Its French culinary lingo for the prep a chef does before cooking, translating to everything in its place.
I guess you could say hes about to cook.
Ells is ready to revolutionize fast food yet again.
Founder of Chipotle and Kernel, Steve Ells.Photo: Melanie Dunea
Ells believes its the next big thing in lunch.
If anyone can reinvent fast food, its probably the guy who did it already.
Despite his stint in the Bay Area, Ells does not have a technology background.
This robot arm is on oven duty at Kernel.Photo: Artem Golub
He describes Kernel as the next Chipotle, his latest quirky restaurant idea that might change everything.
Ells opened the first Kernel three months ago, right beside Madison Square Park in downtown Manhattan.
All these restaurants have the bare bones of a Chipotle, undoubtedly inspired by Ells legacy.
A Llama outside Kernel, ready for unloading.Photo: Maxwell Zeff
But walking into Kernel, it looks nothing like them.
It cooks each one before passing it off to a human coworker.
Conveyor belts pass buns to one employee and slip finished side dishes to another.
According to Ells, thats not off the table.
These employees supposedly get a good gig because there are so few of them.
When speaking with Ells, he felt strongly that automation empowers Kernels employees, not disenfranchises them.
However, theyre not the only employees.
Separately, theres a team of programmers and engineers that upkeep the automated systems.
Kernel is already opening its second skeleton crew restaurant in downtown Manhattan.
At that point, two Kernels should require fewer employees than two Chipotles.
Thats the billion-dollar idea, at least.
The food at Kernel is delicious, by my standards.
The plant-forward menu aims to attract younger diners who are more health and environmentally conscious.
My favorites were a plant-based chicken sandwich that couldve fooled any meat eater.
And Kernels vegan oatmeal raisin cookie has won me over.
Achieving true automation in the real world is easier said than done.
Weve seen countless failed experiments when introducing automation into uniquely human environments, such as a restaurant.
TheCEO of robotaxi company Cruise resignedshortly after one of his cars dragged a woman in San Francisco.
But Ells, like any good chef, brings control and order to chaotic environments.
He says Kernel has worked through several bugs in the first few months.
Three months later, he says things are running pretty smoothly.
Currently, there doesnt seem to be much AI involved, but moving forward it might have to.
I recently sat down with Ells to talk through his grand plan.
Maxwell Zeff, Gizmodo: Steve, were very excited to talk about Kernel.
But first, before Kernel, before Chipotle, you were a sous chef under Jeremiah Tower, correct?
Steve Ells, Kernel: Well, I never made it to sous chef.
I went from line cook to CEO.
I skipped a bunch of stuff.
You skipped a lot of steps in there, most people have a couple more jobs in between.
What inspired you about food and cooking when you started?
And so one of my roommates said, Steve, you should go to cooking school.
I was always cooking in the house and she knew it was my passion.
So I looked into the Culinary Institute of America and went that fall.
A large part of that is because of Chipotle.
Can you talk a little bit about how you made foreign foods into something Americans loved?
But I think that chipotle pepper says something about the brand overall.
Thats the way I think of the food at Chipotle.
Theres something very classic about Chipotle.
Its a very intimate experience.
And now with Kernel, youve introduced robots into this environment.
Well, Max, its robot, not robots (laughs).
Theres a robot and theres a lot of automation.
Okay robot, still, how does that change the experience?
Chipotle was made with human hands.
How will people respond to a robot making their food?
Well, I can tell you how theyve responded so far, but lets go back 31 years.
Fast food used to be very prescribed.
So you know what kind of integrity went into those things.
Youd walk up to the register, bark out a number, and that was it.
People came to the first Chipotle and there was a lot of friction.
Then people would say, Id like a chicken burrito.
Im like, Great!
Would you like black beans or pinto beans?
And they would say, I dont know, whatever it comes with.
Im like, Well, it comes with whatever you want.
And so they would say, Well, whats the difference?
And I would explain the difference.
Then we would get to salsa and do it all over again.
Kernel is challenging in different ways.
Its a complete reinvention of the fast casual platform but makes it more efficient, delicious, and accurate.
It can be perceived as a lot of friction though.
Some customers have a nine-second experience.
Others walk in and say, is this a restaurant?
Im not sure that, with the first restaurant, I got the brand just right.
I think we got the platform right, but it might be a bit cold.
Were already redesigning the second restaurant to be a little more hospitable.
I think the platform is the platform for the future.
I think people get to eat better today because of that.
Im sure you were aware, there was a trend going on of people videotaping employees at Chipotle.
The current CEO spoke out about it, saying the trend came across as very rude.
Nevertheless, the trend represented a certain level of dissatisfaction with fast casual.
How does Kernel address that?
And when you have a million people, youre not gonna hey absolutely everybody.
Not only at Chipotle but at other fast casual restaurants too.
The question is, how can Kernel do that again?
Itll easily cover all the downtown New York locations.
Then the system takes over.
The robot arm puts items in the oven and takes them out when theyre done.
More than that, the system synchronizes all the disparate pieces so theyre ready at exactly the same time.
Really what were doing is reinventing the McJob.
The McJob is characterized by high turnover, low pay, and dissatisfied employees.
And Im not just talking about McDonalds, Im talking about fast food generally.
The turnover rates have been increasing decade after decade.
Medical, dental, vision, paid vacation.
And were working on an equity plan a stock option plan for our hourly folks.
People in the industry say, well, these equity programs dont usually work very well for hourly folks.
Well, I dont buy it.
I want to give people a piece of the action.
I want to stop you there because this is a big focus of mine.
What youre suggesting with equity and giving people higher salaries is important as we enter the automation era.
How do you see this playing out if, say, a McDonalds or a Chipotle start doing this?
How can you trust other employers to be as responsible as youve been?
Well, you have to look at Kernel as a platform.
That loyalty helps to increase the value of the brand.
Its interesting, Chipotle was a good bit more expensive than typical fast food back in 93.
People warned me against that, but value doesnt always equate to price.
Its the same with building teams.
You have to provide work thats going to engage people and allow them to do things theyre proud of.
And if you combine that with higher wages and benefits, then I think youve got a winning formula.
I know theres a software team that upkeeps the robot and the automated systems.
Can you say more about them?
So I did not have a technology background when I started this.
So today it requires the human touch, but I think in the future, it will not.
so that power that, we have a team of engineers and programmers who are doing a fantastic job.
We just recently brought on Tom Cortese as our chief operating officer.
Tom was one of the founders of Peloton and led product there for 12 years.
I mean, theres always curve balls that you just cant see coming.
How do you create a controlled environment in the chaos of a restaurant?
The first month was characterized by glitches.
There were bugs in the system for sure, but there were also some mechanical failures.
We quickly addressed those, sometimes within 10 minutes or so.
Then the second month was relatively stable with just an anomaly here and there, which we would address.
And now the team understands and believes in the system and trusts it.
So now we have a level of confidence, and weve started to do some marketing.
We have a group of very loyal customers who are increasing every week and just love the place.
You know, when we opened initially it was vegan.
We have three sandwiches now that have cheese and two of those sandwiches have egg-based mayonnaise.
So were plant-forward, not strictly vegan on those items.
There are still certainly vegan items for all of our vegan customers.
But were casting a little bit broader a net now and I think this is resonating with the customers.
This system threatens to upend the restaurant business model.
Its historically been a very low-margin business.
But, once its up and going, it seems like it wont cost a ton to operate?
There is a lot of upfront cost in developing the system.
The restaurant footprint is relatively small, call it less than a thousand square feet.
So the overall investment is modest.
Its much less than our fast casual peers.
We dont need gas service.
We use less than a 200 amp electrical service.
We dont have a hood or fire suppression system.
And so it only takes a few weeks to build out a restaurant.
The operating platform is built off-site, and you just sort of wheel it in at the end.
So its very fast and relatively inexpensive to build these out, which bodes very well for rapid expansion.
And thats the goal here?
Well, of course.
I think this is the new fast food model.
I really believe in the Kernel brand, I believe in our food.
I think a lot of people are choosing to eat less meat.
You know, most of our customers are not vegan or vegetarian.
Theyre, theyre meat eaters and they eat fish.
But I notice more and more people are choosing to have plant-based or plant-forward foods when its delicious.
I think we have an opportunity to expand to many markets.
And hopefully, once we get the formula just right, well be able to do that quickly.
But whats also cool is that this operating platform is cuisine agnostic.
So I could put all kinds of menus and cuisines into this platform.
So I think theres an opportunity to do different brands, maybe to license the platform.
We dont know exactly how it plays out, but there are a lot of opportunities.
What are the human elements in cooking and serving food to people that you feel should stay human?
