How Tony’s Tex-Mex Helps Employees Build Skills On and Off the Job

Tony’s Tex-Mex restaurant, famous for its strong margaritas and delicious enchiladas, is also known for its gregarious owner, Tony Vega, who passed away in July 2020.

Tony’s success wasn’t solely built on his food, it also stemmed from his unique philosophy and approach toward employees and the loyalty it engendered. Tony believed that employees were family which, to him, meant providing support for them to succeed in life – both on and off the job. He wanted to help them integrate better into society and live more fulfilling lives, finding ways to help employees learn English and earn their diplomas.

These founding principles still guide the company today and it is with a desire to find a means of furthering his vision, that current management reached out to Workforce Solutions.

Leveraging a partnership between Workplace Adult Education and Literacy (AEL) and Workforce Solutions, management was able to design a customized workplace literacy training program for Tony’s. This program made English as a Second Language (ESL) classes available to all Tony’s employees and resulted in an overall increase in productivity. This unique model of adult education and literacy curriculum offers benefits not only to the business, but the people within it as well – opening doors for workers to become successful in and outside of the workplace.

This ABC 13 television clip shows how Workforce Solutions supports Tony’s Tex-Mex fill staffing needs and highlights ways it supports its employees:

Cintya Alania, a member of Tony’s management team, said, “Tony wanted all of his employees to be successful and grow with the company and he thought the first step was offering English classes because most of our kitchen staff don’t speak English.”