United StatesFood and restaurants2024 – ongoingChipotle Mexican Grill
Ava Cado AI hiring assistant
Chipotle's AI hiring assistant cut time to hire by about 75%, the CEO said
Problem
Chipotle runs more than 3,500 restaurants and hires heavily each spring and fall while it expands toward a long-term goal of 7,000 North American locations. Slow hiring meant restaurant managers spent time on scheduling and paperwork and lost candidates to a drawn-out process.
Approach
In October 2024 the chain finished rolling out Ava Cado, a conversational hiring assistant built by the vendor Paradox. It chats with applicants in English, Spanish, French and German, answers their questions, collects basic information, schedules interviews and sends offers to candidates that managers have chosen. Managers keep the hiring decision.
Results
Takeaway
The assistant coordinated steps around hiring decisions, which managers still made. The CEO reported an approximately 75% reduction in hiring time in 2025, following a 2024 target of up to 75%, without publishing a measurement method.
Categories
- Size
- Large enterprise
- Industry
- Food and restaurants
- Business function
- Human resources
- Innovation type
- Process innovation
- AI technology
- Conversational and voice AI
- Adoption
- Vendor solution
- Evidence
- Company's own claim
Sources
Source summaries
Nation's Restaurant News reported the launch of Ava Cado, built by Paradox, across Chipotle's more than 3,500 restaurants. The assistant supports four languages, and Chipotle expected it to cut time to hire for restaurant roles by as much as 75%. The chief human resources officer likened it to adding administrative support to every restaurant.
CEO Scott Boatwright told the Fortune COO Summit that Ava had reduced time to hire by about 75%. Chipotle used the tool during the March hiring peak, had more than 130,000 employees and planned over 300 new restaurants in the year. Boatwright said the aim was to retain human interaction.
Full details are in the original sources.