Chipotle Mexican Grill has announced it will be celebrating the opening of its 100th Chipotlane, which is the brand's digital order pick-up lane, later this July. This restaurant milestone was met at a restaurant in the Columbus, Ohio, area, which is also where the Chipotle concept was introduced.
Chipotle opened 19 new restaurants in the first quarter of 2020, and 11 of those featured a Chipotlane. This means the new Chipotle concept has a presence in 32 different states, and they are expected to be included in more than 60 percent of the brand's new restaurants.
"Customers want convenience and appreciate the ability to personally retrieve their orders without leaving their car," said Scott Boatwright, Chief Restaurant Officer, in a Chipotle press release. "With a dedicated team and kitchen devoted to digital orders, we need to continue to grow our workforce to support the increasing demand, especially in locations featuring a Chipotlane."
Due to the increase in digital business, restaurants that have Chipotlanes require more staff than traditional Chipotle restaurants. This includes both hourly positions as well as salaried management positions. Chipotle's "We Are Open. We Are Growing. We Are Hiring' campaign started in May and has caused the brand to hire about 8,000 people already. The brand has received 700,000 applications nationwide since the start of the year.
"Today's purpose-driven culture has created an expectation from people who are looking to work for companies that align with their values," said Marissa Andrada, Chief Diversity, Inclusion, and People Officer, in the same Chipotle news release. "At Chipotle, we are dedicated to cultivating a better world not only through our food but through our people."
Chipotle has been at the forefront of the response to COVID-19, even being ranked as the top restaurant for health and safety compliance during the pandemic, according to data from global market research firm Ipsos' Consumer Health & Safety Index email to Restaurant Dive, quoted in this Restaurant Dive article.
According to the above Restaurant Dive article, "Employees at 90% of the Chipotle locations visited were consistently wearing masks, while 83% of locations included employees wearing gloves. Further, 49% of Chipotle's locations have hand sanitizer available at the entrance and 82% have hand sanitizer available in restrooms. The industry average for the latter metric is just 24%."
Chipotle also has 24/7 access to healthcare experts as well as restaurant bonuses and expanded emergency leave and sick pay.