Food safety comes first
Every food handler needs basic hygiene training: handwashing, personal hygiene, illness reporting, safe temperatures, cross-contamination and allergens. Kitchen leaders need more. Many kitchens send sous chefs and kitchen supervisors on FSSAI's FoSTaC food safety supervisor course, so each kitchen has trained supervisors on its rosters. Record FoSTaC as an external program in Learning with the validity printed on the certificate, and the program's compliance view shows which supervisors hold a current certificate and which have lapsed.
Safety in a hot, crowded kitchen
A kitchen fire or a deep cut is more likely at 9 pm on a Saturday than at 11 am on a Tuesday. Run safety refreshers before the festival season, not after it, and train every joiner in the first week. Keep a first aid certificate holder on each shift and check their expiry dates monthly. POSH awareness belongs on the same list, because any workplace with 10 or more employees has to set up an Internal Committee under the 2013 Act, and a late-night kitchen is exactly where staff need to know how to reach it.
- Fire safety, extinguisher use and the LPG or PNG shut-off
- First aid for burns, cuts and slips
- Knife and slicer safety
- Safe lifting of stock and gas cylinders
- Evacuation route and the outlet's assembly point
Service, bar and menu training
Floor training covers greeting, order taking, complaint handling, table setting and describing each dish, allergens included. Bartenders need responsible alcohol service: checking age, refusing service to intoxicated guests and knowing the dry day rules. Every menu launch needs a tasting and briefing for kitchen and floor together, because a steward who has not tasted a new dish cannot sell it. Record each launch as a short classroom program in Learning and mark completion outlet by outlet.
Tracking certificates and refreshers
Hygiene and fire safety fit a 12-month validity, while first aid and FoSTaC programs should carry the period printed on their certificates. Marking a program complete makes ZeniaHR issue a certificate number with an expiry date. Each program's compliance view then splits the team into completed, in progress and expired, so a lapsed hygiene certificate is visible before an auditor finds it. Check it monthly and before every food safety audit, and re-enrol whoever has lapsed.
How to set it up in ZeniaHR
- In Learning, set up hygiene, allergen, fire safety and first aid programs with hours, the mandatory flag and a validity in months.
- Add FoSTaC food safety supervisor training as an external program for sous chefs and supervisors, using the certificate's validity.
- Put each joiner on the mandatory programs in their first week, and add kitchen and floor teams to every menu launch program.
- Close each session by marking attendees complete, which gives every certificate a number and an expiry date for the audit file.
- Read each program's compliance view monthly, and re-enrol staff whose certificates are expired or close to expiry.
Read more about learning and training in ZeniaHR.
Roles this applies to
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What is FoSTaC training for restaurants?
FoSTaC is FSSAI's Food Safety Training and Certification program. Restaurants commonly send kitchen supervisors and sous chefs on its food safety supervisor course, and basic courses exist for food handlers. Keep each certificate on file with its validity date, and check your FSSAI licence conditions for what your kitchen is expected to have.
What training do restaurant kitchen staff need?
Every kitchen employee needs hygiene and allergen training, fire and gas safety, knife and burn safety and basic first aid awareness. Supervisors should hold a food safety supervisor certificate, and a trained first aider should be on each shift. Add station training for each cook's section and menu training at every launch.
How do restaurant chains track training across outlets?
Put every program in one system, enrol staff outlet by outlet, and mark completion so each certificate gets a number and an expiry date. A compliance view per program then lists completed, in progress and expired staff, which lets HR chase outlets before an audit instead of discovering gaps during one.