English For Restaurant and Service Workers

What you'll learn

One Fair Wage and English Together's English for Restaurant and Service Workers program is built around the real roles, situations, and conversations that happen every day in restaurants. You'll learn the expressions and professional ways of speaking used on the kitchen line and the dining-room floor, so you can communicate clearly and confidently and be ready for your next role.

• Kitchen language: the fast, clear, direct way back-of-house teams communicate. Calling out orders, confirming instructions, coordinating timing, reporting problems, and keeping service moving safely, so you can respond clearly under pressure.
• Front-of-house language: welcoming and seating guests, friendly table talk, explaining menu items and specials, taking and confirming orders, answering questions about ingredients and allergens, handling requests and complaints, and handling checks and payments.
• On-the-job language: understanding schedules, pay stubs, and workplace policies; requesting time off; asking questions; and reporting problems clearly.
• Career language: applying for a higher-paying position. Interviewing. Negotiating a raise.

How classes work

Classes meet in person (in select cities) and online (nationwide). Sessions are small — typically 8–12 workers per cohort — and run on evening or daytime tracks to fit around restaurant shifts. Instructors include native-speaking volunteers and restaurant-industry coaches.

Who can enroll

Any current or recent restaurant worker. There's no test to get in, no immigration-status questions, and no cost. Bring a phone, a notebook, and your shift schedule — we'll figure out a class time that works.

Partnering with English Together

One Fair Wage is proud to partner with English Together, a Bay Area nonprofit that helps workers build practical workplace English through one-on-one conversation practice with trained volunteer partners.

English Together’s approach is grounded in how adults actually learn to communicate at work: by practicing the real interactions their jobs require until the right language comes naturally. Workers learn not only what to say, but how to say it, adjusting their language for customers, supervisors, and coworkers. The goal is not to sound like a native speaker. It is to communicate with confidence, serve customers well, and take part fully in the workplace.

Together, we share a commitment to fair pay, dignity, and opportunity for service workers. Learn more at englishtogether.org.

Why it matters

OFW's research shows that limited English is the single biggest barrier to advancement for immigrant restaurant workers — a population that's roughly a quarter of the industry. Workers stuck in back-of-house dish and prep roles because of language earn 30–45% less than workers who can move into front-of-house, line cook, or supervisor positions. Closing that gap starts in a classroom.