4875-9a02-aa3e779f8f48).