Staff Training Program Checklist

Hand out the chef coat or branded shirt, slip-resistant shoe voucher, name tag, and locker assignment. Set up the Toast (or Square / Aloha) employee profile with the right role permissions — server, bartender, host, line cook — before the first shift, not during it.

Role drives the rest of the program — FOH hires get service and POS tracks; BOH hires get line, prep, and food-safety tracks. Pick the primary role; cross-trained hires can run the other track later.

20 seconds, soap and warm water, between tasks and after any contamination event. Walk through when gloves are required (ready-to-eat foods, no bare-hand contact rule) and when gloves get changed — between proteins, after handling allergens, after touching face or phone.

Cover hot-holding (140°F+), cold-holding (41°F or below), and the 41–140°F danger zone. Walk through the cooling log: 140°F to 70°F within 2 hours, 70°F to 41°F within the next 4 hours. Show where the walk-in temp log lives and the twice-daily cadence.

Dedicated cutting board, dedicated tongs, hand-changed gloves, separate fryer where possible. The Big 9 allergens — milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy, sesame. In MA, IL, MI, NY, and RI, at least one manager per shift needs current allergen-awareness certification (PCFP or AllerTrain) — note who that manager is on each shift.

Pair with the strongest line cook for one lunch and one dinner before the new hire takes a station. Cover ticket reading, fire/all-day calls from expo, and how 86s get communicated back to FOH.

Sauté, grill, garde manger, fry — pick the station and have the new hire prep it from the par sheet. Sous chef checks par accuracy and FIFO discipline in the walk-in before service starts.

Cover knife grip, claw hand, and sharpening cadence. Demonstrate flat top, salamander, six-burner, and fryer operation including oil filtration and the shut-off sequence. OSHA basics: cut-glove use for breakdown work, wet-floor signs, hot-pan call-outs ("behind, hot").

One lunch and one dinner with a senior server. Cover greet timing (60-second target), table touches, allergy ticket flow, and how to call 86s back to the kitchen via expo.

Toast, Square for Restaurants, or whatever the house runs — practice tab opens, modifiers, splits, voids, comps, and the close-out. Voids and comps require manager approval; show where the audit trail lives so the GM can review the comp percentage at week's end.

Run three scenarios with the AGM: cold-food return, long ticket time, allergy near-miss. Practice the LAST framework (Listen, Apologize, Solve, Thank) and clarify when a manager gets pulled in — anything involving allergens, intoxication, or a comp over the server's threshold.

Servers and bartenders need TIPS, ServSafe Alcohol, or the state-mandated equivalent before pouring or serving. Selling to minors or visibly intoxicated patrons is a license-level violation that can suspend the liquor license, not just discipline the employee.

Card anyone who looks under 35. Practice spotting tampered IDs, vertical IDs (under-21 in most states), and out-of-state formats. The state ABC sting program runs year-round — refusal to serve when in doubt protects the license.

Chef walks the new hire through every dish — flavor profile, plate composition, common modifications. Note which dishes contain Big 9 allergens and which can be modified gluten-free, dairy-free, or vegan.

BTG wines, house cocktails, well vs. call vs. premium spirits. Beverage director runs a flash-card session; the new server should be able to suggest a pairing for any entrée without consulting the list.

Suggestive selling, not pushy selling. Specific recommendations beat open questions — "the burrata before your steak" lands; "would you like an appetizer?" doesn't. Track average per-person check on the trainee for the first two weeks against the section average.

Three-bay sink at correct sanitizer ppm (test with a strip), surfaces wiped with sanitizer at proper concentration, equipment broken down per the closing checklist. Cover the closing side-work list and the 80/20 rule — non-tipped duties beyond 30 minutes continuous can't be claimed under the tip credit.

Close all open tabs in the POS, run the server-banking report, count the drawer, and reconcile against the report. Tip-out percentages to bar, bussers, and runners follow the house policy — explain the math so the trainee can verify their own check.

GM sits down with the new hire — what's working, what's confusing, who's been a strong trainer, what the trainee still needs reps on. Cash-out variances, comp percentage, and average per-person check from the first month all get reviewed against section benchmarks.