Why Summer’s End Is The Perfect Time to Train Your Employees

As any eaterie knows, summer is one of the busiest times in a restaurant’s calendar. The warm weather brings a rush of patio-lovers and tourists, eager to sit and enjoy a leisurely meal in the sunshine.

After the hectic months of July and August, September is usually a time to slow down, take stock, and catch a breath. For many employers, it’s also time to train. 

With the temperatures dropping, and reservations dropping with them, now’s the perfect opportunity to address any lingering skills gaps among your workforce. You may have overlooked a staff member’s inexperience in the rush to serve summer diners, but don’t let it wait for winter. Address any issues now to get your team up to speed before the festive season kicks into full swing and you’re back to business as usual.

Training new hires

Labour shortages aside, many restaurants took on student staff during the summer to make ends meet. If you’re hoping to transition these temporary workers into year-round staff, you have to make sure they have all the necessary qualifications.

Online courses are a quick, easy, and convenient way to get these trainees fully-certified with minimal disruption to their schedules. They can log in, move through the modules at their own pace, and receive an electronic certification upon completion that’s then archived for your records.

Market-leader FoodSafetyMarket runs a virtual campus offering everything food handlers need to be fully compliant with all federal and provincial regulations. Courses are delivered entirely online, either through the FoodSafetyMarket platform or a company’s own Learning Management System (LMS).

Programs include WHMIS Certification and the nationally approved certification course for food handlers, Managing Food Safely (MFS), which covers every aspect of the foodservice industry, from biological hazards to food preparation and storage.

Older staff, new skills

As with any career, progressing in the foodservice industry means keeping your skills sharp. 

Your more experienced staff may be fully-qualified already, but when was the last time they put their skills to the test? Or learned something new?

With the summer season over, why not give your long standing team members a chance to brush up their skills - FoodSafetyMarket offers bite-sized microlearning courses covering a wide range of work skills topics including finance, HR, sales, retail, and more.

Delivered in an easily-digestible video format, each short lesson takes just a few minutes to complete and can be bundled with others to form an entire course such as ‘Compliance Essentials’, ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ or ‘Leadership Toolkit’.

Why investing in training is always worthwhile

Don’t stay idle in the off-season - invest in skill development to keep your employees up to date with everything they need to know. Boosting their knowledge in this way doesn’t just keep your business compliant with the latest foodservice best practices and regulations, it also sends a powerful message to your staff that you care about their professional development.

Employees who feel valued, supported, and empowered are more likely to work hard and stick around. In today’s economic climate, where good staff are hard to find, it’s more important than ever to invest in your workforce and help them succeed.

And who knows - by next summer, that waitress you hired at the last minute could be managing your restaurant!