6 Questions with John Jaramillo on Acknowledging Hispanic Restaurant Workers
Read time: 14 min
By Sophie Braker
First restaurant job?
Big Burger, Windsor, Colorado - at age 16 - The restaurant was a fast-food burger and chicken restaurant. Bob, a retired Marine, was the owner. Taught me all aspects of the back of the house basic operations. Teasingly, I was known as the Head Fry Cook. I still take pictures of myself making fries or something similar when I visit restaurants. Brings a smile to my face. The fond memories are great and most of us have great memories of our first restaurant job or some great memory around food.
2. What’s a food / drink you always have on hand at home?
I almost always have some type of steak and eggs in the fridge as far as proteins and some type of potato or sweet potato for the carbohydrate. AND, I always keep a slab of butter on hand. I buy it by the case from a distributor so I never run out. It’s a European style butter so extra butter fat! I know that’s 3 items but I always have it in stock at my house! For the drink, I always have cold water (boring I know) and a bottle of Scotch or Bourbon on hand. Gotta be ready for the apocalypse in style!
3. What are some of the numbers and percentages of Hispanic workers in the restaurant industry?
That’s a tough question because it depends on what model you look at. We as an organization have mainly been looking at the back of the house in the restaurant industry in the western US. It’s very significant and our research indicates that the Latin/Hispanic workers make up a significant majority of the labor of the Food and Beverage Industry and the Food Service Industry in general. I call the Latin/Hispanic workforce the “Human Infrastructure” of the Food Supply Chain in the USA. If you go to any major chain such as Chipotle, McDonalds, and just take a look around you’ll get an anecdotal feel for my point. In addition, just go to a restaurant and take a look at the back of the house and it will tell the story in helping answer the question. Across the USA, the number is in the millions and I believe it’s 60% plus.
4. What factors have kept migrant workers from being acknowledged in the industry?
I could write a book on this question alone, but I also will provide some answers and solutions on how it can be solved. None of our proposed solutions can solve it overnight but it will provide the framework and architecture to start a long term process. It’s a generational fight and what I call “Bending the Strategic Arc”.
The factors are basically 4 points and all are tied together or overlapping like in a Venn Diagram
The Language barrier - This barrier is startlingly obvious and once there is a common language then we can start to talk and understand one another. That’s why we started the Food and Beverage Language Institute with the Community College of Denver. It’s a hybrid tool of utilizing technology and old school office hours for support. We will be launching in the next 60-90 days as an official program offering. It’s been in the works for over a year.
The Cultural barrier - Many of the back of the house and many in the Food and Beverage/Service Industry are new to this country. They often don’t understand the American business and restaurant culture as well as how to navigate the systems and how to find ways to help themselves. We as an organization are trying to change that with our platform, network, systems, and support. There are so many places, people, and organizations that want to help but don’t have a good understanding on how to help over the long term. Our goal is to get everyone to support themselves and know how to find resources when needed.
The Training barrier or Path of Progression barrier - This barrier can be overcome by the leadership of each restaurant or business telling, showing, and developing a Path Of Progression that outlines what it takes to move up all the way to General Manager if that’s what is wanted by the employee. Not just one time, here you go paperwork drill, but a mantra of our unofficial motto of the HRA. “El Camino a la Cumbre” or Road to the Summit. In this case, the promotions that can be had if they are the best employee they can be and show the needed initiative, skills, and competence to have earned a promotion.
Trust - As the leadership of an organization/restaurant you have to earn the trust of the Latin/Hispanic Community. Once again, it all ties together and with our help we can develop that trust and overcome that barrier. But, we hold both sides accountable. As an organization, are you really developing (long term) your employee base? As an employee, are you being the best version of yourself and benefitting your employer? Timeliness, focused work, being the best at that position, always learning, wanting and communicating where you want to be as time progresses. Do you, as an employer, know these things?
How do we empower the future restaurant leaders?
We empower future restaurant leaders by developing them through a systemic process of long term growth. By training them to be the best versions of themselves. The HRA has developed a leadership model called the 5 Pillars Leadership Model. This program is designed to give the framework and architecture to those that want to improve their lives in a systematic way with dramatic results over time. The Pillars are built around Leadership, Education, Teamwork, Relationship Building with the foundational pillar and resulting Cultural Ethos Pillar. Whole libraries and books have been written on each of these but ours is the framework of the work at all levels. Great leadership can solve so many issues. But we first must develop them and educate them. It doesn't happen overnight. As I mentioned in a previous question, the Latin/Hispanic worker makes up a majority of the Food and Beverage Industry. They will make up a large portion of your future leadership. Train them well and you will reap the benefits for years and society, families, friends, will reap the benefits for a lifetime. One of the good stereotypes of the Latin/Hispanic worker is the work ethic. Let’s channel some of that energy and work ethic into educating and elevating them through a framework that everyone can understand and work towards.
The Vision Statement of the HRA is “To Educate and Elevate the Hispanic Community across a multi-generational spectrum.” Everything we do is viewed through our Mission and Vision Statements. Show them that North Star or how to get on the “Road to the Summit.” The journey is always easier when supported by action oriented leadership, systems that are continuously communicated. The employee does 98% of the work. The leadership just shows the way and develops the supporting mechanisms.
6. Best advice for restaurateurs wanting to be an ally for their Hispanic community?
Well, another startlingly obvious, but in a good way, self serving answer. Come alongside us and let us help you. Let us teach you our leadership model. Let us teach you how to best communicate the methods on how to overcome all of those barriers. Let us help you overcome that trust barrier. As far as I can tell, we are the only restaurant organization in the nation that has an end to end solution for many of the issues we are facing as an industry. Developing programs and systems that lower those barriers. Don't just talk or have a committee and take no action. Or, have a nice slogan on social media and hold a luncheon to celebrate a culture. I see that all too often from companies large and small. You become an ally by developing, teaching, guiding, mentoring, and promoting those that have earned it. We clearly recognize that it won't be easy, but we can’t fix what isn't acknowledged. I encourage everyone to take a look at the entirety of what we do as an organization. There are many firsts of what we have done in our short two years of existence.
Hispanic Top Chef
Food and Beverage Language Institute
Hispanic Restaurant Week proclamation in two states- Colorado and Oklahoma - we hope for a Congressional proclamation this year
Quetzales Guide rollout - The search for the best of the best Latin Chefs and Restaurants in the USA and eventually the world
5 Pillars Leadership Model
Help with licenses and vendor support
Technology recommendations
When I was in the US Military, one of my friends and fellow trainers told me a fictional story of a war game called the Kobayashi Maru. The underlying philosophy is how to win an unwinnable game? You do it by changing the rules. That’s what we are doing at the Hispanic Restaurant Association. We have had to adopt this philosophy because many of what I would call “the larger organizations” just wouldn’t return a call or offer support. From Associations to Chamber of Commerces. It was just the “let’s have coffee or lunch” mantra sometime soon or we would have lunch/coffee and then nothing. Or they would send a sales team to try to sell me something or a membership. All talk and no action as I mentioned earlier.
So we’ve had to develop an entire ecosystem to support the Latin/Hispanic worker and restaurateur as well as something for the community in general. This has been sorely lacking in the industry for decades: from a new culinary award system called the Quetzlaes Guide to our own young network called the “Latin Food Network'' to a Leadership model and our own Hispanic Top Chef. My goal isn't to be negative but to point out that Selene Nestor (co-founder), the Hispanic Chefs Leadership, and I bootstrapped this with our own time and money.
Though a non-profit, we have received zero grants or money from other associations, non-profits, chambers of commerce, or foundations with the exception of the Colorado Dry Bean Committee, but have been supported by industry sponsors that are listed on our website. As well as our Hispanic Chefs Leadership! So I must truly thank them! We have grown tremendously and are opening chapters in 3 other states this year. Overall, it’s been a privilege and honor to be part of a movement that will shape the industry for the foreseeable future. Our success to this point can be largely attributed to the TEAM around me. The leadership skills, network, and abilities brought by others on the Team is something to behold. Without them, we are nothing.
There’s more but that's a start…. Go to www.hispanicrestaurantassociation.org or email me at john@hispanicrestaurantassociation.org to get involved or donate.
Watch the Videocast episode with John and Jensen - BSP401: Understanding The Immense Impact of Hispanic Workers On The Restaurant Industry
Born in Chamisal, New Mexico, John Jaramillo grew up in the Sangre De Christo Mountains of New Mexico in Chamisal, New Mexico. John had a very large family of 10 and he loved hiking in the hills and mountains at a very young age.
After moving to Colorado at the age of 7, he lived in cities such as Greeley, Kersey and Windsor, Colorado and graduated from Windsor High School.
Being an adventurous person but a poor student he didn't have the grades to go to college, so he opted to join the US Navy right out of high school. That began a 20-year journey of high adventure across the globe and getting an education that culminated in a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Chapman University and a military retirement from the US Navy. The stories of that journey are to be saved for times around a dinner table and campfires with fellow members of that fraternity.
After retirement, He raised his son, Drue, as a single parent, from 1 year old until he was accepted into Johns Hopkins University and will graduate in 2023 with a double major in Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Pure Math and a minor in Financial Economics.
During this period, John focused on raising his son in a loving, supportive and stable environment and ensuring that education, mental and physical disciplines and family were the focus of Drue's life. John feels he succeeded in all those environments.
Today, John is the President of the Hispanic Restaurant Association (HRA Est-March 2021) and leads it with Selene Nestor (Chief of Operations). Both are Co-Founders and equally develop parts of the organization.
The HRA is breaking new ground and has created culinary history and in the community by establishing the following in the 18 months in existence.
Nations first Hispanic Restaurant Week by Governor Polis
2nd Hispanic Restaurant Week by Governor Stitt - Oklahoma
Nation's 1st Hispanic Chefs Association
Nation's 1st Hispanic Top Chef
Nation's 1st Food and Beverage Language Institute
Saved numerous restaurants from closing and helped with numerous openings.
HRA established with Fernando Stovell the world’s first Latin Food Guide called the Quetzales Guide (similar to other prominent food guide such as AAA or Michelin)
These are just some of the milestones created by the HRA with many more to come. This brief bio highlights John's life and a forward-looking attitude of shaping the culinary world for the better with the help of a great team and the community.
