Chipotle’s AI hiring tool is helping it find new workers 75% faster

Revolutionizing Recruitment: How Chipotle Uses AI to Accelerate Hiring Processes

In an increasingly competitive labor market, streamlining recruitment is vital for fast-paced businesses like Chipotle. The renowned fast-casual chain is leveraging the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to transform its hiring operations, achieving remarkable efficiency gains and improving candidate experience.

Introducing “Ava Cado”: Chipotle’s AI-Powered Hiring Assistant

Chipotle has integrated an innovative AI platform named “Ava Cado,” developed in collaboration with HR technology firm Paradox. This intelligent chatbot is designed to engage with prospective employees through natural, multilingual conversations in English, Spanish, French, and German. It not only answers common queries about the company and available roles but also gathers essential applicant information, schedules interviews, and provides relevant job details.

Enhanced Hiring Efficiency and Candidate Engagement

The deployment of Ava Cado has significantly impacted Chipotle’s recruitment workflow. With expected expansion plans—to open approximately 300 new locations annually—the chain anticipates hiring between 9,000 and 10,000 new team members each year. Traditional manual scheduling and application processing were becoming bottlenecks; however, the AI assistant has alleviated this workload.

One notable outcome is the dramatic increase in applicant volume coupled with an impressive 85% completion rate for applications. By automatically populating application forms with candidate data and simplifying the process to roughly eight minutes, Ava Cado expands the candidate pool and accelerates the hiring pipeline.

Streamlining Scheduling and Improving Candidate Preparedness

Beyond application assistance, Ava Cado manages interview schedules, syncing availability between candidates and managers. This automation reduces administrative overhead and enables faster decision-making.

Another key benefit is enhancing candidate understanding of the roles they’re applying for. As Ava walks applicants through the process, it shares insights about working at Chipotle and what to expect, resulting in more informed and genuinely interested candidates by the time they meet with hiring managers.

Remarkable Speed of Hiring

Thanks to AI integration, Chipotle has cut down the time-to-hire from an average of 12 days to approximately three and a half days—a 75% reduction. As CEO Scott Boatwright highlighted, AI has provided a competitive edge in staffing, enabling the company to meet its aggressive growth targets with greater agility.

Broader Industry Adoption and Challenges

Paradox’s conversational AI platform is utilized by over 1,000 organizations, including industry giants like GM, Nestlé, Marriott, and Lowe’s. While AI-driven recruitment offers numerous