Chipotle pulls back the foil to attract talent in latest hiring push

Chipotle Mexican Grill announced it is looking to recruit culinary enthusiasts and purpose driven individuals to join its growing restaurant teams. 

With fall being the start of the company’s second busiest season, and over 250 new restaurant openings this year, Chipotle is staffing up nationwide to achieve its aggressive short and long-term growth goals. So far, the organization is on track to create over 7,000 new jobs this year despite overall U.S. job openings falling to the lowest level since April 2021.

Building on the success of its Behind the Foil documentary style television spots, Chipotle is rolling out a new installment of commercials featuring unfiltered and emotional testimonials from team members about the impact Chipotle has had on their lives as well as a glimpse into daily preparation using real ingredients and classic culinary techniques, a key differentiator for Chipotle. The campaign content is created by Venables Bell + Partners and shot by famed documentarian Errol Morris. 

“Behind the Foil celebrates the heart of Chipotle, our team,” said Chris Brandt, Chief Brand Officer. "There is no better way to make Chipotle more visible, relevant, and loved than to feature our talented restaurant team members preparing our craveable, real food while sharing their authentic stories."

Attracting Talent Where They Are 

With the average age of Chipotle’s restaurant employees being 24 years old and with 40% of Gen Z preferring to search on social media compared to traditional search engines, Chipotle has turned to social media for its latest hiring campaign.** The brand also aims to pull back the foil on social media with behind-the-scenes content highlighting the daily life of Chipotle employees, cooking content, and the perks of working at Chipotle.

Ingredients For Top Talent

As a people first company, Chipotle is committed to developing and retaining diverse talent. In 2022, Chipotle had approximately 22,000 internal promotions and is on track to surpass this in 2023 due to its promote-from-within culture and investments in training, upskilling, and debt-free degree program. Additionally, crew members can advance to a Restaurateur in as little as three and a half years, with a potential total compensation package of approximately $100,000 while leading a multi-million-dollar business. Currently, over 85 percent of restaurant leadership started as crew members and have built a career at Chipotle.

“Chipotle is a people and food company and to continue serving exceptional food, we need exceptional people to grow with us,” said Scott Boatwright, Chief Operating Officer. “We are looking to cultivate new culinary driven talent and develop them into world-class operators to support our future growth plans.”