Chipotle Says Candidates Love Its AI Hiring Tool 'Ava Cado'

Entrepreneur

28-07-2025

Candidates can now go from application-to-hire in three and a half days. It used to take 12.
Last fall, Chipotle announced that it was using an AI tool named "Ava Cado" to speed up its hiring process. And so far, it is working out well for the burrito maker.
Chipotle Chief Human Resources Officer Ilene Eskenazi told CNBC Monday that since implementing the technology, the number of applicants the company has received has increased "dramatically."
Eskenazi said that the company has seen an 85% application completion rate, much higher than average, because the tool helps candidates fill in fields, which cuts down the time it takes to complete.
Related: Chipotle's New Robots That Can Crank Out Nearly 200 Burrito Bowls an Hour
"[It] has greatly increased our funnel so that we're serving up many more candidates for our managers to evaluate," Eskenazi said.
"Ava Cado" interacts with job candidates, answers questions, collects information, and schedules interviews with (human) hiring managers. It also speaks multiple languages: English, Spanish, French, and German.
In October, Chipotle CEO Scott Boatwright said the tool reduced hiring times by up to 75%. This week, Eskenazi gave an example and said that it used to take 12 days to get a candidate from application to hire-ready. Thanks to Ava Cado, it now takes three and a half days — and they show up much more prepared.
"They're much more informed about what the job really is, and so then we know that the applicants are that much more interested in the job by the time they're meeting a hiring manager in person," Eskenazi said. "I personally have been pleasantly surprised by how much candidates have enjoyed interacting with Ava."
It hasn't helped with sales, though. Last week, Chipotle reported that traffic had declined for the second quarter in a row.