When Bert Mueller arrived in India as a college student in 2010, he had no plans of becoming a restaurateur. More than a decade later, the American entrepreneur is the founder of one of India's largest burrito chains, with 103 outlets spread across several cities.
Speaking to CNBC Make It, the 35-year-old recalled how a study-abroad programme in Jaipur unexpectedly planted the seed for a business that would eventually redefine his future.
During his stay with a host family, Mueller and his classmates introduced their hosts to dishes from their home countries. While the American food he brought failed to make much of an impression, a classmate's Mexican-inspired dishes received a very different response.
“They didn’t like it very much,” Mueller said of the food he brought from the United States.
But he noticed that another student, who was of Mexican origin, was having much greater success.
“One of my friends was of Mexican origin and she would make chips and salsa and beans and tortillas,” he told the publication “One day I came over to her house and I saw she’d made this food for her family she was living with and they were loving the food.”
A Business Idea Born In Jaipur
The experience sparked an unexpected idea.
“Something clicked in my head that maybe this was something I could do — I could bring Mexican-inspired cuisine to India,” he said.
At the time, Mueller was studying music and public policy at The College of William & Mary and had not seriously considered entrepreneurship. But after graduating in 2011, he decided to return to India and pursue the concept.
Along with two childhood friends, who later left the company and returned to the United States, Mueller launched California Burrito in Bengaluru.
The city was chosen strategically. As one of India's leading technology hubs, Bengaluru had a large population of professionals who had travelled abroad and were already familiar with Mexican and Tex-Mex cuisine.
From One Store To More Than 100
Mueller estimated he would need around $100,000 to launch his first outlet. To be safe, he raised $250,000 from friends and family.
The gamble paid off.
According to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It, the first restaurant generated roughly $500,000 in revenue during its first year of operations. The initial funding also allowed the founders to expand and open two additional stores.
Since opening its first brick-and-mortar location in 2012, California Burrito has expanded into cities including Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi.
In 2024, the company reported revenue of $23 million.
Challenges Along The Way
The journey, however, was not without setbacks.
Mueller revealed that one of the earliest challenges came from a senior employee hired to help run operations.
“The biggest challenge was that the person we had hired at the beginning to run our entire operation and help us out was a very crooked individual,” he said.
The employee, whom Mueller described as experienced, allegedly overcharged suppliers, collaborated with vendors and later attempted to launch a competing burrito business.
“He was very well educated,” Mueller said. “He spoke great English, so it was easy to communicate with him. And he was very helpful.”
According to Mueller, he later discovered irregularities in the way the business was being managed.
“He would call government officials to the store and say, we weren’t doing X, Y, and Z,” Mueller said. “He would collude with vendors to do things. And then later he went off and started his own burrito restaurant, which failed.”
Why He Never Considered Giving Up
Despite the challenges, Mueller said quitting never crossed his mind.
“My mom is a marathon runner, and I have that trait in me,” he said. “You have to keep going until you’ve reached the finish line. And I never felt like quitting.”
What was originally meant to be a five-year stay in India gradually turned into a long-term commitment. As the business expanded, the company began investing in sourcing and growing its own ingredients.
California Burrito now works with multiple chicken suppliers and has planted hundreds of avocado trees. Some farming efforts faced unexpected obstacles, including elephant damage and extreme rainfall that destroyed crops.
Those experiences changed the way Mueller viewed the future.
Investing in agriculture and supply chains started “thinking in decades,” he said.
Today, he no longer has plans to leave India.
“I don’t have an exit date planned in my mind. I love India. India feels like home to me and being home, you don’t think so much about leaving.”
