Counter Service CEO on how he and Steve Ells plan to disrupt sandwich industry
Take-Away with Sam Oches
Nation's Restaurant News
4.9 • 17 Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2026
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of Take-Away with Sam Oches, Sam talks with Tom Cortese, CEO of Counter Service, an upscale sandwich concept with four New York City locations. In 2012 Tom cofounded Peloton, a brand that disrupted the fitness industry and has since become a mainstream sensation. His business partner in Counter Service is Chipotle founder Steve Ells, who in 2024 launched a robot-powered plant-based concept called Kernel before quickly pivoting to sandwiches when that automated model failed to catch on in a big way with consumers. Now Steve and Tom are using a more refined technology strategy — specifically a proprietary restaurant management system that helps them create efficiencies with labor and supply chain — to reimagine what is possible in a scalable sandwich concept. Tom joined the podcast to talk about why the restaurant industry is ripe for disruption today, the role that technology should play in that disruption, and why he thinks Counter Service could become a national sensation just like his previous company.
In this conversation, you’ll find out why:
- When innovating, your first shot isn’t as important as consistent follow-through
- Incredibly niche concepts aren’t built for scale
- Hospitality is a quintessential part of building a scalable business
- Technology unlocks the potential of high-quality ingredients
- Disruptive restaurant concepts discover how to create a range of great dishes with a small number of repeatable, delicious recipes
Have feedback or ideas for Take-Away? Email Sam at sam.oches@informa.com.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Takeaway with Sam Okas, a podcast for leaders of growing restaurant companies looking to take their businesses to the next level. |
| 0:07.8 | In nearly two decades covering the restaurant industry, I've gained access to some of the industry's most influential decision makers, and I'm letting you in on the conversations. |
| 0:16.7 | In today's episode, you'll hear from the CEO of an upstart sandwich chain that is looking to |
| 0:21.2 | disrupt the category using technology and high-quality ingredients, and you'll hear about how he's |
| 0:27.2 | applying lessons from the multi-billion dollar company that he started over a decade ago. |
| 0:32.1 | Tom Cortez is the CEO of Counter-Service, an upscale sandwich concept with four New York City locations. |
| 0:39.3 | In 2012, Tom co-founded Peloton, a brand that disrupted the fitness industry and became |
| 0:44.9 | a mainstream sensation. Meanwhile, his business partner in Counter Service is a guy by the name |
| 0:50.4 | of Steve Ells. Yes, that's Steve Ells who founded Chipotle, which is a brand that |
| 0:55.5 | itself disrupted the restaurant industry by essentially inventing Fast Casual. Steve originally |
| 1:01.2 | launched a robot-powered plant-based concept in 2014 called Kernel, but he quickly pivoted to |
| 1:07.7 | sandwiches when the automated model failed to catch on in a big way with |
| 1:12.2 | consumers. Now, Steve and Tom are using more of a refined technology strategy, specifically a |
| 1:19.1 | proprietary restaurant management system that helps them create efficiencies in labor and supply chain |
| 1:25.0 | to reimagine what is possible with a scalable sandwich concept. |
| 1:29.6 | Tom joined the podcast to talk about why the restaurant industry is ripe for disruption today, |
| 1:34.4 | the role that technology should play in that disruption, and why he thinks counter service |
| 1:39.5 | could become a national sensation just like his previous company. |
| 1:43.8 | In this conversation, you'll learn more |
| 1:45.4 | about why your first shot at innovation is not as important as consistent follow-through, |
| 1:50.8 | why hospitality is a quintessential part of building a scalable business, and why technology |
| 1:56.0 | unlocks the potential of high-quality ingredients. If you learn something from this episode, |
... |
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