Announcing... The 2021 Jarritos/el Restaurante MANAGER OF THE YEAR WINNERS EDITOR’S NOTE: It’s always exciting for us to read the
nominations for our annual Jarritos/el Restaurante Manager of the Year Contest. This year, the pool included many managers who kept their restaurants thriving through adversity. It was tough to choose the winners, but we think you’ll agree that the following three clearly stand out.
FIRST PLACE: JESENIA RIVERA: Meeting Customers’ Moods When Jesenia Rivera greets customers at Taqueria Los Magueyes in Upland, California, she doesn’t have a one-size-fitsall approach. Rather, she assesses the mood of each customer. “I feel like I’m good at telling a person’s vibe,” says Rivera, who has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from University of California, Riverside. “If they want to talk about their day, I talk with them. Of if they’re more serious, I try to meet that tone. I try to reflect the mood they have.” Making that personalized connection is one reason Rivera was chosen as the Manager of the Year for 2021. She also effectively manages her young staff and steps in wherever she is needed. “What makes Jesenia exceptional is her adaptability to do every task that you expect from working in a restaurant,” wrote Jose Rivera, her father and owner of the two-location restaurant. “She handles sales, maintains cleanliness, pays bills, deals with vendors, and will even swoop in and cook if we are jam packed.”
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el restaurante | NOV/DEC 2021
Rivera started as a part-time hostess when she was in high school, became a full-time cashier about seven years ago, and was promoted to manager about five years ago. Her ability to get the most out of her 14 staff members is just as important as her skill at assessing customers’ moods. “A lot of my cashiers and front-of-house staff are pretty young, early 20s, and they go to school,” Rivera explains. “Since it’s a part-time job for them and they’re in school, I know they have other goals and dreams, so I want to give them some freedom. I say, ‘If you need a day off to do some school thing, tell us and we’ll let you, just return the favor when you can.’ That way they don’t have to call in sick.” When COVID hit, Rivera researched all safety protocols restaurants had to follow, and also took the lead in applying for relief funds. “That was a very intense time,” she remembers. “Every week there was something new, and I wanted to get everything perfect. I didn’t want us to get into trouble, didn’t want to get shut down.” Rivera secured a Payroll Protection Program loan for each location, and a grant from the local authorities to buy COVID-related supplies. What does the future hold? She would like to get a master’s degree, then maybe start her own restaurant. “Since I have all this experience, it would be nice to open my own little spot,” she says. “I would like to take everything I’ve learned and apply it to a small business I could call my own.”
SECOND PLACE: CELINA JIMENEZ: Rock Star Manager Celina Jimenez was already a valuable employee and assistant manager at Joselito’s Mexican Food in Tujunga, California when, about six months ago, she was asked to make the big jump to general manager. She handled it masterfully. “What impressed me the most about Celina early on was how well she gets it,” wrote Jose Grijalva, the restau-
