The Workforce AI Index · Consumer Cyclical

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG)

Restaurants with a stated support center count. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2025-12-31, filed 2026-02-04. Ranked 35 of the 39 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.

A restaurant company whose filing states its U.S. employees in restaurants and in support centers and field leadership, so the two patterns come from stated counts.

The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.

What follows from the reading

Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 11% now, 13% at the end of 2027, 14% at the end of 2028, 14% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 14% desk work, 22% people work and 65% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 86% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 10% becomes checking a model's work and 4% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.

Headcount

130,301 employees as of 2025-12-31 (stated). 127,116 of 130,301 employees worked in the United States; 3,185 worked in Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, Chipotle employed 130,301 people worldwide and 1,233 contract workers.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: 1,233 contract workers are stated beside the employees and not counted (rule 8); one restaurant voted to form a union in 2022 and bargaining continues; nearly 90% of in-restaurant leadership roles were filled by promotion in 2025.

Companies read with the same leading pattern

Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Restaurants and Other Eating Places, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.

• Starbucks (SBUX, 381,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC, 290,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Darden (DRI, 209,931 employees)10% now, 13% by 2028
• McDonald's Corporation (MCD, 150,000 employees)10% now, 13% by 2028
• Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH, 101,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Brinker International, Inc. (EAT, 85,003 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL, 74,500 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Bloomin' Brands, Inc. (BLMN, 64,000 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028

What the filing says about AI

4 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing says it invests in and uses emerging technologies, including AI and machine learning, to make business tasks easier, more efficient and less labor intensive, and that the adoption of AI heightens certain risks.

• “The strategy is grounded in five key areas: Protect and strengthen the core by driving operational and culinary excellence to deliver exceptional value for our guests; Evolve the brand messaging and accelerate menu innovation and new occasions that drive demand into our restaurants; Modernize our business model with industry-leading technology, including leveraging AI and relaunching our Reward...”
• “We continue to invest in and utilize emerging technologies that have potential to make business tasks easier, more efficient and less labor intensive, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.”
• “We expect that the rapid evolution and increased adoption of artificial intelligence have heightened and will continue to heighten those risks.”
• “Our business is subject to extensive federal, state, local and international laws and regulations, including those relating to: preparation, sale and labeling of food, including regulations of the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees the safety of the entire food system and covers inspections and mandatory food recalls, menu labeling and nutritional content; employment practices and wor...”

Headcount by filing year

As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.

Limits of this reading

• The U.S. split between restaurants and support centers is stated; the 3,185 abroad are placed with the restaurants by description.

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001058090-26-000009, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.