Chipotle’s Chief Operating Officer Jason Kidd says he uses weekly employee dinners as part of an internal effort to identify and develop future leaders. Across reporting from Fortune and Yahoo News, Kidd is described as taking employees out for regular meals to better understand their motivation, decision-making, and teamwork in day-to-day settings. He frames the dinners as a way to spot people who demonstrate leadership potential beyond formal roles.
Both sources state that Kidd is focused on four traits he looks for when considering promotion or advancement. These include a team-first mindset, a willingness to take responsibility for results (“own the outcome”), and other leadership behaviors tied to performance and collaboration. The reporting presents Kidd’s approach as targeted talent scouting aimed at strengthening leadership depth within the company’s operations.
The sources do not indicate any change to Chipotle’s public policies for promotion, but they describe Kidd’s personal, informal method for observing employee capabilities and cultural fit, with the goal of promoting talent from within.
