Chipotle Mexican Grill, the fast-casual food chain, said on Thursday that it plans to hire 15,000 jobs ahead of its busiest time of year, a sharp contrast to the other large companies that are laying off employees because of pandemic overexpansion and worries about the economy.
The company said in a statement that it was preparing for what it described as “burrito season,” which runs from March to May, the time of year when Chipotle said it typically brings in the most business.
“We will continue bringing in new crew to support Chipotle’s aggressive growth plans,” Scott Boatwright, Chipotle’s chief restaurant officer, said in a statement. The company employs more than 100,000 people at more than 3,000 restaurants. Its long-term plan calls for eventually running 7,000 outlets across North America.
The hiring comes as many companies are shedding staff and cutting costs. Tech companies in particular have recently announced layoffs, with tens of thousands of job cuts at Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft and others. Industrial firms like Dow, banks like Goldman Sachs and media companies like The Washington Post have also recently laid off employees.
The Federal Reserve has been paying close attention to the labor market as it raises interest rates to bring inflation under control by slowing the economy. The most recent data showed that U.S. employers added fewer jobs in December than in earlier months, but the pace of hiring remained solid.
In its latest earnings report, for the third quarter of 2022 Chipotle recorded a profit of nearly $260 million, up more than 20 percent from a year earlier. In October, the company said that its prices were on track to rise by nearly 15 percent in 2022 as it, like many consumer-facing companies, passed on higher costs to consumers.