With all the steps and skills necessary to store, handle, prepare and serve food in a safe and efficient manner, often while simultaneously helping customers and checking in vendors, it takes an intensive, multifaceted training program to prepare employees to juggle all these jobs effectively.
Team members at GetGo Café + Market are trained through a hybrid model of written technical material, hands-on peer training and interactive gamified e-learning modules through a mobile app platform the company calls Thrive, said Cory Schaffranek, operations services and transformation manager, GetGo, which has approximately 270 stores in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Maryland and Indiana. More than 120 of the locations offer full-service, made-to-order menus.
Each new member receives about 40 hours of training, including hands-on practice.
The focus of much of the training is on food safety and GetGo’s internal recipes, he continued. Food safety includes sanitation, temperature taking, product rotation, allergens, product code dating and cross contamination, he said. Recipe training, including proper portioning and step-by-step recipes, ensures brand consistency and adherence to quality standards.
“Our training procedures are constantly evolving,” Schaffranek said.
At Global Partners LP, which operates 400 company-owned Alltown Fresh stores, among others, in nine states, computerized training is combined with job shadowing, coaching and mentoring to give foodservice team members “a well-rounded and immersive learning experience that caters to different learning styles and preferences,” according to Joy Almekies, senior director of food services, Global Partners.
New team members are paired with experienced staff and corporate food field managers so they can observe firsthand the daily tasks and responsibilities required in the foodservice arena. Among the key skills they can observe are time management, teamwork, communication and conflict resolution with both customers and coworkers, Almekies stated.
“We rotate employees through various roles to give them a comprehensive understanding of different positions within the foodservice operation,” she pointed out.
She noted that suppliers also play a valuable role in training foodservice employees by offering product knowledge, equipment training, menu development support, food safety education, product sampling opportunities, and continuous education and updates.
At Gunter Oil Co.’s 16 Power Mart Food Stores in the Greater Birmingham, Ala., area, the process begins with the training of the store managers by the company’s director of operations. In turn, the store managers train all new employees as they are hired.
“The most effective (option) is in-store training for both new installations as well as retraining when we see our standards start to slip,” said Sonya Young, Gunter Oil’s director of retail and marketing. “We find that online training typically gets cut short or missed, so we end up favoring the in-person methods.”
Pizza program partner Hunt Brothers Pizza also sends trainers into the stores to work with new employees or conduct refresher courses, Young said. They cover sanitation, proper food handling, prep with an eye on margin through portion sizes, controlling waste and appearance/quality of the final product.
“The training they provide is invaluable for our employees,” she noted.
Digital Learning
Many retailers find much value in online learning opportunities. Launched last year at GetGo, Thrive is an interactive method of providing digital learning.
“Thrive has also given us the ability to offer daily reinforcement questions that are combined with games that engage team members to expand their knowledge in a fun way,” Schaffranek stated. “As we continue perfecting our use of Thrive, we are transitioning more and more content onto this platform, ultimately transforming the way we deliver content.”
Each year, he added, team members are also required to formally complete an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and food safety refresher course. Training materials are also always available to provide refreshers on specific processes or procedures as needed.
At Global Partners, online courses through the Workday computer platform, videos and interactive modules teach employees about food safety and hygiene; customer service; complete knowledge of menu items, including ingredients that may contain potential allergens; upselling and promotion; and other essential topics, elaborated Almekies.
Computerized training also provides quizzes and assessments to ensure comprehension and retention of the material. Learning management systems track employees’ progress and completion of the training modules.