Staffing

Chipotle recruiting 7K workers via social media

provided by Chipotle

August 29, 2023

With fall being the start of the Chipotle Mexican Grill's second-busiest season combined with the opening of over 250 restaurant this year, Chipotle is using social media to recruit over 7,000 workers.

Building on the success of its "Behind the Foil" documentary style television spots, Chipotle is rolling out an 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.

"Behind the Foil celebrates the heart of Chipotle — our team," Chief Brand Officer Chris Brandt said in a company press release. "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."

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 will also 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.

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

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 offers an all-crew bonus program, which allows its restaurant employees the opportunity to earn up to an extra month's worth of pay each year; access to mental health care and medical, dental and vision insurance; English as a second language for employees and their families; tuition reimbursement and debt-free college degrees; 401K with employer match; paid vacation and sick leave; flexible schedules, free meals and more.

The company said its retention rate is two times higher among employees enrolled in the education assistance program, and crew members participating are six times more likely to move into a management role.

Chipotle has over 3,250 restaurants.