Importance of Staff Training In a Restaurant

In addition to the training that a person must receive when they join the team, it is essential to include continuous restaurant training alongside business activities, both for management and for all staff.

Do you include training in your restaurant? If you answered yes, we are happy that you do so and hope that it is providing very good results. If you answered no, we encourage you to consider it as a vital tool for facing the challenges in our industry.

In any of these two cases, here are some ideas for courses, workshops and training that will make your team – and thus your restaurant – shine. Take note!

Advantages of offering training at the restaurant

To begin and if there are any doubts, these are the two main reasons for taking this step:

It increases commitment to the company. A restaurant that includes these types of activities in their budget and planning demonstrates that they are involved with the staff and their performance. This results in a mirror effect, which increases employees’ engagement with the company and their motivation, since they are taken into account beyond day-to-day tasks.

It improves the restaurant’s general level. All the training that the team acquires is a stimulus to create and apply new solutions to all areas of the business. For instance, a chef that has completed training in nutrition can propose more balanced and healthier dishes for customers. Or a waiter that has completed a cross-selling workshop can sell products with greater effectiveness and results.

These are relevant reasons, right? Now, what type of education can we offer the staff in order to make an efficient investment? Here are some very good examples:

Basic training

Although the ideal scenario is for the hired staff to have qualifications in their specialty and in how to offer the best service, it is likely that not everyone fits this profile, or even an employee that has worked for many years and with an excellent performance level has not conducted any training in restaurants either.

In this respect, it is very convenient that the restaurant can offer basic training that ensures proper general operation.

Each team (kitchen, dining hall, bar, management) can receive training in the operations of each area, their organization, basic labor standards and the objectives that are expected to be fulfilled in each one of them.

For instance:

• Carrying out health and hygiene norms

• Emergency protocols and resolution

• Prevention of occupational risks

• Pre and post-service tasks

• Food storage and handling

• Allergens and cross-contamination in the kitchen

• Recycling and waste reduction

• Oenology and sommellery

Tip: You can make agreements with hospitality schools where your restaurant trains staff, and school students can practice and specifically learn about the world of the restaurant industry at your restaurant.

Complementary training

In addition to basic training, a restaurant can offer education that is more specialized for each team profile. This ensures that the staff can perform more than minimal tasks to open the restaurant each day and strive for excellence.

In this regard, it is very important to take into account the true needs of each person according to their abilities and capabilities in order to hit the nail on the head and refrain from investing in training that is difficult to apply in reality. Choose the training that will truly improve your current level in agreement with every person on the team.

These types of specializations are usually common:

• Kitchen management

• Nutrition and food health

• Bakery and confectionery techniques

• Dining hall and bar management

• Mixology

• Cost and performance management.

• Leadership abilities and team management

• Efficient marketing and sales skills

• Emotional management and empathy with customers

• Proficiently speaking English (and other required languages) in the restaurant industry.

On the other hand, it is also very useful – especially in this era of change – to keep staff up to date with this type of training:

• Serving customers with special food conditions (gluten, lactose, seafood intolerance, etc.).

• Healthy eating and trendy products

• Environmentally friendly cooking and how it differs from traditional cooking

• Presentation and plating trends

• Digital reputation and managing online opinions and criticisms

• Adding content to the restaurant’s social networks

Training for the future

We build the future today, which is why we also feel it is important to point out that staff needs to be prepared for the challenges that will come in our industry.

In this regard, it is very interesting to offer training on topics that are and will continuously become more relevant and necessary. For instance:

• Using restaurant management software

• Using and analyzing data for personalized service

• Environmental awareness

• Innovation and entrepreneurship

And to round things off, we also suggest that you regularly hold more human meetings and experiences that keep the staff feeling identified with the restaurant and wanting to work in it every day. For instance:

• Talks regarding restaurant philosophy and the main objective

• Networking to receive feedback from employees and new ideas

• Motivational and personal growth workshops

Do you feel like starting right away? Of course!

Here at TheFork, we help you train your employees by offering you very complete and free training so that you can make the most of TheFork Manager, our restaurant management software, which you are surely using in your business already.

Click here and contact your adviser at TheFork to arrange for the training that your team needs for restaurant management, dining hall organization on a digital map, database creation, and statistics and information management.

If your business still does not have this tool, acquire it and prepare for the future now by clicking here. You will see the difference!