Bilingual basics

A growing Latino workforce moves language challenges from back of the house to head of the class

By Jon W. Drummond, Special to R&I -- Restaurants & Institutions, 5/1/2003

As a lunchtime crowd lines up inside a Chipotle Mexican restaurant in Denver, Cecilia Gowins surveys the scene with pride.

She sees confidence in employees’ smiles, and over the sizzle from open grills and the chatter of customers she hears counter workers using newly learned English skills. In the kitchen, Gowins—human resources manager of culture and language programs for the

Denver-based chain and its 6,500 employees—knows managers are giving instructions in Spanish.

The bilingual workplace is the result of the seven years Gowins spent creating, reviewing, translating and implementing a culture and language program for the 245-unit chain.

“When employees don’t understand the language, their level of confidence is minimal,” she says. “After the first one or two of our classes, their confidence changes overnight. They start smiling more and interacting with customers.”

As foodservice operations throughout the United States put to work increasing numbers of Latino workers with limited or no English abilities, language obstacles are moving from the back of the house to the head of the class.

What has changed is the realization that language skills, like all communication, must be a two-way street. While continuing to provide English-as-a-second-language instruction to Spanish-speaking foodservice workers, more companies also are improving managers’ fluency in Spanish, the de facto primary language in many professional kitchens.

MAJORITY RULE
“It’s a manager’s responsibility to break the language barrier and reach employees,” says Matt Casado, a professor in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. “We teach management, and one main part of management is communication. Some managers have translators [to communicate with non-English speakers], but it’s not the same as managing directly.”

And manage they must, as the Spanish-speaking workforce grows. In fewer than 20 years, the number of Latinos employed in the foodservice industry tripled from 6% in 1983 to 18% in 2000, according to U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. The percentage of Spanish speakers in large cities can be much higher.

At Chipotle locations, more than half of all back-of-the-house workers speak Spanish as their first language, says Gowins. She approaches language barriers from both sides, with employees learning English and managers learning Spanish. “It has to be a combined effort,” she says, stressing that the company’s management philosophy is about reaching and communicating with employees, rather than merely understanding a language.

Her in-house program includes language classes, bilingual handbooks and audiotapes that focus on restaurant phrases and terminology specific to Chipotle operations. Hour-long language sessions, which are voluntary, are conducted on site during company time. Class starting times are staggered by location, with some beginning at 8 a.m. and others at 9:30 a.m., giving employees more options within the same city. An additional four-week audiotape program reinforces class concepts.

As one worker tries to learn English and another learns Spanish, “they start helping one other, laughing about mistakes and building relationships,” Gowins says. “The dynamic is incredible.”

BEYOND WORDS
To combat cultural misconceptions, her staff schedules separate open discussions for managers and crew members.

“Managers discuss challenges that the team may encounter with Hispanic immigrants, who are different from U.S.-born Hispanics,” she says. Topics include history and facts about Spanish-speaking countries, as well as cultural approaches to male and female relationships. “Management really appreciates the support and opportunity to discuss this.” Discussions are attended by the area manager, floor managers, assistant managers and at least one representative from Gowins’ department.

For crew members, discussions focus on more-practical aspects of life in the United States, such as rights and responsibilities of employers and employees.

Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc. has been encouraging its managers to take Spanish for the past 10 years, says Carrol Symank, vice president of training and development for the Chicago-based multiconcept operator. The company employs more than 3,500 people in 36 operations in Illinois, Arizona, Maryland, Minnesota and Nevada.

Symank’s department compiled a list of introductory and conversational Spanish classes offered at Chicago area colleges and gave it to every manager. Participation is voluntary, but employees are reimbursed. The company’s cost is less than $200 per manager, usually $60 to $150 for a six-to-eight-week course plus the cost of a textbook, another $30 to $50, Symank says.