By Lea Mira, RTN staff writer - 6.14.2025
Chipotle Mexican Grill is expanding the deployment of Ava Cado, its AI-powered recruitment assistant, to help support its aggressive expansion plans. The tool, which uses technology from Paradox, automates key steps in the hiring process—including candidate outreach, interview scheduling, and offer delivery—and is already credited with dramatically reducing Chipotle’s hiring cycle times.
Since Ava Cado’s initial rollout in early 2024, Chipotle has reported a reduction in hiring time by approximately 75 percent, shrinking the average window from application to offer acceptance from 12 days to just four. This is especially important given the company’s goal to open between 315 and 345 new restaurants in 2025—roughly one every day. Efficient, scalable hiring is critical to ensuring new stores can launch on schedule and operate at full capacity from day one.
The platform appears to be delivering on other key metrics as well. Chipotle has seen a marked increase in application volume since the AI assistant went live. Completion rates for applications have jumped from around 50 percent to more than 85 percent, with candidates now able to apply via text or chat in English, Spanish, French, or German. Ava Cado guides candidates through the process using a conversational interface, answers frequently asked questions, and sends real-time updates, including interview invitations and job offers.
According to Chipotle’s Chief Restaurant Officer, Scott Boatwright, the tool helps maintain adequate staffing across restaurants, which in turn supports guest satisfaction and smooth operations. Paradox CEO Adam Godson described the AI assistant as the equivalent of giving every restaurant access to a high-efficiency administrative coordinator, operating 24/7.
This effort aligns with Chipotle’s broader push to grow its footprint in North America. The fast-casual brand currently operates nearly 3,800 restaurants, including approximately 3,700 in the U.S. A large share of these locations include Chipotlane drive-thrus, which demand additional staffing and streamlined onboarding processes to manage high-volume throughput.
The strategic use of AI for recruiting reflects a broader shift in the QSR and fast-casual segments. While much of the restaurant industry’s digital investment over the past decade has focused on customer-facing technologies—like mobile ordering, loyalty programs, and delivery integration—Chipotle’s move underscores the growing importance of back-of-house automation. Labor continues to be one of the most significant pain points for restaurant operators, with persistent shortages and high turnover driving up costs. By automating repetitive, time-consuming hiring steps, restaurants like Chipotle can reduce managerial burden while improving the speed and quality of recruitment.
Compared to some of its peers, Chipotle appears to be ahead of the curve. While other brands, including McDonald’s and some major hotel chains, have introduced conversational AI for scheduling and recruitment, few have deployed the technology at this scale or with such measurable success in candidate conversion. Ava Cado’s results suggest that AI recruitment assistants may soon become standard across the industry, particularly for brands operating at scale.
That said, AI isn’t foolproof. Some candidates have reported issues, such as being scheduled for interviews at restaurants that weren’t hiring or receiving duplicate messages. These hiccups point to the need for human oversight and escalation paths—AI can streamline the process, but human managers must remain available to intervene when something goes wrong.
Looking forward, Chipotle may look to expand Ava Cado’s capabilities to support employee onboarding, training, and scheduling—further embedding AI into its operations. With plans to grow to 7,000 locations across North America in the coming years, the success of its AI-assisted hiring strategy will likely influence how other large restaurant brands approach workforce management.
For now, the deployment of Ava Cado marks a significant evolution in how Chipotle—and possibly the broader restaurant industry—approaches one of its most enduring operational challenges: hiring the right people, quickly and at scale.
