Lifetime of learning

All caterers do it - or say they do it - because everyone knows training is important. But with staff turnover in hospitality running more than 35% per year, are you throwing money down the drain?

Absolutely not, says Jane Sunley, managing director of training company Learnpurple. She admits she's biased, but she says staff will reach their potential through training and that keeps them loyal. She believes 70% of leavers would stay if they were developed and nurtured.

Although Sunley is clearly an advocate of external training, she says caterers also need to provide some in-house or on-the-job coaching because people learn in different ways. "Even instigating an induction day will get you better results," she advises.

Understandably, independent or start-up companies can't afford to invest as much as the multinationals, but Sunley stresses it is a false economy to save money by squeezing the training budget. Companies in the USA set 3% of their expenditure aside for training, while in the UK this figure is less than 1%. Sunley's suggestion is that caterers aim for somewhere in the middle.

The reality is grim, however. More than a third of hospitality businesses don't even bother training their staff in basic health and hygiene rules, according to a 2002 Food Standards Agency report. Sunley concedes, however, that contract caterers are probably not as negligent because they are on their client's premises. Some companies, even the smaller independents, take the issue very seriously as a means of reducing staff churn and recruitment costs.

One firm believer in investing in training is Alison Robinson, founder of niche caterer Artizian, which has 20 blue-chip business and industry contracts. She says health and hygiene is the most basic training she offers and sets aside £900 a year for each of her 200 employees. And she enjoys setting programmes that would raise a few eyebrows at more conventional companies. For instance, she's sending some staff to a rally called Unleash the Power Within, held by unconventional life coach Anthony Robbins. "By the end of it they will actually walk on hot coals," she enthuses.

Robinson has also roped in a West End theatre producer to help employees build self-confidence and learn about grooming. These courses run every quarter and are open to staff at supervisor level and upwards. More run-of-the-mill training includes a two-day induction with an external expert for all recruits. And for those who are more academic, Robinson is also happy to fund an Open University course.

So is it worth it? "Absolutely," says Robinson, who reckons staff turnover is down to 10%. "We're in an industry where there are more vacancies than applicants. If they stay only two years it's worth it - we need well-trained people to meet the type of service we provide. It also helps them with work-life balance. I would spend more, but I can't because this is a low-profit-margin industry, so there aren't enough funds."

Rick Holroyd, co-founder of Holroyd Howe, also rates life-skills training. He recently organised a one-off image consultancy course called Presenting Me Presenting You, run by TV's personal branding consultant, Lesley Everett. She looked at the way managerial staff sat, dressed and behaved, and explained how it reflected on the company. For Holroyd, staff image is crucial - he wants the company to be perceived as high-quality and dynamic. "Training is important to protect our reputation, and allows us to restate what we're about," he says.

The company, which has 60 contracts, spends £75,000 a year training its 500 staff, each of whom is given a personal training plan. The operations team deals with inductions, health and safety and so on, while more advanced training for managers is tailor-made and carried out by an external body. Holroyd Howe recently held a three-day programme for head-office managers run by the independent educational charity Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC).

But training isn't just about doing practical exercises, Holroyd stresses. Apart from the obvious benefits of keeping staff turnover down to 14% and making sure employees can deliver what the company promises, he believes training sessions also give staff the space to step back. "Catering is full of deadlines," he says. "Spending time outside the work environment gives staff time to stop and think how they do their job."

Many independent contract caterers are devising their own approach. Wendy Bartlett and Ian Mitchell, who founded independent contract caterer Bartlett Mitchell in 2000, have made training a central part of the business. They devised their Stepping Stones to Success programme, which is delivered in so-called "cup of tea" training modules to ensure it's relaxed and that the messages are absorbed by the team. "There's a lot of theory and a lot of posh packages out there, but at the end of the day with tight budgets and limited time, it has to be practical to deliver," Bartlett says.

About 8% of Bartlett Mitchell's management fee is siphoned off for training. The company employs a dedicated trainer, who matches training - whether in-house or external - to the requirements. Staff who want to gain NVQ qualifications, for instance, can attend courses at local colleges.

Bartlett reckons training isn't always effective in a classroom, however. "One of the most innovative day's training we do is ‘training on the move'," she says. "Taking the team out for a day looking at innovative ideas on the high street - after all, that's what our customers are exposed to."

Bartlett says job satisfaction and a sense of being valued meant that last year, general staff turnover was less than 10%. As the average cost of recruiting a new team member is about £500, she reckons training is worth the investment.

One section of the workforce that blue-chip contract caterers are increasingly investing in is their chefs. Demanding clients and the trend to provide fine dining for City firms mean companies such as Charlton House can't afford to ignore the development of their creative team. Chief executive Robyn Jones earmarked £330,000 for staff training last year, but about three years ago she singled out her chefs by appointing Michelin-starred chef David Cavalier as food innovations director.

Besides providing inspiration, Cavalier gets involved in training his 280-strong brigade on three levels: one-to-one formal schooling on specific issues such as menu development; voluntary "twilight" courses, so-dubbed because they run twice a month after work to bring chefs up to date on new trends such as box salads or canap‚s; and hands-on coaching in a unit that needs a bit of guidance.

"We train to keep ahead of trends and to keep chefs interested," says Cavalier, who reckons that only a couple of head chefs have left since he joined. "We need to look at career succession and the way they come up the ranks - and we also need to keep ahead of the game," he adds.

Much of the on-the-job training is carried out by Cavalier's colleague, executive chef Mike Brown. He describes himself as "in whites and of no fixed abode" because he can never be found in the same kitchen twice. He's just spent a month bringing the chefs up to speed at a new contract in Nottinghamshire, but his work is varied and he might just as easily be called in to improve standards at an existing contract. An important element of his job is to identify chefs with talent who can be nurtured to head-chef level (see panel). Alternatively, he helps those he feels need extra training or who want to do NVQs by arranging for them to attend local colleges.

"It's got to be a two-way benefit," says Brown, who believes the subsequent career development ensures these talented chefs remain loyal to Charlton House. He adds that the company is now careful to pinpoint training to suit the needs of chefs and thus ensure it doesn't waste money. Chefs who skive off training sessions, for instance, will find the fact noted in their annual appraisal. "What you put in is what you get out," he says.

As far as the industry goes, it's an observation that would seem as pertinent to the employer as to the employee.

The trainee: Owen Hurley, 24, Head Chef at Charlton House

How valuable has training been to your career? It's very important to look at new ideas and learn how to manage skills so you can develop other chefs in the team. You need on- and off-the-job training and the support of your team or area manager.

Where did you start? I started out as a kitchen porter with Eurest and was a sous chef at the Civil Aviation Authority when Charlton House took over. They moved me to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 2001, where I was groomed to become head chef, a position I took up in 2002. The previous chef, Mark Palmer, was then freed to move into a new management role.

How did they train you? On the job. I got one-to-one coaching from our food innovations director, David Cavalier, on menu creation, recipe and food costing, presenting new products and food and wine pairing. I also visited markets and restaurants with the other chefs, learned about kitchen management and attended our annual chefs conference, which showcases food trends and new products. I have also been trained in the people management side of things so I can manage my brigade. In the past six months I've attended a recruitment and interviewing course and a managing performance course.

What are your responsibilities? Managing a fixed-price budget with a high turnover, 1,500 customers and 10 staff.

What other training initiatives are there at Charlton House? There's ongoing skills training in units, plus mandatory health and safety training and optional monthly demonstration sessions run by David Cavalier. The company puts chefs through NVQs in local colleges or with external assessors. We also have an intranet bulletin board so we can share ideas with our colleagues.

The trainer: Anton Edelmann's training academy
"We all need more training," says Anton Edelmann, principal chef at Sodexho's fine-dining arm, Directors Table. "It's something that gets talked about but forgotten." He reckons that's partly because few managing directors have time to think about training. In his view, companies need a dedicated person to run it. At Directors Table, he's one of those dedicated people.

"Obviously not all businesses need to train their staff to five-star levels, but there are right and wrong ways of cooking or serving that all hospitality staff should be taught," Edelmann says. "Training should be drip-fed constantly."

The former maestro of the Savoy kitchens joined Sodexho last autumn. He started the Training Academy in February and is already getting positive feedback from staff. "They want to learn more - it gives them job security. In this world, training gets forgotten about until something goes wrong and then you get hit on the head by the client and it's too late."

The academy is based at Allium, the two-AA-rosette restaurant that Edelmann operates for Directors Table in Dolphin Square, London. Every week, one chef and one front-of-house staff member are nominated to get experience working in a commercial environment. The programme for each employee varies but will always ensure they get hands-on experience.

Kitchen trainees work from 8.30am to 3pm, and 5pm until 10pm and get experience in areas such as preparing cold and hot starters, cooking meat, preparing sauces, bread-making, and desserts. Restaurant staff report at 10am and follow the same shift pattern as in the kitchen. They concentrate on areas such as mise en place, managing bookings and reception, menu layout, serving wines and developing business.

Although most of the training takes place at Allium, there's also an element of practical training at other units - for instance, butchery classes. Usually the meat is donated by the suppliers, which keeps the costs down and introduces the chef to a potential supplier in the future.

Job Facts

• Labour turnover in the UK is running at record levels. Across all industries one in five people will change their job this year. In hospitality the figure is one in two.
• A quarter of all job-leavers have been in the post for only six months.
• The cost of replacing a manager is between two and five times their salary.
• Hospitality managers spend half their time on recruitment.

Source: Learnpurple

Contacts
Hospitality Training Foundation www.htf.org.uk
CRAC www.crac.org.uk
Learnpurple www.learnpurple.com
HCIMA www.hcima.org.uk
Anthony Robbins www.tonyrobbins.com
Lesley Everett www.leconsultants.co.uk