When you think of the title 'CEO,' what's the first thing that comes to mind? Perhaps it's the power that a CEO has. Perhaps it's the prestige that comes with the position. But for most people, the first thing that comes to mind when they hear the title 'CEO' is money. Yes, CEOs, particularly those who work for Fortune 500 companies, have the potential to make a lot of money. But the amount of money that the CEO of one particular fast food chain makes will probably surprise you.
With over 2,000 locations worldwide, Chipotle has become one of the most popular 'fast casual' restaurants in the world, over the course of the past few years. The restaurant, which is worth $4.5 billion, serves approximately 750,000 customers a day worldwide, and was consistently ranked at the of the top of Mexican food chains in the country (prior to their E. Coli outbreak late last year). With all of that success, their CEOs, Steve Ells and Monty Moran, are probably raking in a lot of dough. But the amount of money that they made a couple years ago will probably surprise you.
According to Fast Company, the two CEOs brought home $57 million in compensation in 2014. What's more surprising is that they're making more money than do the head honchos of some other larger companies, combined. According to the same article from Fast Company, Ells and Moran made "more than the total pay packages of the CEOs of Apple, McDonald's, Nike, and Goldman Sachs combined."
What's even more surprising is the amount of money it would take a Chipotle crew member to make the salary of just one of the company's CEOs. Fast Company calculated that it would take a crew member over 1,500 years to equal the pay of either Ells or Moran. Moran apparently attempted to justify his pay by saying, "The only reason I deserve, or anyone [at Chipotle] can deserve, to make more than a GM is if they have the effect of empowering or helping loads of GMs get better. That's the only way."
It must be noted that CNN reported earlier this year that Ells and Moran's compensation was cut in half. Ells took home $13.8 million, while Moran made $13.5 million. The cuts were perhaps in response to the chain's $26.4 million quarterly loss, as a result of the E. Coli outbreak that temporarily closed 43 stores.
Even with their compensation cut in half, they're still making a whole lot of guacamole.
