Chipotle Mexican Grill launching new hiring push

Chipotle Mexican Grill is leveraging social media to attract new employees.

To support ongoing growth that includes more than 250 new restaurant openings this year, and with fall  being the start of the company's second busiest season,  Chipotle is staffing up nationwide to achieve its aggressive short and long-term growth goals. So far, the chain is on track to create more than 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 series 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. The campaign content is created by Venables Bell + Partners and shot by famed documentarian Errol Morris.

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.  It features behind-the-scenes content highlighting the daily life of Chipotle employees, cooking content, and the perks of working at Chipotle   

As an added incentive to boost its recruiting efforts, Chipotle offers restaurant staff a $200 referral bonus for those who refer another crew member and a $750 referral bonus for referring an apprentice or general manager.

Chipotle said it is committed to developing and retaining diverse talent. In 2022, the company had approximately 22,000 internal promotions and is on track to surpass this in 2023 amid 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, the company said.  

Currently, over 85% of restaurant leadership started as crew members and have built a career at Chipotle.

Chipotle had over 3,250 restaurants as of June 30, 2023, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany and is the only restaurant company of its size that owns and operates all its restaurants in North America and Europe.