Chipotle CEO says computer vision and machine learning may soon bolster restaurant workers’ jobs

That doesn’t mean the past couple of years has been easy for Chipotle. Like others in the restaurant industry, it has been struggling to staff its more than 2,900 restaurants. It’s also investing $2 billion, which includes a 2021 wage increase to an average of $15 an hour, on nearly 100,000 employees. In 2020, the restaurant agreed to fork over a record $25 million for criminal charges over tainted food it served between 2015 and 2018 that sickened more than 1,100 U.S. customers. And it’s dealing with the growing cost of ingredients and supplies, keeping up with the demand of online and takeout orders, and adapting to the ever-changing covid crisis.