The restaurant industry is a very dynamic and competitive field, and the key component for its success goes beyond just food, service, and ambience. One of the most crucial elements that often elevates great restaurants above others is a deep understanding of the significance of staff training, which should be the cornerstone of the restaurant and work environment for employees.

With the restaurant’s menus and beverage lists, the staff’s knowledge or capacity for learning is limited to whatever is on offer by the establishment. Menu knowledge is important, but equally, menu changes make it just as important for the staff as it is for the guests to upskill staff. Just as diners need to feel valued and cared for, understandably, so do the employees. Effective staff training can boost your restaurant’s morale, which will result in greater guest enjoyment and subsequently yield a greater revenue outcome for one’s business. The establishment must offer a memorable and attentive experience for both the diner and for those who work in it.

A key role of management is to understand that their functional purpose is also as a ‘caretaker’ for this phase of their employees’ career, and that they have a duty and a responsibility to the personal growth and development of their team members. With head chefs and managers often being the gatekeepers of knowledge, gathered over time throughout their own career experiences, one’s growth in the restaurant work environment is always limited to the length and breadth of your manager’s teachings and understandings – in other words, you’ll only learn as much as it is that they know, so often external training must be considered through attending lectures, talks, courses or exposure to new experiences from outside. It is vitally important to diversify one’s knowledge and become multi-faceted with an armory of skill sets through a variety of techniques, skills, thought processes and problem-solving abilities. Ultimately, it will not only benefit one’s own self, but the contribution that one can offer to the workplace and environment.

Good leaders have faith in their employees’ growing capabilities and trust them with new tasks through their own physical guidance and emotional support along each step of the journey – giving them a safety net where they have no fear of failure, and the encouragement to persist. When it comes to dishing out tasks, strong leaders take on the boring and mundane for themselves so that others have an opportunity for the new and exciting. As a leader or mentor, it should go without saying that they should never ask someone to do something that they themselves would not do – leading by example, and creating a fulfilling and supportive space that they would have wanted to work in had they had the opportunity.

In the demanding environment of the hospitality sector, staff turnover is always a very troublesome headache and a significant challenge. But rather than blaming this on those that choose to move on, give them a reason not to. Taking an introspective look at the work environment, the greatest desire for people is their personal growth and ambitions to make them want to shed their shells in search of a greater residence for their career development.

In the fiercely competitive restaurant industry that is constantly evolving with new culinary trends, topics and technologies, the necessity to invest in staff’s development and expose them to opportunities makes them better equipped to thrive in an ever-changing industry. Staff training is the secret ingredient and weapon that will make all the difference to ensuring consistency, elevating experience, the handling of unexpected challenges, ensuring good communication, boosting employee satisfaction and providing a chance to thrive through this critical component in the recipe for long-term success.