THE NUMBERS… For those of us in the hospitality field, we don’t need to be told that by 2024, 20% of America’s workforce will be Hispanic and Latino. According to the 2016 US Census, 40 million of the 57.5 million Hispanics in the United States speak Spanish at home; of those 40 million, half claim to speak English “very well.” As many as 10 million claim they speak English “not well,” or “not at all.” This 10 million probably doesn’t sound like a big deal across the entire country. But consider the damage that can be done by just one employee who did not fully comprehend their food safety training.
THREE GOALS OF SERVSAFE FOOD MANAGER TRAINING… For its investment in ServSafe Manager training, the restaurant hopes to accomplish three goals:
– consistently serving safe food in a clean and sanitary work environment
– achieving higher scores on routine health inspections (remember, in many jurisdictions, these are published in the local news)
– improving the likelihood that the employee will earn the certification on the first attempt
CHALLENGES FOR SPANISH-SPEAKING TEAM MEMBERS… For all of my 30+ years as a Certified ServSafe Instructor, I have been troubled by the high rate of Spanish-first-language students that fail the certification exam on the first attempt. The ServSafe exam is available in Spanish (the Spanish version of the exam also shows each question in English), and the ServSafe Essentials book and FSA Training’s Study Guide are both provided in Spanish. Yet, there’s still one major hurdle… in the instructor led class, the student spends 4 – 5 hours trying to comprehend technical information presented in their second language. The trifecta of a successful ServSafe certification experience for a Hispanic student: 1) read and comprehend ServSafe Essentials or FSA Study Guide prior to the class; 2) attend a native language ServSafe seminar; and, 3) take the exam in the student’s first language.
BENEFITS OF SERVSAFE FOOD MANAGER TRAINING IN SPANISH… – First and foremost, practical application of the learned concepts around serving safe food.
– The employee’s appreciation that restaurant ownership recognized the importance of first-language training.
– Employee’s higher esteem upon passing the certification exam on the first attempt.