Celena Dermatas

Weaver
Rhetoric I
October 15, 2014
Cover Letter
Throughout my paper I hope to fully explain exactly what a discourse community
is and why the kitchen of The Brewing Station- a popular restaurant where I'm fromshould be considered one. I will do this using the material I obtained through my
observations and interviews. I hope to get my points across successfully and give good
and strong examples from things I observed in the field. I plan to explain the kind of
language that is used in the kitchen and the way the workers interact and work together to
complete a task. There are many factors that go into making a restaurant work together
and be successful, and I will explain these throughout my paper.

Celena Dermatas
Weaver
Rhetoric I
October 15, 2014

A discourse community is defined as being a group of people who share basic

values, assumptions, and ways of communicating to complete a common goal. Discourse
communities are everywhere, they must meet certain characteristics that qualify them as
being a discourse community. Back home in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina there is a
very well-known restaurant called The Brewing Station Brewery and Restaurant. Not
only is it popular because of the amazing food, but as well as the fact that they brew their
own beer and are powered completely off wind turbines. This brings an abundance of
tourists to their front doors every day and night. During the summertime, The Brewing
Station seats an average of 500 people every night, not including the bar and outside
seating. I plan to start working there this summer so I thought it would be really
interesting to learn more about what makes the kitchen of this restaurant a discourse
community. The key points I will discuss include any special lexis or language the
kitchen staff use, shared goals of the staff as well as the intercommunication that
completes those goals. I will also include my personal observations in the kitchen and
responses from some of the workers.

While observing at The Brewing Station's kitchen, I learned a lot about what goes into
making the restaurant run smoothly and working together to complete tasks at hand. The
first day I observed the kitchen, three workers were there by 8:00 a.m to start getting
everything ready. Everyone has their own set tasks that they are responsible for. For
example, one worker would start making the sweet tea while two or three others start
rolling silverware and prepping salads. They all were focused, quick and hardworking.
Everyone knew exactly what to do and if they did not, there was always someone around
to answer any questions. At one point during my observations in the morning, one worker
tells another that he needs more napkins "on the fly". Later during an interview with that
worker, I found out that it means they need something quick. There are a lot of words and
phrases they use in the kitchen to communicate. A lot of these include basic cooking
vocabulary and slang words that they understand fully between one another. Another
instance where I observed at The Brewing Station, I was able to see how they clean up
and close up everything at the end of the night. It seemed crazy to me how organized
everything was and how fast paced the environment was. There is little time for leisure
back in the kitchen and the workers seemed to understand and respect this. Through my
whole time observing, I never once saw any worker off task or distracted.
While speaking with some of the workers I was able to find out more information about
what it is really like working back in the kitchen and some things they do to keep
everything running smoothly. Josh Rogers, employed almost three years at The Brewing
Station, has a lot of responsibility throughout the workday. Rogers explained to me that
he has no particular job, rather many jobs that he completes during the day including
grilling, frying, baking, pastries, desserts, prepping salads, soups and anything else they

may need him to do. I was surprised how much responsibility one person could have in
such a big kitchen and restaurant. My shock must have shown on my face because Rogers
face lit up and he exclaimed, "oh no, don't get me wrong, I love it! Every day I just get to
do what I love in here, but it's not just me. It's all of us working together, we need
everyone." This opened my eyes because I realized how confident these workers were in
their abilities within each other. Rogers showed me that they all rely on each other, that
someone will always be there to help because their all in it together. He also mentioned
that some days he is a "floater", this means that he is available in the kitchen to anyone
who might need extra help. While watching the kitchen staff clean up after closing, I
noticed how much the environment of the kitchen shifted from fast-paced and stressful to
easy going and happy. The workers were all joking with each other and everyone was in a
good mood given it had been a successful and busy night for The Brewing Station.
However it was not all fun and games, everyone started getting out cleaning supplies and
got to work. Still efficient as ever, the kitchen staff did not rush through the cleaning
rather took the time to make sure everything was taken care of. While speaking with
another member of the kitchen staff, Brandon Holcomb, I learned that all the cleaning is
done twice every night before close. Holcomb begins to laugh and says, "by the end of
the night and all the cleaning, you could eat off of our kitchen floor." After everything I
saw in my observations, I don't doubt it.
I got to see firsthand how the workers in the kitchen intercommunicate to complete tasks.
Through their use of unique lexis, they are able to talk to each other quickly without any
explaining. If someone was to simply walk in the kitchen and start working, they would
be completely lost. I concluded that it must take a while for a new worker to get

comfortable in the kitchen. When I asked Holcomb about this he agreed and added that
they have a whole week to learn everything they need to know in the kitchen, a week that
they don't have near as much responsibility as they normally would. Of the six
characteristics of a discourse community, I would say intercommunication stuck out the
most in my observations. It is so important to be able to communicate to each other in the
kitchen, if not things would be very slow and unsuccessful. Everyone in the restaurant
needs them to get the food out as quickly as possible and they do.
Through all my observations and interviews, there is no doubt that the kitchen of The
Brewing Station is a discourse community. In the workers abilities to talk to each other
and work together to make the restaurant as efficient as it is. I have learned a lot about
what goes into working back in the kitchen. I've learned that you must be confident not
only in your own abilities but of those working beside and around you. The kitchen staff
is like a family, they are all there for one another and they work very hard to be
successful. Even though the members of this family may come and go, they remain as
one whole unit and within each other they are able to complete numerous tasks by
working together and communicating.

Celena Dermatas
Weaver
Rhetoric II
October 20, 2014
Field Notes

First Day Observations (Before opening; 8:00 a.m - 9:00 a.m)

3 Workers in the kitchen at 8:00 a.m
8:05 a.m powering on ovens, turning on lights
someone gets out a box of napkins and another brings him a bunch of silverware he starts
placing them out one by one and wrapping them up to go out on the tables
8:10 a.m another cook shows up, others make remarks about him being late, he quickly
begins working- making iced/sweet tea
8:20 a.m there are now 6 people in the kitchen
people, 2, start unpacking meat from the freezer and making hamburger patties
someone says they need something "on the fly", other worker responds "quick as I can
man"

8:40 a.m food is now being "prepped" (soups, salads)

hushpuppies are being made along with seasoned loaves of bread
9:00 a.m opening
Interview: Josh Rogers - Cook
Me: How long have you been working here at the Brewing Station?
Josh: About 2 and a half years now
Me: What all do you do here?
Josh: Fry, grill, pastries, desserts, salads, soups - whatever they need me for
Me: Are there any things you particularly like/dislike about working here?
Josh: Very fast-paced, common for arguments among the cooks, high stress levels. but it
teaches you a lot about the kitchen and I work with some really cool people, it's a good
environment and I love what I do.
Me: How long do you plan to stay employed here?
Josh: As long as they want me and as long as I continue to enjoy it.
Me: Are there any particular sayings or words you and the workers use to communicate
that others wouldn't understand?
Josh: Yeah we say a lot of cooking terms that new people would have to learn
Me: While I was observing I heard a worker say "on the fly", and another told me the

food was being "prepped", what exactly do those terms mean to the workers?
Josh: Oh yeah, "on the fly" means someone needs something really fast and food being
"prepped" means it's being prepared for the day
Second Day Observations (After closing- cleaning up)
11:30 p.m workers are relieved and happy the work day is over
11:31 p.m workers joking around and laughing with eachother
11:35 p.m someone remarks "let's get this show on the road so I can get out of here and
go home"
One worker begins mopping up the floor
Two workers are moving all the stoves, ovens, grills and fryers out of the way and against
the wall
11:40 p.m two workers are permitted to leave, 6 are left cleaning
11:50 p.m all the dishes are done and being put away
11:55 p.m some food is being wrapped for the next day
12:00 p.m a worker is mad because the cleaning is not finished, he says "ya'll better hurry
up, I've got better things to be doing"
12: 10 p.m cleaning is almost finished, some food is being made and frozen for the next
day as well
12: 15 p.m everything is done, all cook staff is free to go home