Chipotle chief operating officer Jason Kidd visits roughly a dozen Chipotle stores every week — and said he’s always on the hunt for talent.
At the end of each day, Kidd told Business Insider he sits down for a roughly 90-minute dinner with three or four members of the regional team in the market he’s visiting.
He said these meals help strengthen day-to-day operations and offer him a chance to get to know employees. It also gives him an opportunity to scan for internal promotions.
“We’re constantly identifying internal talent during these visits, seeing how people show up and see how they react,” said Kidd. Last year, Chipotle promoted 23,000 workers.
As of March of this year, the restaurant chain had over 4,100 locations globally and employed over 135,000 people. All of the company’s regional vice president promotions last year were internal, Kidd said. The company plans to open up to 370 new restaurants this year.
Those dinners provide a chance to “get to know people in a different way,” said Kidd, who joined Chipotle last year, after serving as COO at Taco Bell.
Specifically, the dinners are a chance to learn more about employees — what they want to do and whether they’re interested in advancing their careers. When he’s considering someone for a promotion, he said he’s looking for four key qualities.
The first is people who take care of one another and work well in groups.
“At the end of the day, we run a people business,” Kidd said. “So you need to make sure you take care of your people.”
As workers climb the leadership ladder, Kidd said, collaboration becomes increasingly important, along with building both personal and professional connections.
The second quality he looks for is people who “own the outcome.”
When he asks them how things are going, they take responsibility — whether the news is good or bad — and give him an honest assessment.
“They know how to deliver results,” Kidd said, adding that “if somebody can own the outcome of what they’re doing, they’re likely going to be a good leader.”
The third trait is the ability to anticipate problems instead of simply reacting to them.
“We don’t need firefighters; we need people who could be ahead of the issues and anticipate what’s going on,” he said.
The fourth quality is strong problem-solving skills. In the restaurant business, plenty can go wrong. Kidd said he’s looking for leaders who don’t just flag issues — anyone can identify a problem — but also come up with solutions.
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