Quick Summary

Chipotle put a conversational recruiting assistant, nicknamed Ava Cado, in front of every applicant. It answers questions, collects the application, schedules interviews and sends offer letters, and time to hire fell from 12 days to 4.

The Use Case

Restaurant hiring is constant and slow, and Chipotle's turnover hit nearly 200% in 2021. General managers were spending hours a week chasing applicants, booking interviews and pushing paperwork through Workday. In October 2024 the company launched Ava Cado, built on Paradox. A candidate chats with it on their phone; it explains the job, takes their information conversationally, offers interview slots and books them, and once a manager picks a candidate it sends the offer. About 30% of interview scheduling now happens outside business hours, when a manager would never have answered.

Real Example

1. A candidate taps an ad at 10 pm and starts chatting with Ava Cado
2. The bot answers two questions about pay and shifts
3. It collects the application details in a few messages instead of a form
4. It offers three interview times and books Thursday at 2 pm
5. The manager interviews and marks the candidate as a hire in Workday
6. The bot sends the offer letter and onboarding paperwork the same afternoon

Why It Matters

• Time to hire fell 75%, from 12 days to 4
• Application completion rose from 50% to 85%, per the vendor
• Hours saved go back to running the restaurant, per COO Jason Kidd: "we've reinvested those hours into the restaurant"

Source

https://fortune.com/2026/06/02/chipotle-hiring-ai-assistant-ava-cado-from-12-to-4-days/