Article: No translation necessary

Sun Newspapers, 9/30/2004, by Teri Kelsh

‘Because we can talk to each other we make a deeper connection. I can ask about their family and friends and understand their lives, their families better.’
– Cassie German, Chipotle manager

It’s 3 p.m. and Amada Rojas has finished her shift at Chipotle in St. Louis Park. She has a few hours before she’s scheduled to start her second job at Noodles and Company, but she doesn’t go home, instead she joins six of her co-workers at a table in a quiet corner of the restaurant to prepare for class.

Rojas and her fellow employees are taking advantage of Chipotle’s culture, diversity and language program. It’s a new concept in the restaurant industry despite the fact that 17 percent of all food-service employees are Hispanic compared to 12 percent in other industries, according to the National Restaurant Association.

In Chipotle’s language program non-English speaking employees attend class once a week for four weeks to learn basic English, mostly words and phrases related to the restaurant industry. Class participation is voluntary, and those who do attend get paid for their time. Their teachers are also their store managers who’ve taken advantage of Chipotle’s Spanish language classes. Managers also receive a paid incentive for participating in the program.

Any Spanish-speaking Chipotle manager can volunteer to teach the English classes at their store. If there are no classes at a particular location employees can opt to go to a different one to attend the class.

At the St. Louis Park Chipotle, 5708 Excelsior Blvd., 27 out of its 30 employees are Hispanic. Manager Cassie German, also a St. Louis Park resident, said learning how to speak at least some Spanish was essential to being able to manage her store effectively.

“It’s taken months to get where I am, I’m not fluent in Spanish but after taking classes I can get the gist across,” said German.

The payoff of knowing each other’s language is mutually beneficial, German said, “Because we can talk to each other we make a deeper connection. I can ask about their family and friends and understand their lives, their families better.”

This has proven to be a powerful and effective recruiting mechanism for Chipotle. “There ends up being a lot of family and friends that work [at Chipotle]. Because there’s a mutual respect between me and my crew I always ask if they know someone who’s looking for a job, and I know the person they bring in is going to be responsible.”

Jill Bishop, Chipotle’s regional consultant for language, culture and diversity based in Chicago, said because of Chipotle’s language program, the company is seeing improved customer service and employee retention and advancement.

Employees who know at least some English can move from the kitchen to the front lines where direct communication with customers is necessary. Bishop said, “We always want to promote internally so the more fluent they become in English, ideally they would continue to move up to supervisor to manager and make more money.”

The opportunity to increase one’s earning potential has tremendous allure for most employees, but for many of the Spanish-speaking employees at Chipotle who are working two jobs and sending money home to family it’s vital.

“Most of my employees have a second job,” said German. “Honestly, I don’t know how they do it. But they’re always here and on time with a smile on their face.”

Sacrifice for success

Rojas has been employed at Chipotle for five months, approximately as long as she’s been in the country. She left her home in Veracruz, Mexico, to join her sister and brother who’ve been in the United States for four years. They are also employed at Chipotle.

Because Rojas is taking the language class, she can work the front line. As her English progresses, she’ll be able to advance to handling cash where it’s necessary she be able to discriminate between a “dollar” and a “buck.”

Most of her $7.80-an-hour paycheck is sent back to Mexico to support family, so to make her own ends meet she must hold a second job.

Because she knows how important it is to improve her English, she sacrifices her free time between jobs to attend class and admits to sometimes getting tired; nevertheless she persists.

She says being able to speak and understand English not only helps her work her jobs, it also helps her function in American society.

Her English, she says will be perfect in one year.

Class time

During class, German’s employees repeat words, phrases and numbers and answer questions in English.

The letter “v” proves challenging to the students, who are practicing words such as vegetarian, have and five.

Not only do the students need to be able to speak English, they must understand it when a customer asks a question.

“What would you recommend on the menu for a child?” German asks her students in English.

“Cheese quesadilla,” says Auricela Olivera and giggles. She has come in on her day off accompanied by her 1-year-old son Joseph to attend class.

“Perfecto,” German responded.

After completing the four-week class, students can attend a more advanced class, which runs eight weeks. Chipotle also encourages them to attend English classes outside of what the company offers.

“I really think our commitment to developing our employees stands out,” says Bishop. “There are the quantitative benefits with having better customer relations and the qualitative benefits where we’re developing better relationships with our employees.”

http://www.mnsun.com/archive.asp?display=story2&year=2004&storyID=144764