CLEVELAND —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Trainers say they are developing their own material, running smaller departments, devising formulas to determine the return on investment for training dollars, and developing low- to no-cost leadership programs. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
About 180 trainers recently gathered at the Cleveland Renaissance Hotel here to share ideas during the 78th annual Hospitality Training Conference, hosted by the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Trainers. CHART is a nonprofit professional organization with more than 600 members from more than 400 multiunit restaurant and hotel companies. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
“About 92 percent of you personally develop something every year, and while 56 percent of you use some external content, it accounts for less than 25 percent of your total budget,” said John Isbell, vice president of training and franchise services for the 22-unit Los Angeles-based Improv Comedy Clubs, and out-going CHART president. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Isbell presented results of the group’s 2009 State of Training and Development in the Hospitality Industry Report, an online survey of 140 CHART members. Released earlier this year, the survey found that training budgets had been reduced for the majority of trainers in casual dining, fine dining and hotels in the last 18 months. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Only in quick service were those who experienced a decrease in the minority. Among quick-service trainers, 39 percent reported that their training budgets had increased and 36 percent said they had stayed the same. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Quick-service companies also spent more money on training than those in other segments. Isbell and CHART members suggested high turnover rates in quick service may play a roll as well as consumer behavior in a recession. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
“Customers are trading down, so hopefully it’s because [they] are eating at your restaurants a lot,” Isbell said. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
The survey also revealed that multiunit managers undergo little training; fine-dining restaurants and hotels have small training departments with little to no instructional design support; books and videos are still the primary training tools; and much of the instruction focuses on customer service and job skills. In addition, it found that companies spend less than $1,000 per employee after their first 90 days on the job. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Cost-effective leadership development and continuous training remain a challenge for operators, trainers said. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
CHART reprised a popular workshop discussing how to calculate the return on investment of training dollars to help trainers justify the cost of programs and materials. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
“The last couple of months have been pretty tough,” said Curt Archambault, regional training and development manager in Seattle for San Diego-based Jack in the Box Inc. “When the financial times are tough, we become curious about cost and spending. When times are good, it’s all easy.” —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Trainers should devise a standard way of measuring the value of their programs and use it in good times and bad, Archambault said. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
“Simply put, ROI is the action, divided by the cost of the action,” he said. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Trainers should set goals, conduct surveys, evaluate results and be prepared to explain to senior management the outcome of the training. Trainers also can look for inexpensive and no-cost ways to incorporate training, said some CHART members. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Leadership training should not be overlooked, even among hourly employees, said Patrick Yearout, director of recruiting and training for Seattle-based Ivar’s and Kidd Valley Restaurants. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Leadership development can help restaurants and hotels develop a bench-strength of employees who are “ready, willing and able to step up and take charge and create motivated teams and well-run shifts,” Yearout said. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
He offered some strategies to consider, such as looking for leadership potential in people who apply for entry-level positions, and then discussing with a new employee his or her short-term or long-term goals, what they want to accomplish in their job and what they would like to learn. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
The Cheesecake Factory lays out career maps for employees and tells them what they need to do to advance, said David Overton, founder, chairman and chief executive of the 146-unit casual-dining chain based in Calabasas Hill, Calif. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Overton received this year’s Commitment to People award from CHART. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
“We call them the Career Roadmap for managers and the Kitchen Toolbox for our kitchen managers,” Overton said. “We lay out a whole career for them: here’s how to get to manager, senior manager, assistant general manager, general manager and area director. Here are the milestones. Here’s what we expect. There are training materials to back up every test. They can self-test before they take the regular test.” —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
The roadmaps and toolboxes have helped numerous employees to advance, Overton said, citing as an example the general manager of a Cleveland Cheesecake Factory who started out as a dishwasher speaking no English. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
Training is critical for The Cheesecake Factory, which offers 200 menu items and serves 2,000 to 3,000 customers per day in restaurants that average $10 million in annual sales on an $18 check average, he said. —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
“I couldn’t accept this award today without the thousands of staff members who contributed to the success of The Cheesecake Factory over the past 30 years, helping me to make my vision come to life and exceed even my wildest dreams,” Overton said.— [email protected] —With most budgets suffering from recession-related cutbacks, restaurant trainers and human resources managers are looking for inexpensive ways to keep employees trained and able to serve customers.
