Slideshow: Which Chain Could Be The Next Chipotle?

Which of these promising fast-casual brands will be the next big success?

Which of these promising fast-casual brands will be the next big success?

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Chipotle Mexican Grill was a sizzling business with a red-hot stock until an E. coli outbreak derailed its future. Can a mission-based company make gobs of money and still save the world?

When Steve Ells started the first Chipotle restaurant in 1993 in Denver, at the former site of a Dolly Madison ice cream parlor, the 28-year-old Colorado native couldn't imagine that his take on a Mission-style burrito joint would one day upend the fast-food world. Ells wasn't a businessman with a particular acumen for scaling operations; he was a chef who put his heart into every onion he sliced, every pork shoulder he braised, and every meal he served. In the early days, he didn't even think to write down Chipotle's recipes on paper: He'd verbally convey them to all new hires, working shoulder to shoulder with them over pots and pans and cutting boards as they learned what made this restaurant unique compared with conventional, automated chains like McDonald's and Taco Bell.

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