Running a restaurant involves many different skills. As the industry moves at a fast pace, staying up to date with the latest knowledge is always important. This is why taking restaurant management courses is always a good idea.
Luckily, various free courses and training platforms exist, allowing you to gain valuable knowledge and skills in the hospitality industry.
From better restaurant and hotel management to learning about finances, customer relations, or food safety, these online platforms provide a wealth of knowledge. Taking these courses is relatively simple, and they could help your restaurant to significantly boost sales.
So, to help you brush up on your restaurant industry skills, here are some of the best free online platforms for any restaurant manager.
7shifts Academy Courses
7shifts Academy offers a comprehensive suite of restaurant management training online free courses. These free online courses cater to a diverse audience including restaurant owners, operators, managers, chefs, and hospitality professionals.
With a focus on career advancement and business growth, these courses cover key aspects of hotel and restaurant management. This includes topics like scheduling, daily management, hiring, training, and marketing.
The free restaurant management courses include guided lessons, videos, articles, quizzes, and templates. They’re easy to get started with, and share plenty of valuable insights for any restaurant workers, owners, or managers.
Coursera Food & Beverage Management
Coursera's Food & Beverage Management course is designed to equip venue managers and entrepreneurs with all of the essential skills to navigate industry challenges.
This free course covers four modules with quizzes, introductory topics, and insightful video discussions featuring guest speakers.
Covering topics such as product quality, the balance between business tradition and innovation, and leveraging opportunities in food and beverage markets, you’ll gain valuable insights from the field. If you want to learn about restaurant revenue management or how to control a busy restaurant schedule, then this is an ideal platform.
When you finish the course, you get a shareable certificate that validates your expertise in food and beverage management strategies.
Typsy Better Food Cost Management
Typsy offers various online restaurant management courses, and this is one of the best free options. The Better Food Cost Management course is a valuable resource for restaurant owners and managers looking to improve their financial skills.
Industry expert Ryan Gromfin provides insights, formulas, and techniques to enhance culinary cost management and food pricing. The course covers essential topics like calculating the cost of goods sold, prime cost, batch recipes, and menu item costs. Participants also learn effective inventory management, portion control strategies, and methods to reduce food waste and prevent kitchen theft.
With practical tips and guidance, this Typsy course empowers restaurant managers to negotiate with vendors and generate a consistent stream of profit.
As a restaurant manager or owner, effective food costing is critical. This course is a fantastic resource to help you brush up on your knowledge here - something that can seriously improve restaurant performance.
EdApp Dealing With Difficult Customers
EdApp's Dealing with Difficult Customers course is a valuable resource for restaurant staff facing challenging situations.
In this interactive training, employees learn best practices and strategies to handle naturally impatient, indecisive, and raving customers. Hospitality professionals in all positions will gain value from this.
The course covers various scenarios, including responding to guest complaints, managing wrong food orders, and dealing with intoxicated customers. With bite-sized lessons and gamified quizzes, EdApp ensures engaging and efficient learning.
A restaurant manager wears many different hats, but being able to provide a great customer experience is always a top priority. The lessons gained from this simple course can make a big positive difference to any food service operation.
Pearson Multi-Unit Restaurant Management
Pearson's Multi-Unit Restaurant Management course is a gateway to advancing your career in restaurant management.
Part of the Hospitality Management Learning Modules, this course explores the diverse realm of restaurant types, focusing on the advantages and disadvantages of multi-unit or chain establishments.
Although it’s a paid course, it’s only priced at $4.99 - which is very worthwhile considering the valuable content that this restaurant management course offers. Mostly, you’ll gain valuable insights on transitioning from a novice to an expert multi-unit manager.
This is a comprehensive resource that equips aspiring managers with the knowledge and skills needed for success in the dynamic world of multi-unit restaurant management.
Opening and Closing Our Restaurant EdApp
EdApp's Opening and Closing Our Restaurant course is a fantastic resource for restaurant teams, covering some of the most valuable guidelines for effective daily operations.
This free course provides essential steps and procedures for both opening and closing shifts in any restaurant business, ensuring a smooth and organized flow throughout the day.
The course covers proper opening procedures like arranging furniture, setting up lighting, and the cash register. It also covers closing tasks including table cleaning and station restocking.
Although it's fairly simple, it's an excellent restaurant course to help any restaurant run more smoothly and efficiently. If you’re hiring employees, getting them to finish this course could be very beneficial.
EdX Online Hospitality Management Courses
EdX offers free online restaurant management courses in collaboration with international universities like Hong Kong Polytechnic. These courses provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the hospitality industry through real-world examples.
EdX's range of restaurant management courses covers specific disciplines, including restaurant management, human resources management, and tourism management. This allows learners to develop a well-rounded knowledge base.
Certificates are available at an extra cost for those seeking formal recognition for completing these courses.
Conclusion
These free online courses all offer valuable insights into the world of restaurant management. Continuous learning is an essential part of being in the hospitality industry, and having a range of free courses like this makes learning a whole lot easier.
No matter where you want to improve your skills, there’s likely a restaurant management course to help you do it.
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