American restaurant chain Chipotle has unveiled plans to beef up its workforce ahead of what it calls a busy “burrito season;” with the company looking to recruit nearly 20,000 new employees in the coming months.
The Mexican grill chain announced the hiring plans—which come with an array of benefits to workers—in a press release on Jan. 24.
Chipotle said it hopes to hire approximately 19,000 new employees to help meet demand during the three-month period from March to May, which the restaurant chain noted tends to be its busiest season or “burrito season.”
This year’s hiring target marks a roughly 27 percent increase from Chipotle’s goal of hiring 15,000 new workers through the same season last year.
Chipotle currently has more than 110,00 workers.
Erin Wolford, Chipotle’s vice president of external communications, told Forbes that seasonal factors like warmer weather and more daylight hours help boost sales at Chipotle during the spring season.
However, many restaurants across the United States still struggle to recruit new employees after the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns, despite the nationwide unemployment rate sitting at 3.7 percent as of December, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
As part of efforts to attract new workers—or more specifically, Gen Z workers, which Chipotle said already make up more than 73 percent of its restaurant workforce—the company unveiled a string of financial benefits, including competitive wages.
Chipotle Ramps Up Benefits
The restaurant raised its starting wages for hourly employees in 2021 to $11-$18 per hour.
Chipotle also touted its “all-crew bonus program,” which allows its restaurant employees to earn up to an extra month’s worth of pay each year.
The restaurant also said it would match up to four percent of an employee’s salary through 401(k) contributions if they make eligible student loan payments, provide free meals and flexible schedules, and give workers access to a “premium banking experience” and special credit card from Cred.ai, which it said helps “build and boost credit scores automatically, even for employees who already have good credit.”
A "Now Hiring" sign in front of a Chipotle restaurant in Washington on Oct. 7, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Additionally, Chipotle said it is providing benefits that prioritize mental health, including offering workers six free sessions with a licensed counselor or mental health coach, as well as “access to tools, resources, and community support for legal, financial, and family matters.”
Meanwhile, Others Slash Jobs
Chipotle’s plans to hire thousands of additional workers come amid a string of layoffs in the tech sector.
Earlier this week, e-commerce giant eBay announced plans to scrap 1,000 of its full-time employees, citing “external pressures,” while Amazon said earlier this month that it was letting go of hundreds of its Prime Video employees as well as staff of its subsidiary MGM Studios and its live-streaming platform Twitch.
Google also slashed thousands of jobs, including at YouTube, as part of what it describes as “responsible investing” efforts.
Chipotle, meanwhile, reported an increase in sales in its most recent earnings report, with the restaurant chain noting an 11.3 percent increase in total revenue for the third quarter of 2023, amounting to $2.5 billion.
The company is expected to report its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 6.
Shares of Chipotle are up nearly 49 percent this year
