Online Training & Education Options for Your Restaurant

Since restaurant owners don't seem to know the meaning of a 9-to-5 schedule, many owners are turning toward online training tools, which they can use around their hectic schedules. Online training can have great benefits when it comes to cost, accessibility, flexibility and effectiveness, and more restaurant operators are turning to online solutions to help train staff.

In the past, employee training often involved overnight trips and expense accounts. Although it may have taken some of the fun out of the training process -- the face-to-face interaction -- technology now allows companies to keep their people closer to home.

Managers prefer online training for a variety of reasons. Beyond its cost-effectiveness and convenience -- employees can access virtual learning anytime -- it allows employees of all levels who are interested in taking on more responsibility to design their own training program.

"The most successful restaurants in terms of training look at it just like the uniform; something that's required," says Todd Edman, CEO of Lunar Logic, owner of online training tool waitrainer.com. Many operators use training to determine shift eligibility.

He says that the right employees love using online training systems because they get the information they need to be successful. Typically, staff will go home after a shift and log in and spend 20-40 minutes reviewing courses. They peruse that education even in their own time because they want to succeed.

"Those people are the ones you want working in your restaurant," he says.