How to develop a successful restaurant training program

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A restaurant is only as good as its employees. Strip back the branding, décor, and everything else, and fundamentally every business in the restaurant industry is its people. So, employee training is paramount for every aspect of restaurant operations. Whether you’re starting from scratch or improving existing systems, creating the right restaurant training approach for your staff can make all the difference between success and failure.

Each mistake, each confused new hire, and each problem in customer satisfaction can likely be traced back to a gap in training. On the other hand, successful service and happy customers are often the result of good training. Successful restaurants don’t happen by accident—they’re built through effective restaurant staff training programs.

So what are some effective, modern ways to implement an ongoing training process? How do you start? Let’s take a look.

How to create a training strategy

To begin, restaurant owners should take a look at their current training landscape. How effective is onboarding, and how often does training and re-training take place? Consider these key questions:

• What are current employees’ skill levels and knowledge gaps?
• Where are there bottlenecks and inefficiencies?
• How do the employees like to learn?
• What technology is available to help employees?
• What training do new employees need for their specific positions?
• What kind of resources are needed to implement an effective training program?

Both onboarding and refresher training material for staff should be standardized in one place—ideally, an employee handbook. Even small businesses can benefit from an employee handbook, where everything is codified in one place so there’s no room for confusion. Team members can refer to standard practices whenever necessary, which can be especially valuable when cross-training.

A good system to use in any training program is the SMART system. In this framework, goals are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-bound

Simply put, goals need to be clear to all restaurant employees involved.

Establish success metrics

Setting specific metrics can show how effective a training program is. Consider these factors as a measure of success:

1. Employee retention rates and turnover reduction
2. Customer satisfaction: reviews and feedback
3. Performance improvement metrics (skill-specific)
4. Time-to-proficiency for new hires

Keeping a structured training and feedback process can improve employee retention, set a path for career growth, and keep customer satisfaction high. Be sure to ask employees their preferred method of learning. Some prefer hands-on training from restaurant management, while others prefer shadowing senior employees. When onboarding, bear in mind that it takes on average 19 days to train up new staff members.

Develop a restaurant training manual

A restaurant training manual should spell out the mission statement, brand identity, target audience, and a basic code of conduct. It doesn’t have to be terribly long (10-20 pages max) but needs to cover what’s expected of each employee and the standards of service the restaurant maintains. In many cases, a training manual and an employee handbook are interchangeable.

4 areas of skill-specific restaurant training to focus on

Restaurant employee training will vary depending on what kind of job the staff members are doing. A good way to break it down is onboarding, front-of-house (FOH), back-of-house (BOH), and management.

1. Onboarding

All new hires should go through a basic training module explaining the restaurant overall. This can be simple and done in a few shifts, demonstrating what’s where and who does what, as well as what specific roles there are in the restaurant. Your restaurant training manual can help employees through this process in addition to direct training from management and senior staff.

2. FOH training

A FOH training plan focuses on creating excellent guest experiences through service skills. Core skills include interpersonal communication, menu item knowledge, and service efficiency. FOH training sessions could include:

• Customer service training, e.g., guest interaction role-play
• Menu item expertise, e.g., suggestions, specials, drink pairings, allergen awareness
• Table management and timing
• Problem solving and conflict resolution
• Sales techniques and upselling
• Tech training, e.g., point-of-sale (POS) systems and restaurant management systems
• Cross-training, e.g., servers can also learn to be bartenders

A well-trained FOH staff leads to better service, more satisfied customers, and higher employee retention.

3. BOH training

Kitchen staff have more technical requirements for training than FOH staff, requiring both hard skills and consistency. A comprehensive BOH restaurant training program should cover:

• Food preparation, including menu item standardization, food safety, and storage
• Inventory management
• Cleaning and maintenance of the BOH and restaurant equipment
• Teamwork and communication skills
• Comprehensive training in safety
• Time management

Solid, consistent, hands-on training in the BOH streamlines service and can help employees build career skills. The restaurant industry is full of stories about people who started as a dishwasher and are now a head chef somewhere.

4. Restaurant management training

A restaurant needs its manager like a ship needs its captain. The culture, efficiency, and overall success of a restaurant ultimately rests with management. Management training needs to cover both restaurant operations and leadership skills, since a manager has to know how to wear multiple hats.

Key management skills to train for include:

• Financial management
• Both FOH and BOH operations
• Tracking restaurant benchmarks
• Team building and development
• Inventory management
• Employee scheduling
• Customer service, especially crisis management

A business’s work environment is hugely affected by management, since attitudes often trickle down from the top. Building a culture of respect and diligence can help employees and the business thrive.

6 common training methods

Since there are many different learning styles, making multiple avenues for training available to staff can help with their development. Different restaurants will have different needs: for example, small restaurants will likely lean more toward hands-on and in-person learning, whereas larger restaurants and chains can incorporate large-scale and digital training methods.

1. One-on-one training

There’s no real replacement for one-on-one training, whether it comes from management or senior staff. New hires in the BOH can shadow a chef while learning the ropes, or a new server can be assigned to a senior server or manager for direction during their first shifts. Re-training employees or imparting new skills like using new tech or new preparation methods, for example, can be especially valuable for staff taking on more responsibility.

2. Group training

Group training can be an efficient way to get employees on the same page. It can be split into FOH and BOH for skill-specific training topics like safety training, food handling, or improving the dining experience. An all-hands training session covering FOH and BOH communication can streamline service and prevent orders getting confused (and keeping tempers cool).

3. Video training

Training videos have long been a staple of chain restaurants, and help save time for management in the training process. These can be both fun and informative while standardizing information for new employees. Creating a set of videos for specific tasks in the restaurant doesn’t have to be high-budget—simply informative. The videos can be shared via platforms like Google Drive.

4. Online training

Digital natives like millennials and Gen Z will find online training immediately familiar and comfortable. Larger restaurants may find this especially valuable, as employees can access standardized online training in their own time via apps or websites. Adding a sense of gamification to online training can make it fun, e.g., leveling up skills and keeping track of progress on the online platform.

5. Cross-training

In an industry with high turnover rates, employees who know how to do multiple jobs are extremely valuable. So, training staff to have those multiple skills is a wise time investment. In the event a server calls in sick, a bartender can swap roles and do their job, or a pastry chef can fill in for a sick line cook. Furthermore, staff who develop their skills are likely to be appreciative of the training and career progress.

6. Tech training

Each bit of new tech a restaurant adopts has a learning curve, and it’s vital that staff learn to use it long before it’s used in service. Proper training with restaurant management systems, POS systems, and inventory management systems can improve efficiency during service and keep the restaurant running smoothly.

Speaking of restaurant tech…

Using restaurant management software like Yelp Guest Manager makes life easier for both restaurant staff and customers. Staff have a lot of their busywork like taking reservations and keeping track of wait times automated, and at the same time have access to easy tableside ordering and customizable floor management. Customers can make reservations and hop on waitlists at the push of a button.

Of course, using Guest Manager takes some training itself. That’s why it comes with a dedicated onboarding manager for each restaurant—a real human being able to answer questions and help put out fires if necessary.

Want to learn what it’s all about? Reach out to us for a free demo. Just like staff, restaurant owners can continuously level up their skill set and be better for it.