Restaurant Employee Training
If you run a restaurant, then you already know the importance of a well-trained staff. While there’s going to be a learning curve for new employees, the most important thing you can do is make sure that the training you provide will actually give your new hires the skills they need to do their jobs, as well as fit with the sensibilities of the modern workplace.
How do you do that? Well, here are a few places you can get started.
#1: Continuous Training
If your restaurant never changed, then you could probably get away with a one-and-done training period. However, a restaurant environment is always changing. Whether it’s an expanding menu, adding new apps and devices, or just shifting your format, your staff is constantly adjusting to new things. So instead of just expecting them to make those adjustments on the fly, make sure that training is not just for new hires. Develop a culture where training is constant, continuous, and something for everyone.
#2: Leverage Employee Resources
Your employees are going to need help while they’re on the job, and they’re going to have questions. As such, you should do your part to make sure they have the resources they need to handle issues as they come up. FAQs, training manuals, a help desk, and other resources can be lifesavers in a restaurant. Especially when someone needs to find an answer quickly, before a situation escalates.
#3: Branding
When it comes to your training, you need to create solutions and programs that work specifically for your restaurant, and which fit with your brand. If you have a course for milkshakes, for example, you need to make sure that it teaches your staff how to make your signature shake with your signature taste. Don’t use generic training videos or modules, because then you’ll just get generic results.
#4: In-House Social Media
Whether it’s a private FB page, or a forum that only company members have access to, social media can be a great resource for your employees. It allows them to freely exchange information, offer help, ask questions, and give feedback. All things that you definitely want, and which will improve your restaurant’s overall quality and efficiency in the long run. Best of all, most social media is free, so this option doesn’t even cost you anything to implement aside from the time and energy it takes to set up.
#5: Open-Door Policy
One of the most important things to remember about training is that it isn’t just you shooting information at your employees and trainees; it’s a two-way exchange. So you need to listen when they have problems, complaints, or other feedback regarding the training you’re giving them. Because if an aspect of your training doesn’t work (or works really well), that is something you need to know so you can start making changes to the setup you’re using.
No training is perfect, but you can’t make changes until the people who are going through it give you accounts of their experiences.
Contact TRG Consultants for all your restaurant training
