A lot goes on behind the scenes in a restaurant kitchen, as a sort of shared tango takes hold between cooks, servers, dishwashers, and managers, preparing delicious meals for their visitors.
However, an element that often stands in the way is the language barrier between team members (up to 40% of employees in the restaurant industry are undocumented workers, according to Civil Eats).
Casa Bonita in Denver, Colorado faced that hurdle head-on. In 2022, 29 Casa Bonita staff members received language certifications while the restaurant was undergoing renovations after being purchased by “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
Spanish-speaking staff members took English classes, and English-speaking staffers took Spanish classes over a 16-week period.
Head chef Dana Rodriguez. Photo courtesy of Casa Bonita/Facebook
The program lead and executive chef, Dana Rodriguez has truly learned the value of inclusive communication in the kitchen, since she first moved to the U.S. from Mexico in 1998.
“Even being a dishwasher, to be able to communicate with the line cooks, with the chef… you learn eventually,” she told The Denverite. “But you have to try really hard.”
Rodriguez said she hoped classes like this make that process a bit more seamless — and that other restaurants and associations invest in their employees, too.
In Denver, the Colorado Restaurant Association supports area restaurants that want to provide second language learning for workers, and the Hispanic Restaurant Association offers similar programming for over 400 restaurants nationwide.
Alex Perez, a Casa Bonita team member who has worked at the restaurant for nearly 30 years, and Beau Gentry, a newer Casa Bonita staffer, both told the Denverite that they feel more confident about their relationships after taking the language classes.
“I try to have better communication with my bosses, my coworkers, and customers,” Perez said. “That’s what I do. I try to be better.”
“There was a little bit of a disconnect,” Gentry added, alluding to the language barrier between team members. “But, now we’re all connected more as a family.”
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A version of this article was originally published in The 2023 Food Edition of the Goodnewspaper.
Header image courtesy of Casa Bonita
