Trainees benefit not only from their knowledge, but from the fact that the person who trains them is on-site for follow up questions. They're people who are in the kitchen day in, day out. At Bennigan's, certified hourly workers train in a real restaurant. Initial training takes place when the restaurant is closed and covers menu knowledge and other basics. While successes are all fine and good, mistakes are much better training tools.
Every mistake is a training program.
With that principle in mind, Mike Watson almost encourages employees at Stein Erikson Lodge to make mistakes. Watson, a former waiter at the Park City, Utah, resort, now heads training for the food and beverage department. I let people know they're not the first person to do that. He even holds up his own mistakes as examples. Watson once spilled a tray of drinks down the back of an elegantly dressed woman.