At the start of 2020, no one could have imagined how different things would be just a few short months down the line for ourselves, our businesses, and our teams.
COVID-19 has rocked the world, and hospitality businesses have been hit particularly hard. The very nature of hospitality is to create a social experience, so imagining life after lockdown in the wake of social distancing was a challenge.
One thing that has emerged from this crisis is the strength of the hospitality community. Organisations have banded together to support business owners and team members through these tough times.
Here at CPL Learning, we’ve joined forces with a number of organisations over the last couple of months to help support the hospitality industry. Such as partnering with UK Hospitality to launch the completely free e-learning platform UKH Pathway.
And as we start to turn our thoughts to the easing of lockdown once again and preparing for reopening, we take a refreshed look at the benefits of our Ready to Serve programme for both teams and managers.
We developed the Ready to Serve programme to assist operators in preparing to reopen after lockdown. The main aim of the programme is to provide all the essential learning needed to reopen safely in one place.
For team members, the course programme delivers several modules in hospitality skills post-lockdown, managing conflict and foundation skills in product service. In addition, the programme offers a refresh of several core compliance subjects, such as food safety, fire safety and allergens, ensuring those team members who are returning to work after a period of furlough are up to date on all mandatory training.
For managers, we developed a free short course that provides a comprehensive overview of the essential areas of consideration for reopening and supporting the key business objectives of providing customers with excellent service, whilst operating safely and profitably. Avoiding any risks that could arise following the adaptation of your business procedures to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following safe working practices within a practical framework, the course aims to support and guide users on a step-by-step approach to reopening their operation safely.
To date, our Ready to Serve programme has been allocated over 50,000 times to users all across the UK. Many operators and their teams have already benefited from the learning in the Ready to Serve programme and successfully made their venue COVID secure. But many operators have not had the opportunity to reopen at all since last year, and it is these businesses that will most benefit from the content in the Ready to Serve programme. In addition, the programme is recommended for individual team members who have not yet completed COVID secure training after furlough. The course programme would also benefit any new team members in their induction to support COVID secure knowledge and understanding and to provide a foundation in compliance training ahead of completing more advanced compliance training in the future.
The Manager Ready to Serve programme is a completely free short course that allows those in a management or supervisory role to understand the actions and responsibilities they have in getting their sites and teams ready to serve customers once again. The course provides step-by-step guidance and support for reopening a site safely, how to manage potential risks and delivering excellent service. The learning programme will help managers operate safely and profitably.
Topics included in the free Manager course will include operational guidance such as ‘Risk Assessment’, ‘Team Safety and Protection’ and ‘Social Distance’. There will also be guidance on the skills needed to continue delivering service and a hospitality experience for guests with ‘Communication and Conflict’, ‘Developing the Offer’ and ‘Welcoming Guests’. As well as heightened hygiene guidance with ‘Cleaning and Hygiene for Building and Equipment’ to keep them and their guests safe.
The programme for team members allows you to quickly and efficiently deliver the training needed to continue delivering service and a hospitality experience for guests in line with the recommended government guidelines and looks at the heightened hygiene and safety procedures that will give your teams and guests confidence in operating when reopening.
Covering three main topics, ‘Compliance for Reopening’, ‘Hospitality in a Sterile World’ and ‘Spirit Service – Foundation Skills’, the course offers sixteen modules helping teams develop the confidence to deliver service to guests post-lockdown.
Compliance for Reopening
Hospitality in a Sterile World
Spirit Service – Foundation Skills
The guidance in this programme is in line with current UK guidelines for operators, and where different guidelines for Scotland or Wales apply, we have included extra downloadable resources that outline these within the programme. If you would like to access the Ready to Serve programme for your managers and teams, you can click the button to find out more, or contact us today to find out more about how we can help you and your team be ready to serve.
