Core Content
Service
Your business success depends on the quality of the guest experience. With these resources, you can be sure your team have the tools and the confidence to perform to the best of their abilities. After all, great service means happy guests and a healthier bottom line!
Hotel
These resources enable you to provide essential hotel staff training in the different service areas, as well as encourage them to be vigilant to spot undesirable practices and deal with complex situations.
Kitchen
Inspire your kitchen staff to build on the practical aspects of their roles. Our kitchen skills resources are ideal for those already working in a kitchen, or to cross-train other team members to cover when the need arises.
Management
Our collection of pub and restaurant management resources has been created to develop successful leaders. With everything from cellar and bar stock control to data privacy and employment law, they’ll be well-equipped for a range of day-to-day tasks.
So Let's Talk
We have partnered with the renowned hospitality health organisation, So Let’s Talk, to offer a suite of nine video podcasts.
Service
Your business success depends on the quality of the guest experience. With these resources, you can be sure your team have the tools and the confidence to perform to the best of their abilities. After all, great service means happy guests and a healthier bottom line!
Hotel
These resources enable you to provide essential hotel staff training in the different service areas, as well as encourage them to be vigilant to spot undesirable practices and deal with complex situations.
Kitchen
Inspire your kitchen staff to build on the practical aspects of their roles. Our kitchen skills resources are ideal for those already working in a kitchen, or to cross-train other team members to cover when the need arises.
Management
Our collection of pub and restaurant management resources has been created to develop successful leaders. With everything from cellar and bar stock control to data privacy and employment law, they’ll be well-equipped for a range of day-to-day tasks.
So Let's Talk
We have partnered with the renowned hospitality health organisation, So Let’s Talk, to offer a suite of nine video podcasts.
Service
Top Tips for Brilliant Bartenders
Does your bar team always deliver a polished performance? This short resource is perfect for new bartenders or those who want to sharpen their essential service skills. They will help new team member, Sasha, make the best decisions to keep the bar well-stocked and tidy, while ensuring guests are the top priority. By applying these proactive techniques, your team can keep the drinks flowing and your guests smiling.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- Apply the five priorities system for key tasks.
- Use techniques that ensure efficient service.
- Tailor the order of service to enhance guest service.
Top Tips for Server Success
Ready to turn new starters into service superstars? Perfect for inexperienced servers, this short resource will equip them with the essentials they need to impress guests. They will guide Elina, a new server at the Social Table, through realistic scenarios to help them be attentive, proactive and professional at every stage of the order of service.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- Introduce the essentials of being a server.
- Communicate positively and professionally with guests throughout the order of service.
- Accurately describe the menu to customers and make personalised recommendations.
- Monitor tables to proactively notice and deal with issues.
Outstanding Guest Service
The service your teams provide makes all the difference to your guests. Through authentic examples, learners will practice delivering the perfect guest journey, from first impressions to dealing with complaints. This resource will help learners exceed the needs and expectations of different types of guests, to deliver outstanding service at your venue. Perfect for all front-of-house teams.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes.
- Creating an excellent guest environment
- Taking care of guests and tailoring their experience
- Resolving complaints and exceeding expectations
Service that Sells
Identify the skills required to become an effective and confident sales person, and practise correct sales techniques to recognise sales opportunities and successfully convert to sales while upselling to your customers.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 2 hours
- Using personality to sell.
- Product knowledge and closing the sale.
- Maximising sales and tailoring to meet customers’ expectations.
Which Wine?
Recognise the different characteristics of new and old world wines through tasting sessions. Present and serve wine to your guests and learn how to pair wine with food.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Using taste to identify different wines.
- Serving and tasting wines.
- Pairing the best wine to complement different foods.
Hotel
Anti-Modern Slavery
Would your team know what to do if they thought one of your guests, one of their colleagues or even one of your suppliers, was being exploited? Using first-hand accounts, this resource will define modern slavery in all its guises. It will explore why hospitality is a target and what your team can do to spot it and stop it in your venue. Practical activities give your team the knowledge and skills they need to stamp out this crime.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Defining modern slavery and the types of exploitation experienced by victims.
- Recognising the warning signs of modern slavery amongst the team and your suppliers.
- Stopping modern slavery in your workplace.
The Housekeeper
We outline best practice for the hotel housekeeper. Learners will prepare a room to the highest standard while following health and safety guidance, and explore how to deal with requests and complaints.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 2 hours
- Communicating effectively in their team and with the wider hotel departments.
- Servicing rooms using cleaning equipment and schedules.
- Taking care of guests’ safety.
The Receptionist
Covering the role of a receptionist, from checking in guests to bills and payments, learners will practise telephone skills, how to handle cash, reservations, and the hotel management system.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 2 hours
- Working as a professional receptionist and using a hotel telephone system.
- Learning about different room rates and other hotel facilities.
- Managing the guest visit from check in to check out.
Sustainability in Hotels
Hotels can have a huge impact on the environment and their local community. So, how can you and your hotel be more sustainable? With a few key practices you can be more eco-friendly, support your staff and help your community. This resource is full of practical advice and simple solutions to help you and your team boost sustainability in your hotel.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Key areas to help hotels be more sustainable.
- Sustainable actions for hotel staff to implement in their role.
Creating Great Guest Experiences
Great guest experiences depend on excellent service. It’s up to your staff to recognise and meet your guests’ expectations, so they have a great stay, leave positive reviews and come back for more. Using authentic scenarios, this resource shows learners what excellent customer service looks like - with any guest, at any hotel.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Key actions and behaviours that help provide a great guest experience.
- Advice for and examples of excellent service, appropriate for different guest types.
- Tips to resolve complaints.
Event Planning for Hotels
Does your hotel put on events that clients and attendees want to return for? Hosting showstopping events is a great way to boost your revenue and raise your profile. Following the team at the Maxi Hotel, your learners will practise the key decision-making that helps them take the effort out of successful event planning. By following tried and tested advice, your team will explore ways to focus on success and identify how to deliver the perfect event.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Following the right processes required to plan and run events as a team.
- Identifying ways to manage expectations and avoid disappointing clients.
- Evaluating success and acting on feedback to improve future events.
Four Steps to Better Hotel Recruitment
Recruitment can be a never-ending challenge for hotels. Even without staff shortages, finding suitable candidates can be tough. So, what can you do to attract quality talent that sticks around? With a four-step recruitment process, this short resource will help you to identify, attract and then hire the right people.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- Four steps to enhance your recruitment.
- Advice to attract, interview and select the right talent.
Five Essentials for Retaining Hotel Talent
A high staff turnover can put a huge strain on you, your team and your hotel. On the other hand, retaining staff will save you time, money, and make it easier to delight guests. So, how can you boost retention to get talent to stick around long term? This short resource is packed with practical tips to help you keep staff for longer.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- Five important areas for staff retention.
- Advice for onboarding, professional development, employee engagement and team culture.
Anti-Modern Slavery for Managers
What would you do if you thought one of your guests, one of your team or even one of your suppliers, was being exploited? What could you, as a manager, do to stop it? Using first-hand accounts, this resource will define modern slavery in all its guises. It will explore why hospitality is a target and what you can do to spot it and stop it in your venue. Practical activities give you the knowledge and skills you need to stamp out this crime.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Defining modern slavery and the types of exploitation experienced by victims.
- Recognising the warning signs of modern slavery amongst your team and your suppliers.
- Stopping modern slavery in your workplace.
Kitchen
How Safe are You in Your Kitchen?
The kitchen can be a dangerous place and mistakes or oversights can have serious consequences for your team, venue and guests. So, it's crucial that all kitchen team members follow safety protocols at all times. This short resource contains useful guidance for newer staff and acts as an engaging refresher for more experienced team members.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- Common mistakes that can cause safety issues in commercial kitchens.
- Guidance on how to minimise the risks of potential hazards.
Sustainability in the Kitchen
Food production and consumption can have a huge impact on the environment, especially in the kitchen. Is your team doing everything they can to improve your sustainability effort? Using the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and advice from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, this resource provides simple ways your kitchen team members can increase sustainability in their everyday work.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Key areas to help kitchens be more sustainable, like food waste and energy reduction.
- Everyday actions for kitchen staff to implement in their role.
The Kitchen Brigade
This interactive short resource helps your new team members identify the main roles and responsibilities within a kitchen. They will practise determining which role is best to tackle different scenarios or tasks. Perfect for all kitchen teams at the induction stage.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- The structure of the Kitchen Brigade.
- How key roles are defined within the kitchen.
- Which role is best for each task.
Cooking Up a Great Kitchen Team
A strong team is a huge asset to any venue, but what is it that makes a team great? This resource will reveal the key ingredients needed to cook up a great kitchen team. It will help you to develop these in your own team and foster a strong team environment. It also includes strategies to troubleshoot and resolve team issues. Useful for kitchen leaders wanting to develop great teamwork in their kitchen.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- The key ingredients of a great team and how to foster them in the kitchen.
- Strategies to troubleshoot and resolve team issues.
Management
Be Energy Smart
With energy costs rising, this short resource gives tips and advice for hospitality managers and owners to cut their energy bills. From daily energy-saving actions to strategic advice, the resource helps venues to reduce their energy usage immediately and supports them to achieve ongoing energy efficiency. Useful for anyone aiming to save energy in the short- and long-term.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- Daily actions that businesses can implement to reduce energy usage.
- Strategic decisions that businesses can make to be more energy efficient.
Effective Teams
Learners will differentiate between a group and a team. They will learn how to build a team, including exploring recruitment, team roles and dynamics and will practise team communication and giving feedback. They will find out about team conflict, including causes and types, styles of conflict management, and how to prevent it.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 2 hours
- Evaluating what makes a truly effective team.
- Roles and dynamics within the team, including managing conflict.
- Recognising and celebrating team success.
Filming Great Interviews on a Budget
Interviews are a great way to create personal, authentic and credible content on a budget. All it takes is a smartphone, some basic equipment and a little bit of know-how. Packed with tips and practical advice, this short resource will show you how to plan, set up and film interviews that will wow your audience.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- Find the right location to shoot your interview.
- Set up and film a professional-looking interview using a smartphone.
lntroduction to Management
Learners will study the techniques of how to be a good manager, including dealing with a crisis, setting professional standards, and using management checklists, tools and resources.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 2 hours
- How a great start makes a big difference.
- Learn the role of Manager.
- Management tools and techniques.
Leadership
This resource explains the difference between management and leadership, while defining leadership qualities and how to inspire others. Learners will gain a comprehensive knowledge of the different styles and effects of leadership, and how to hold successful briefings, coach teams, motívate and influence your team.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 2 hours
- Defining leadership and learning the difference between leadership and management.
- Gain successful leadership skills to influence your team.
- Using leadership styles and clever coaching.
Safeguarding Young Workers
Young workers are more at risk from accidents and damage to their health. Therefore, it’s important for managers and team leaders to help keep young workers safe. This resource highlights the roles and tasks that young workers can, and cannot, perform legally in the hospitality sector, in line with the Children (Protection at Work)Regulations 2000 and the EU COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 94/33/EC of 22 June 1994 on the protection of young people at work. It also explores factors that can put young workers at greater risk, with practical tips to promote safeguarding in your business.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- The roles and tasks that young workers can, and cannot, perform legally in the hospitality sector.
- Potential risks to consider and the training needed with young workers.
- Practical tips and resources to promote safeguarding young workers in your business.
Restaurant Revenue Management
This resource provides advice and ideas to key decision-makers in restaurants for using their capacity, time and menu more efficiently. It will also prove to the learner the importance of understanding market conditions, events and forecasting better. Mastering revenue management allows every day to become a Saturday. Perfect for anyone who is interested or involved with making key decisions in forecasting and planning for their restaurant.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- What market share is, why it’s important how to work yours out.
- How to benchmark and forecast effectively.
- Developing a strategy through better use of capacity and identifying guest segmentation.
Giving Effective Feedback
This short resource helps your leaders and managers to develop their skills in giving feedback. They will explore the differences between effective and ineffective feedback using animated scenarios. Then use a common model to effectively structure the feedback they give. Great for anyone who may lead people within a hospitality environment.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- Identify the elements of effective feedback.
- Learn how to use the EECC model to structure feedback for maximum effectiveness.
- Explore the use of open questions to take feedback delivery to the next level.
Unlocking Decision-Making
To thrive in a fast-paced hospitality environment, your learners need to make the right choices at the right time. This resource will guide them through a practical decision-making approach they can use in these challenging situations. Empower your learners to make better decisions by weighing up choices to make informed decisions, choosing when to prioritise and involving others in the decision-making process.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- Key practical decision-making approaches to make informed, effective and timely decisions.
- Prioritising and collaborative decision-making.
Short-Term Recruitment
With the challenges of seasonal peaks and one-off events, how will your team recruit staff who are ready to perform, quickly?
This short resource helps your leaders and managers explore strategies for a successful short-term recruitment plan. This plan includes investigating what they’re hiring for, following employment law guidelines, exploring the key challenges faced by various types of venues and successfully interviewing the best recruits.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 10 minutes
- Explore 5 actions to improve your recruitment process.
- Establish ways to entice the best people.
- Follow 6 steps to a successful interview.
So Let's Talk
So Let's Talk... Cognitive Distortions
Does your team get slowed down by ‘unhelpful thinking’? The mind can play tricks that can lead to negative thoughts. This can have a big effect on your team’s work lives and personal lives. In this podcast, Paddy Howley and Arron Smallman from So Let’s Talk discuss ways to recognise and address cognitive distortions, helping your team to reduce anxieties and adopt a healthier outlook.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 15 minutes
- Identify 5 common cognitive distortions
- Follow ways to recognise and overcome unhelpful thinking
- Explore how to reach out and get the support you need
So Let's Talk... Connection
In theory, it’s never been easier to communicate with each other, so why do so many people feel lonelier than ever? In this podcast, Paddy Howley and Arron Smallman from So Let’s Talk explore ways to make positive connections that will help your team boost their mental health. By following their tips on self-connection, connection with nature and a healthy disconnect, your team can identify their values and get to know their true selves.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Follow 3 ways that connections can make a positive difference
- Identify ways you can change your work life and your personal life for the better
- Explore the power of following your values
So Let's Talk... Diet
Does your team have a healthy diet? It’s not always easy for people to make good choices about how they fuel their day. However, by taking action on the long-term effects of a poor diet, you can create a sustainable team. In this video, Paddy Howley and Arron Smallman from So Let’s Talk offer tips to help your team find ways to create a mindful connection with food. Help your team form good habits and have a better diet that will improve their health and performance.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Identify methods of becoming more mindful of your consumption
- Follow tips to have a better diet that will improve health and performance
- Explore ways to increase the nutritional value of food for a healthier lifestyle
So Let's Talk... Financial Health
Do you regret impulse spending? If so, you’re not alone. In this video, Paddy Howley and Arron Smallman from So Let’s Talk explore ways your team can keep their finances in check. Explore the reasons behind why we are likely to make poor financial decisions and build your choice architecture to make better decisions about what you spend your hard-earned money on. Your team can follow these tips to help manage their spending, saving and borrowing and move one step closer to financial freedom.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Identify your relationship with money and how to manage impulse spending
- Follow tips on how to manage your funds
- Explore traps that cost money and tips that will help manage spending, saving and borrowing
So Let's Talk... Habits
Bad habits can have an impact on your team’s mental, physical and financial health, but what can you do about it? In this video, Paddy Howley and Arron Smallman from So Let’s Talk offer insights into daily habits, how they form and how they affect us. This advice will help your team take control of their choice architecture to identify ways of making good habits easy and bad habits hard. Your team will explore how making healthy habits part of their routine can have a positive effect on their long-term health.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 15 minutes
- Identify how habit loops work and recognise unhealthy habit formations
- Follow practical advice on how to control habits
- Explore ways that you can create new habits
So Let's Talk... Language
Does your team know how powerful language can be? Even small adjustments can have a big impact. In this video, Paddy Howley and Arron Smallman from So Let’s Talk explore how impactful our choices of language can be. This advice will help your team align their values and goals in everyday conversation to be optimistic while avoiding toxic positivity and unintended negativity. Empower your team to make simple language changes that can help everyone be more inclusive and communicate more effectively.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Identify ways of making language optimistic and inclusive
- Follow methods to keep communication both direct and kind
- Explore how to avoid unintended negativity and a ‘sorry’ culture in the workplace
So Let's Talk... Mental Health
Wouldn’t it be great if everyone was more vocal about mental health? Being more open and sharing experiences helps us become more comfortable talking about it. In this podcast, Paddy Howley and Arron Smallman from So Let’s Talk discuss ways to remove the stigma from mental health. This advice will help your team support each other, make connections and feel valued. Discover how you can address the mental health challenges that can affect us all.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Follow ways to remove the stigma from mental health
- Identify what is good for your mental health and how to manage feelings and emotions
- Explore effective ways to address mental health challenges
So Let's Talk... Sleep
Did you know that healthy sleep can give your team natural “superpowers”? In this video, Paddy Howley and Arron Smallman from So Let’s Talk offer ways to get the benefits of healthy sleep. Explore what happens when you sleep, and what the benefits are. This advice will help your team practice good sleeping habits to help them feel rested and ready for anything.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 15 minutes
- Identify the benefits of sleep
- Follow 3 steps to healthy sleep
- Explore methods to achieve healthy sleep
So Let's Talk... Stress Pressure Burnout
Does your team ever become overwhelmed by pressures from their work life or personal life? Spotting the signs early can help things from getting out of control. In this video, Paddy Howley and Arron Smallman from So Let’s Talk explore why we feel stress, pressure and burnout and how to manage it. This resource offers tips on sustainable working practices to keep your team feeling fresh and focused.
Estimated Learner Completion Time: 20 minutes
- Explore what stress, pressure and burnout are
- Follow healthy ways to look at stress and pressure and how to reduce it
- Identify the symptoms of stress, pressure and burnout
- Take the right action when feeling stress, pressure and burnout