Importance of training employees:

     Everyone knows that having a well-trained staff can make your life as a manger much easier. When everyone is well trained, and they are doing what they need to do and doing it well, this affords you time to tend to other activities. How often as an owner operator do you get to interact with your guests? It is never enough because there is always a fire that needs to be put out right now. That turns into a constant struggle of trying to fight fires all night long especially during the peak hours of operation.

     Who is it that suffers in the end? It is you the owner/manager of the establishment because of continually having to cope the moral of the staff drops. This in turn spills over to the customer experience and will not want to return to your eatery, plus tell everyone about their bad experience. So how do you break the cycle? That will take a little bit of effort on your part.

     What I have found to be the most successful way to train employees is to make a video of what it is that they are supposed to be doing. In the video include all the principal functions on a tell-them-show-them-method. You can also make a more detailed manual of each position in the establishment that outlines all the activities that are expected of the staff. Now that each person knows the functions of their job, how do you correlate this to the real world?

     An easy way to track this is performance metrics - just monitor how much production each person is producing. For example, a waiter can track his average sale per person. If the overall production is increasing then your training is paying dividends. You can take those fourteen hour days and cut them back some and have a better quality of life.

Michael Cosentino

Fast Casual Pizza Injury Prevention Tips

Food service has many areas of safety from storage to cooking at correct temperatures. Most municipalities and schools cover the prevention of food contaminants and  bacteria control but even more basic to food prep is location safety.

An alert and aware staff that is trained on what to look for is your best bet. Minimally your managers should should know these basics.
1) Does everyone know to immediately handle spills by blocking the spill with a sign, chair or their body while they get help cleaning it up?

2) Does your staff know to NEVER pass hot beverages, dishes, pizza or especially soups over heads of customers?  This may seem like common sense but sadly it is not not. Make sure you tell them.

3)Are doors clearly marked for Public or authorized personnel only?

4) Are floor floor mats and carpets clean, secure and flat?

5) Are steps clearly lighted? Slip proof? Do they have proper railings? Do you have caution signs?

6)Is your sidewalk, entrance way and parking lot in good repair and well lit?

The above are just the bare bones but will go a far when implemented to prevent injuries.  You can add anything you observe to the list that will help prevent injury and then post it for all your staff to see.