Minimize waste. Prevent accidents. Control costs. Produce the best quality product. Oh, and make it quick. No wonder the atmosphere in the kitchen feels like the hot seat. But your kitchen employees can take the heat — or can they?

Training is the key. Kitchen employee training must cover a wide variety of topics. Some are obvious, like these:

• Safety and skills training: The majority of restaurant accidents happen in the kitchen. Training topics such as knife safety, proper cooking procedures, safe lifting techniques, and cleaning processes can all help reduce accidents in your restaurant.
• Compliance issues: Some training topics, specifically for kitchen employees are required by federal, state, or local guidelines. Food safety training, for example, may be required to safeguard public health.
• HR training: Human resource issues such as sexual harassment, FMLA compliance, diversity and violence in the workplace can have a critical impact on your business. Kitchen employees should take the same HR training as the rest of your staff.

Kitchen Employee Training to Promote Teamwork

As a restaurant manager, it’s important that your kitchen employee training program also promotes teamwork. Train your kitchen workers of their importance in the big picture. (And train the rest of your staff on this issue, too!) Their team’s contributions often seem to go unsung because, from their view in the back, they rarely see the end user of their product.

Kitchen Employee Training to Promote Guest Service

Your training program should also stress that good service isn’t just the front-of- house team’s responsibility. It takes a concerted effort from everyone on the kitchen crew, too. The prep cook, the food expediter and the cook are critical to providing a great dining experience for guests. Serving those guests well means a kitchen production line that operates at its most efficient level.

Cross Training Your Kitchen Staff

When you cross train members of your kitchen crew, they’ll not only be able to back each other up when necessary, but it will also keep their jobs from becoming mundane. And, should your cook have a family emergency, you won’t be wiped out for the shift since you’ll be able to rotate your prep cook in to cover the orders.

Source: Service that Sells