Chipotle’s COO takes employees to dinner every week to spot his next leaders—here are the 4 traits he’s seeking

Leaders have developed their own stealthy tests to spot high-potential employees ready to move up the next rung of the ladder. Chipotle’s chief operating officer, Jason Kidd, scouts the next cohort of leaders by breaking bread with his staffers. 

Every week, Kidd rounds up three to four members of the regional market in the town he’s visiting. During the 90-minute meals, the Chipotle exec not only bonds with the staff and strengthens the stores’ routine operations but also uses the time to scout promotions within the company. The COO typically visits around a dozen stores weekly, in various locations—giving a wide swath of employees a shot at making an impression. 

“We’re constantly identifying internal talent during these visits, seeing how people show up and see how they react,” Kidd recently told Business Insider.

In 2025 alone, the $46 billion fast-casual chain promoted 23,000 of its employees. And it’s a considerable segment of Chipotle’s workforce, which spanned more than 135,000 people across 4,100 global locations at the end of March. The food giant told Fortune that 100% of its regional vice presidents, 85% of general managers, and 83% of field leaders were promoted internally last year. And Kidd’s dinner-table test is one way Chipotle is tracking down who deserves a senior title. 

The weekly dinners allow him to “get to know people in a different way,” the executive explained, and suss out who is........

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