Chipotle COO uses weekly staff dinners to identify future leaders
Jason Kidd told Business Insider he looks for team skills, accountability, foresight and problem-solving when weighing promotions.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Chipotle’s chief operating officer, Jason Kidd, is using weekly meals with employees as part of the company’s search for future managers. Fortune reported that the dinners give Kidd a closer look at workers as the fast-casual chain continues to fill many leadership jobs from within.
Kidd told Business Insider that he brings together three or four employees from the regional market he is visiting for meals that last about 90 minutes. Fortune reported that he also visits roughly a dozen Chipotle restaurants a week across different locations, giving employees in several markets a chance to meet with him.
According to Fortune, Kidd uses the dinners both to build ties with restaurant teams and to assess who may be ready for a larger role. “We’re constantly identifying internal talent during these visits,” Kidd told Business Insider, saying he watches how employees present themselves and respond in those settings.
What Kidd says he looks for
Kidd told Business Insider that one of his main tests is whether employees work well with others. He said Chipotle is a people business, and employees who support colleagues are more likely to fit leadership roles.
He also looks for workers who accept responsibility for results, according to Business Insider. Kidd said he wants employees to give clear accounts of what is happening in their restaurants, whether performance is strong or weak, rather than avoiding ownership of problems.
A third trait is the ability to spot trouble before it grows. Kidd told Business Insider that Chipotle does not need leaders who only react after problems break out; he wants people who can see issues coming and act early.
The fourth trait is problem-solving. According to Fortune, Kidd wants employees who can identify what is wrong and arrive with ideas for how to address it.
Internal promotions remain central at Chipotle
Fortune reported that Chipotle promoted 23,000 employees in 2025. The company had more than 135,000 workers across 4,100 global locations at the end of March, according to company figures cited by Fortune.
Chipotle told Fortune that all of its regional vice presidents were promoted from inside the company last year. The company also said 85% of its general managers and 83% of its field leaders came through internal promotion.
The promotion push comes as advancement has become harder for many U.S. workers. A 2025 study by Gusto found that the share of workers receiving a promotion, defined as a higher title and a raise of at least 5%, peaked at 14.5% around mid-2022 and fell to just over 10% last year, a five-year low.
Fortune reported that some employers have made their promotion standards more explicit. Accenture told associate directors and senior managers that regular use of its AI tools would be considered for senior promotions, while Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins has said he relies heavily on feedback from a candidate’s peers rather than a standard internal interview process.
Robbins said on the TBPN podcast that formal interviews tell him little about internal candidates whose work colleagues have observed for years. Kidd’s approach at Chipotle uses a different setting, but Fortune reported that it serves a similar purpose: watching how potential leaders behave before they receive a bigger title.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.