In an attempt to reinvent fast food (again), it seems Chipotle founder and former CEO Steve Ells has found the right groove.
Ells is now founder and chief concept officer of the new sandwich concept Counter Service, which is scheduled to open its fourth location in New York City next week.
Another four are planned for 2026 in the New York area, if the right locations are found, said CEO Tom Cortese, though he remains committed to “going slow so we can go fast.”
And, though the concept continues to evolve, Cortese said Counter Service could be that next national chain that Ells hopes will demonstrate that “real food” can be scaled.
Last year, Ells made headlines after raising $36 million to launch a tech-fueled, plant-based concept called Kernel that promised to break the typical restaurant-industry molds in all kinds of ways.
That concept didn’t work.
So earlier this year, Kernel was reborn as the sandwich concept called Counter Service.
The fundamental idea is to create a fast-food concept built around “real food,” said Cortese, meaning minimally processed ingredients cooked from scratch.
It’s a notion that many will recognize from Ells’ early days of Chipotle. The basic premise lives on at the now-3,800-unit chain, where much of the actual cooking from raw ingredients occurs in each unit.
But that operational feat remains a significant challenge, for Chipotle and other fast-casual concepts that have followed suit, in a world with rising labor and food costs.
Counter Service attempts to prove how that process can be made more efficient (and more quickly scalable) with the use of the central kitchen.
Sandwiches are a $48 billion business in the U.S., dominated by Subway and “lookalikes,” like Jimmy Johns and Jersey Mike’s, said Cortese. But those chains tend to rely on processed meats.
“It’s a category dominated by cold cuts,” he said.
At Counter Service, the proteins are all made in the central kitchen from scratch, including key ingredients like the roast beef and pork, and even the pâté used in the banh mi. None of the sandwiches use cold cuts, Cortese said.
The menu was developed by former Eleven Madison Park chef Andrew Black, who brings a fine-dining sensibility to details.
It’s a short menu. The Baron, for example, has thin-sliced, slow-roasted beef with aged white cheddar, watercress, horseradish and mayo. The Green Goddess Club wraps pulled, roasted chicken with an avocado-green goddess spread, bacon, cheddar, red onion and shredded lettuce. There's the Cortese is based on roast pork loin, broccoli rabe, provolone and salsa verde.
The Green Goddess Club at Counter Service. | Photo courtesy of Counter Service
And a new sandwich was recently added, featuring roast chicken, Dijon mustard and gruyère. There are still two vegetarian offerings, as well as sides like the fried crispy potato strings and the (somewhat infamous) brown butter chocolate chip cookie, which Cortese once called the most researched menu item on the planet because they wanted to get it just right.
Though the breads are made by a local bakery, they use only four ingredients and are not designed for a long shelf life. They must be served fresh.
(A new butter cookie coming to the menu, however, makes use of finely ground leftover bread.)
“After a day or two, we can’t use that bread anymore, so we have to be very smart about how we manage that supply chain,” Cortese said.
And that’s where the bones of Kernel’s initial concept comes into play.
Like Kernel, Counter Service is growing with a hub-and-spoke model, with relatively small locations (around 800- to 1,200-square-feet with limited seating) served by the central kitchen, where much of the real cooking is done.
The concept leans heavily on technology to create efficiencies, but not so much the robotics that Kernel initially attempted. At Counter Service, it’s more about predictive technologies that can provide smarter views on how much to buy and cook, and when, said Cortese.
“We know how much beef to roast and when to slice it, so we can move a fresher supply chain and keep that cooking close to the restaurant,” he said. “And we reduce labor by not doing all of that cooking in the restaurant.”
For Kernel, the initial dream was to have food delivered fresh from the central kitchen to units by bicycle. It was an environmentally progressive idea that ultimately proved impractical.
“There was a lot of room for error,” said Cortese. “One flat tire, and you can’t serve lunch. That was a real problem.”
Counter Service now uses refrigerated trucks to deliver ingredients each morning. And that means the geographical reach of locations can expand to within a day’s drive of the central kitchen.
At Kernel, automated equipment was at the forefront, with order assembly at the back. Guests picked food up from lockers.
Humans are front and center at Counter Service. | Photo courtesy of Emma Fishman
Counter Service flips that model. Humans at the front of the restaurant build the sandwiches to order. All sandwiches are served hot, and are run through a convection oven.
The robotic technology may have been more efficient, but, in the end, guests are looking for more human interaction.
“Some amount of hospitality for customers feels like the right thing to do,” said Cortese.
If (and when) Counter Service moves to new markets, restaurants will grow around central kitchens in those markets.
But Cortese said they’re still proving out the model, so it’s too soon to say where the brand might go next.
“There are people nudging me to do more than four. But in these early stages, I want to make sure we deliver an excellent customer experience,” he said. “It’s our duty to our investors to spend these dollars wisely and find the right point at which to go for rapid expansion.”