Training as an investment

Staff training is an important investment into your business and leads a healthier P&L.

There is no doubt that staff training is both an important investment into your team and to your business. Well-trained, skillful and knowledgeable staff work faster, provide better service and up-sell more frequently.

Combined, these things should lead to a higher retention of staff with more return customers and a better reputation; all leading to making you more money.

As such, training should be considered an investment into your business, rather than just a cost.

Review your Reviews

Take a moment to browse through your reviews, whether they are professionally written or left online by customers, the vast majority, whether positive or negative, relate to your team and their performance. Reviews generally consider:

• Was service fast and friendly? 
  
  
• Were the staff knowledgeable about your products and menu as well as about the area in general and what to do next?
  
  
• Did staff display exceptional skills and create amazing food and drinks?
  
  

If your guests rate your service, product and value, chances are you will be reading some glowing reviews, as well as enjoying repeat customers and a healthy increase in profits.

In the opposite case, where people are complaining about wait times, poorly made drinks, under-cooked food and unfriendly service, chances are your reviews are poor, impacting your reputation and ultimately the bank balance.

Ditch the paper

In most bars and restaurants training is ad-hoc and unstructured. New and junior staff are often left to learn on the job, and often from senior staff who themselves have not been properly trained.

Internal procedures and processes are most likely to be found buried in a large tomb of paper, handed out on the new-starters first day, and quite likely not referenced again. Service can be inconsistent and simple drinks such as a G&T might arrive once in an old-fashioned glass with lime one-time, the next served in a highball with a lemon wedge.

It's hard enough already

Training staff can be hard, and this is why most venues don’t do it. Writing scripts, doing research, not to mention testing, all takes a lot of work, both in terms of preparation, as well as execution; And of course, knowing stuff, and teaching stuff are two very different things. Education is a skill, and being a great bartender or waiter, or even being a great manager does not mean you necessarily are going to be a great teacher or trainer, nor does it mean your public speaking game is going to be on point.

In addition, most venues will have a pretty high turnover of staff meaning that there are constantly new people joining the team. Often these newcomers work in a venue or organisation for weeks, sometimes months before they are properly on-boarded and trained.

This no longer needs to be the case