The Workforce AI Index · Consumer Cyclical

Brinker International, Inc. (EAT)

Restaurant operator, counted by role. Read October 1, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending 2026-06-24, filed 2026-08-19. Ranked 34 of the 39 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now: the sector.

The filing counts 723 support center, 5,125 restaurant management and about 79,000 hourly team members, so the restaurants pattern carries nearly all of the 85,003 (a).

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

85,003 employees as of 2026-06-24 (stated). The filing describes its Chili's and Maggiano's restaurants and gives no count by country.

The filing: “Our employee base as of June 24, 2026, consisted of 85,003 team members, including 723 restaurant support center team members, 5,125 restaurant management team members, with the remainder being hourly team members.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: 723 restaurant support center, 5,125 restaurant management and about 79,000 hourly team members, of whom about 18% are full-time and 82% part-time; no collective bargaining agreements; about 87% of new general managers promoted from within in fiscal 2026.

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
• Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG, 130,301 employees)11% now, 14% by 2028
• Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH, 101,000 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

7 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing names AI in 7 sentences, as risk: AI-generated or false content on social media, and AI among the methods of cyber attack.

• “Such risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the impact of general economic conditions, including inflation, on economic activity and on our operations; disruptions on our business including consumer demand, costs, product mix, our strategic initiatives, operations, technology and assets, and our financial performance; the impact of current and potential tariffs and trade barriers;...”
• “Our strategy may not be successful due to a variety of factors, including any changes in social media platforms, the loss or suspension of company accounts, government restrictions or changes in ownership of social media platforms, an increase in AI-generated or false content, and others resulting in expenses incurred without improvement in guest traffic or brand relevance.”
• “If our technology systems, or those of third-party services providers we rely upon, are compromised as a result of a cyber-attack (including from circumvention of security systems, denial-of-service attacks, hacking, use of artificial intelligence, "phishing" attacks, computer viruses, ransomware, malware, or social engineering) or other external or internal methods, it could result in an adver...”
• “The rapid evolution and increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies may also heighten our cybersecurity risks by making cyber-attacks more difficult to detect, contain, and mitigate.”
• “As privacy and information security laws and regulations change, or cyber risks evolve pertaining to data and artificial intelligence, we may incur significant additional costs in technology, third-party services and personnel to maintain systems designed to anticipate and prevent cyber-attacks.”

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 collector found no headcount sentence; the human capital section's 85,003 team members is the count.

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000703351-26-000029, 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.