Chipotle workers have to start as early as 6 a.m. to prep food even though the restaurants don't open for 4 more hours

• Shifts for prep workers at Chipotle can start as early as 6 a.m., CEO Brian Niccol told investors.
• The first workers to arrive undertake tasks including chopping vegetables, grilling meat, and mashing avocados.
• Chipotle has more than 110,000 employees, with an average age of 24.

Prep workers at Chipotle have to start work as early as 6 a.m. to get food ready for when the restaurants open, company execs revealed at its third-quarter earnings call Thursday.

"We don't have freezers in our restaurants and our teams begin preparing at 6 o'clock or 7 o'clock in the morning to be able to serve our delicious food by the time we open at 10:30," CEO Brian Niccol said.