Chipotle aims to expand globally, seeking to hire 15,000 workers

Yahoo Finance’s Brooke DiPalma joins the Live show to discuss Chipotle’s hiring and expansion plans, and provide insight into the FAST Act referendum.

Video Transcript

RACHELLE AKUFFO: Chipotle announced it's looking to hire 15,000 new workers for its busy season as the restaurant chain continues to expand across the US and Canada. Brooke DiPalma is here with the details. Obviously they're hiring. Meanwhile, it's interesting. You're seeing a lot of tech still going through their layoffs and firings here.

BROOKE DIPALMA: That's right. Good morning, Rachelle. Chipotle investing heavily in labor this morning, out with that announcement of hiring 15,000 workers ahead of its busy season or what it calls its burrito season from the months of March to May.

Now, it's important to confirm here that those new hires will be kept on beyond just the busy season. They're calling this what it calls a hiring campaign called Pull Back the Foil. It features employees who have rose in the ranks from crew members to managers. Now in 2022, 90% of crew members-- or rather managerial roles were internal promotion.

This comes as Chipotle has aggressive growth plans. It plans to open 7,000 locations in North America. In 2023 alone, it plans to open 255 to 285 new restaurants.

RACHELLE AKUFFO: And, Brooke, this comes as voters in California are set to decide on a new law that could come with some changes.

BROOKE DIPALMA: That's right. It's called the FAST Act. And as of Tuesday, the California state secretary announced that it's going to be on the 2024 state election ballot as it was supposed to go into effect on January 1, but a petition gathered enough signatures for it to be put on pause, I guess you could say, and put on that ballot.

Now, of course, this would form a 10-person committee that would ultimately be able to weigh in on minimum-wage standards, health and safety protocols, time-off policies, and more things that have to do with labor and wage for fast-food workers.

But some opposition here. Of course CEOs not liking this, but unionization efforts and union groups certainly advocates for this as they're always looking to improve labor and wage conditions here. But C-suites talking against it.

The latest announcement comes from McDonald's who spoke out on the FAST Recovery Act, saying that, in part, "an unelected council of political insiders, not local business owners and their teams, will make big decisions about crucial elements of running a business, fracturing the economy in the process." And this has been an ongoing concern.