Chipotle Mexican Grill opened its 1,000th “Chipotlane” (a Chipotle with a drive-thru) restaurant last week. Located in the Kansas City metro area, “the milestone restaurant will feature the company's signature digital order drive-thru pick-up lane,” Chipotle said in a press release. Chipotle said that of the company's more than 3,600 restaurants in its real estate portfolio, nearly 30% feature a Chipotlane.

"Chipotlanes are a critical piece of our long-term growth goal of reaching 7,000 restaurants in North America," said Chris Brandt, chief brand officer. "This restaurant format is the fastest way for fans to get Chipotle and has proven to increase sales, margins, and returns."

Chipotle first introduced the Chipotlane format in the U.S. in early 2018, giving guests and delivery drivers the ability to pick up their Chipotle orders without leaving their cars. New restaurant openings that feature the digital order pick-up lane “have demonstrated higher volumes and greater returns than a traditional Chipotle restaurant format. On average, it takes guests less than 30 seconds to complete the Chipotlane process.”

Chipotle said it is building a real estate pipeline that will allow it to accelerate new unit growth at 8% to 10% per year, with the majority of new restaurants featuring a Chipotlane. The company is on track to open between 285 to 315 new restaurants this year, “which marks record growth for the business. In 2025, Chipotle anticipates opening between 315 to 345 new restaurants with at least 80% including a Chipotlane.”

Last month, Chipotle partnered with Paradox to use AI for its hiring process. The company said it expects the new technology to reduce the amount of time it takes to hire an employee for an in-restaurant position by as much as 75%.

Paradox is being introduced in a phased approach across more than 3,500 restaurant locations. The recruiting system aims to decrease the time to hire, reduce job advertising costs, increase hiring for hard-to-fill roles, and improve candidate experience, according to Chipotle.