Jim Cramer knows how to assess a business. The host of CNBC’s “Mad Money” and the author of “How to Make Money in Any Market” has spent his career poring over balance sheets and earnings statements.
And while it may be a few years until California Burrito, an India-based Mexican restaurant chain founded by 36-year-old American Bert Mueller, starts appearing on stock tickers, Cramer is impressed with the company’s story.
CNBC Make It asked Cramer to react to the site’s profile of Mueller and his business, which in 2024 brought in $23 million in revenue across 103 locations.
Cramer, the one-time owner of a Mexican restaurant in Brooklyn, was particularly taken by Mueller’s self-belief — a quality Cramer says must be present for anyone to get a small business off the ground.
“I think that what is central to this young man’s vision was he never doubted himself,” Cramer says. “If you were a person that doubts yourself, I got bad news for you. You’re going to fail. Most small businesses fail.”
Mueller estimated he’d need $100,000 to open his first store and instead raised $250,000 from friends and family “to be careful” — a move which gets a gold star from Cramer.
“A lot of people say, ‘OK, if I had $100,000, I could do it. Let me do it with $50,000,'” Cramer says. “That’s who loses. You have to have enough money to be able to live and survive and prosper. And if you can get more than that, how terrific.”
Mueller says he plans to reach 300 stores by 2030, at which point he hopes to take the company public. In the meantime, he remains committed, he says, to sourcing ingredients that impart his restaurants’ food with authentic Mexican and Californian flavors.
“I would tell you that this young gentleman is doing many things well. The first thing I would say is he’s obviously working incredibly hard. Second, he’s learning the culture. And third, he realizes you got to be authentic,” Cramer says. “If you’re not authentic, people spot it very quickly.”
Conversions from Indian Rupees to USD were done using the OANDA conversion rate of 1 rupee to 0.011 USD on April 22, 2025. All amounts are rounded to the nearest dollar.
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