The worldwide restaurant industry is worth a whopping $34 billion today and is expected to grow to over $56 billion by 2027. Despite the growing number of new restaurants, only 1 in 5 is likely to succeed. Among the many reasons for failure are high staff turnover and the inability to retain well-trained employees.
Skilled restaurant staff are the backbone of a successful restaurant, and without proper training, the consequences can be severe. Poor service, errors in food handling, and safety violations are just a few outcomes that can result from inadequate training. These issues can quickly lead to bad reviews, decreased customer traffic, and ultimately, the restaurant’s closing.
Online reviews and social media posts can make or break a business, so it is crucial for restaurant owners and managers to invest in training their staff to maintain the high service standards that will lead to business success. Learning Management Systems (LMS) offer a convenient, efficient, and accessible way for restaurateurs to train their employees properly. These platforms provide a structured, engaging, and scalable approach to delivering training, helping restaurant teams stay up-to-date on everything from customer service techniques to weekly specials to health and safety protocols.
Learning management system
Bites is a job training platform that provides restaurant owners with innovative solutions for consistent, continuous training. Bites delivers valuable training content that motivates employees to consume and retain vital information.
Customizable for the restaurant industry, it offers a flexible and engaging approach that aligns with the dynamic needs of restaurant staff, helping owners close the training gap and retain high-quality employees.
With barriers to accessing training removed, Bites allows managers to create and update compliance training, food safety training, and new-hire onboarding training modules in minutes. Read on to learn more about Bites and the benefits it can provide to the restaurant industry.
Overview of Bites
Bites was created to address the problem of disengaged employees across a range of industries, including food services, who often struggle to absorb the critical training necessary for their roles. Traditional training methods can be tedious and time-consuming, especially in industries with high turnover and limited time for training. Bites solves this problem by making training easier, more engaging, and more accessible for employees.
The platform’s approach to learning is simple but effective: it breaks down training into very small chunks or “bites,” which are easy to digest and quick to complete. These “bites” are made available via familiar channels that employees already use, such as WhatsApp, SMS, and more. This delivers training in a way that fits into employees’ lives. Instead of sitting through long, drawn-out training sessions, employees can complete short modules at their own pace, whenever and wherever it is convenient for them. This flexibility increases their motivation to participate and ensures that critical information is more likely to stick.
Key features of Bites
There are a number of standout features of the Bites platform that make it the ideal LMS solution for restaurants. These features include:
- Microlearning Approach – Topics are broken down into tiny “bite-sized” pieces, delivering very short and interactive learning content. This may include quizzes and flashcards, which help restaurant staff quickly learn and adapt to new menu changes or safety protocols. This is especially important in a dynamic industry like food service, where you can communicate updates to menus and regulations swiftly and efficiently.
- Seamless Integration – A key differentiator of Bites is its ability to provide training videos without requiring new software or hardware installation. Unlike many other platforms that demand downloading apps or using specific devices, Bites works with whatever tools employees are already using. For restaurant owners, this means less friction in rolling out the training, and for employees, it means completing training without any tech-related hurdles.
- AI-Driven Tools – The platform leverages AI features to enhance the quality of training materials. These features include automatic subtitle generation and smartphone-based video editing tools, allowing restaurant managers to create polished, professional training videos without advanced video production skills. AI is also used to identify individual learning styles and suggest personalized programs for each employee.
- Monitoring and Analytics – In addition to providing training content, Bites also enables restaurant managers (and the individual employees) to track training progress. Managers can monitor their team’s progress in real-time, identifying knowledge gaps and adjusting the training as needed. These insights allow restaurant owners to see which areas need improvement, ensuring that training is always relevant, up-to-date, and effective. The real-time feedback loop makes responding to changes such as new food safety regulations or menu adjustments easier.
Benefits of LMS for restaurants
When restaurants invest in LMS to train their employees, they can expect to see several benefits, including improved training results, enhanced food safety and compliance with regulations, and increased flexibility and accessibility.
Improved training efficiency and results
By using an LMS like Bites, restaurant owners can deliver training content quickly and efficiently, reducing the time required for onboarding new staff and updating existing employees on new procedures or menu items. The microlearning and easy-to-access format of the training sessions encourages employee participation and increases their ability to retain and use the information in their day-to-day operations.
Enhanced food safety and compliance
Complying with strict food industry health and safety regulations plays a critical role in the success of any restaurant. In addition to risking fines and other penalties by not complying, having low standards can significantly impact a restaurant’s reputation and ability to succeed. Using an LMS for training provides employees with easy access to safety training materials, ensuring that all staff are well-versed in food and other safety protocols, reducing the risk of compliance issues.
Flexibility and accessibility
By definition, LMS platforms like Bites are mobile-first, ensuring that training materials are accessible anytime and anywhere. This is especially beneficial for restaurant staff, many of whom are Gen Zers who are used to obtaining much of their information and knowledge on TikTok or other apps. They are also likely to work irregular hours, so having the flexibility to consume training content on their own schedule is a huge plus.
The benefits described above come together to result in better-run restaurants with employees who are engaged and ready to offer high-quality service to their customers.
Get started with Bites
If you own or manage a restaurant, now is the time to transform your training process with Bites. By leveraging the platform’s microlearning segments, seamless integration with all the standard messaging apps, and AI-driven tools for personalization and ease-of-use, you’ll foster a team that is more engaged, better trained, and ready to deliver top-notch service to your customers.