Chipotle Mexican Grill turns to TikTok for recruitmentChipotle Mexican Grill turns to TikTok for recruitment

Chipotle on Tuesday announced its latest hiring campaign, utilizing TV commercials and TikTok to promote testimonials from its current employees.

The company said it will open more than 250 restaurants this year, despite ongoing development delays, and that by year’s end it will have created over 7,000 new jobs.

Building on Chipotle’s “Behind the Foil” transparency campaign, first launched in early 2019, the new installment features “unfiltered and emotional testimonials from team members about the impact Chipotle has had on their lives,” according to a company statement. The ads also feature team members preparing food. They were created by Venebales Bell Partners and shot by Errol Morris.

“Behind the Foil celebrates the heart of Chipotle — our team,” said chief brand officer Chris Brandt in a release. “There is no better way to make Chipotle more visible, relevant, and loved than to feature our talented restaurant team members preparing our craveable, real food while sharing their authentic stories.”

Because the average Chipotle employee is 24 years old, the company is also turning to social media with this campaign. Citing TechCrunch, the company said 40% of Gen Z prefers to search on social media rather than traditional search engines. Therefore, Behind the Foil videos are also being created for Chipotle’s TikTok account.

Related:Chipotle’s plan to ease development delays? Calling cities

In addition to perks like “free food” and “getting to wear all black” promoted online, Chipotle also offers benefits including a bonus program for all employees; access to mental health care, medical, dental and vision insurance; English as a second language for employees and their families; tuition reimbursement; 401K with employer match; paid vacation and sick leave and more.

“Chipotle is a people and food company and to continue serving exceptional food, we need exceptional people to grow with us,” said chief operating officer Scott Boatwright in a statement. “We are looking to cultivate new culinary driven talent and develop them into world-class operators to support our future growth plans.”

Chipotle offers current employees a $200 bonus for referring crew members and a $750 bonus for referring an apprentice or general manager.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the restaurant and bar sector added over 13,000 positions in July, after losing jobs in June for the first time in nearly two and a half years.

Contact Leigh Anne Zinsmeister at [email protected]