Chipotle launches hiring drive to prepare for peak ‘Burrito Season’

USA – Leading fast casual restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill is launching a recruitment drive to fully staff its over 3,700 restaurants for “burrito season,” which spans from March to May.

Chipotle Mexican Grill is ushering in a new era in its hiring and operational strategies as it continues to expand its restaurant network across North America and beyond.

Chief human resources officer Ilene Eskenazi explained that “burrito season” offers candidates a unique opportunity to start, grow, and achieve their career goals with the company.

She noted that current team members have demonstrated how Chipotle’s restaurants can serve as the foundation for a fulfilling career, and the company remains committed to recruiting the best candidates who share its values while onboarding them efficiently.

As part of a broader hiring campaign, Chipotle will also implement internal promotions while expanding toward a goal of 7,000 restaurants in North America.

In 2024, the company promoted 23,000 employees, with 85 percent of restaurant management roles filled through internal advancement.

Notably, several senior leaders, including five of its 11 regional vice-presidents, began their careers as crew members and now oversee business operations generating more than $1 billion in sales.

At the Field Leader level, where professionals oversee multiple restaurants, 84 percent of positions are filled internally.

By 31 December 2024, Chipotle operated more than 3,700 restaurants in Canada, France, Germany, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and it is the only restaurant company of its size to own and operate all its locations in North America and Europe.

To further improve hiring efficiency, the fast-casual chain partnered with Paradox in October 2024 to implement an AI-powered hiring platform featuring a virtual assistant called Ava Cado.

Ava interacts with candidates, answers queries, collects information, schedules interviews, and sends job offers. Its conversational AI is expected to reduce hiring times by up to 75% for in-restaurant positions.

With multilingual support in Spanish, English, French, and German, the system is tailored to lower advertising costs and fill challenging roles more effectively.

In addition to these recruitment enhancements, Chipotle is testing innovative technologies such as Autocado—a robotic system that automates avocado processing for guacamole—and augmented makeline cobotic systems in select locations, marking a significant step toward technological advancement in its operations.

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