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How I Built This with Guy Raz
How I Built This with Guy Raz

Advice Line with Steve Ells of Chipotle

April 09, 2026 • 42m

Summary

⏱️ 8 min read

Overview

In this Advice Line episode, Guy Raz teams up with Chipotle founder Steve Ells to help three entrepreneurs tackle their business challenges. The callers include Rebecca from Streaky Bay Distillers in remote Australia seeking to differentiate her gin brand, Sri from MatZero working to balance multiple market opportunities for her innovative heating mats while staying true to her humanitarian mission, and John from Cantina di Rosina navigating declining wine consumption trends while building an Italian wine brand with deep family roots. Steve shares insights on differentiation, focusing on core strengths, and building authentic customer relationships.

Steve Ells Returns: From Kernel to Counter Service

Steve Ells discusses his journey since the last episode, explaining how his plant-based robot restaurant Kernel didn't become the rocket ship he hoped for. After less than a year, he pivoted to Counter Service, a sandwich concept focused on artisanal quality with fresh-baked bread, house-roasted meats, and house-made sauces. The new concept maintains human interaction while incorporating some automation for efficiency, allowing investment in higher quality ingredients while creating a better economic model.

  • Kernel closed after less than a year because it wasn't the rocket ship Steve wanted
  • Counter Service focuses on artisanal sandwiches with four-ingredient bread baked fresh daily
  • The robot arm in Kernel primarily handled picking items and placing them in/out of ovens, not actual food preparation
  • Human interaction proved very important; some customers were fascinated by robots while others wanted people making their food
  • Counter Service has fewer employees than traditional fast casual but maintains strong customer service
" I wouldn't say that it didn't work with Kernel. I would say, though, that Colonel didn't appear to be the rocket ship that Chipotle was. And I wanted another rocket ship. "
" At the end of the day, in pivoting from kernel to counter service, we learned that the human interaction is very, very important. "

Streaky Bay Distillers: Differentiation Through Sense of Place

Rebecca Smith calls from remote South Australia about her craft distillery facing competition from 650 other Australian distillers. She and her partner started the business in 2022 after taking a distilling course while processing grief from a family tragedy. The discussion reveals how focusing on hyper-local botanicals and foraging creates authentic differentiation, similar to how Chipotle focused on doing a few things exceptionally well rather than offering extensive variety.

  • Streaky Bay Distillers was started in 2022 after Rebecca and her partner took a distilling course to process grief
  • The business expects $400,000 USD in revenue this year, double last year's $200,000
  • Revenue breakdown: 57% wholesale, 28% from mobile food and cocktail van, 14% online direct sales
  • The distillery uses uniquely Australian ingredients like saltbush, coastal daisy, coastal rosemary, and abalone shell
  • They donate $5 per bottle of one gin to motor neurone disease research due to family experience
" People can make all different kinds of combinations of the base ingredients. But it was very, very different from the typical fast food approach was to have limited offerings and all different kinds of things. And so but but it allowed us to focus on just a couple of things and do them better than anybody else. "
" A company that focuses, that's best in the world at something, and maybe you're best in the world at having these particular botanicals and you forage for them, you pick them, it's a community effort, whatever. There's a very nice story to that. "
" You're tasting the coastline of southern Australia. "

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