Restaurant Management Training
- A restaurant training program can require a new assistant or general manager to report to an off-site venue in another city. Some of these off-site training sessions last about a week and are run by professional trainers. During this type of restaurant training session, managers may learn how to motivate hourly employees through incentive programs or how to diffuse conflict among workers before it gets out of hand. Often, management trainees participate in workshops during their off-site training, where managers do role-playing to practice the techniques that they have learned.
- An important part of restaurant management training is learning the operations of the restaurant. Often, management employees are giving specific training goals, such as learning how to prepare food, what portions of food like cheese or lettuce to put in a meal, how to store meat and other perishable foods, or how to run the front register or drive-thru. Once a management trainee has mastered a particular work station or area in their training, he usually gets certified as having completed that portion of his training.
- The job of any general and assistant manager is to help drive sales and profits. Hence, a portion of most restaurant management training is devoted to learning how to fill out or print various financial reports. Most restaurant POS (point of sale) registers are automated today. Anytime a sale is made, it is recorded on a back office computer. Additionally, any inventory that arrives at the restaurant is also typed into the computer. At times, the area manager will ask managers or assistant managers to print sales, cost of goods sold and labor reports to see how all restaurants in the area are performing.
- Because restaurant managers deal with food, which can spoil, they must be trained on various food sanitation techniques, according to the Bureau Of Labor Statistics' "Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010 To 2011 Edition." Food sanitation training can include teaching a manager the minimum temperature at which to serve hot food or how long to store certain food items. A manager may also learn proper hand washing techniques, and how employees should not go from handling money at register to picking up food items without washing their hands.
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) publishes a manual of guidelines that restaurants are required to follow. During safety training, a manager or assistant manager may learn how to properly lift heavy boxes of food or how to clean sharp equipment like meat slicers. There are certain guideline for teens that managers must learn. Additionally, a manager may also be trained on CPR techniques, because customers or workers can suffer heart attacks or choke when eating at the restaurant.