Restaurant Training Manager

Thompson Hospitality is seeking a dynamic and results-driven Restaurant Training professional to join our team as the Enterprise Training Manager. This position involves spearheading the development and oversight of Certified Training Programs across all Thompson restaurants, including matchbox, Maker’s Union, Milk & Honey, Wiseguy Pizza, American Tap Room, The Ridley, Hen Quarter, and more. If you have a proven track record in various restaurant roles spanning hourly to management, love fostering growth, and thrive in turning operational challenges into opportunities, this role is for you!

Competitive Benefits:

• Health/Dental/Vision
• Paid Time Off
• 401(k), matched up to 4%
• Short and Long Term Disability
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Employee Referral Program
• Pet Insurance
• Discounts: Hotels, Travel, Tickets, Restaurants
• Employees and their relatives are eligible for a discounted meal plan at any of our HBCU client locations while they are attending school

Responsibilities:

Curate and Lead Training Programs:

• Develop and lead in-store training classes for Train the Trainer programs covering roles such as Server/Support Staff, Host, Cook, and Bartender Team Leads.
• Ability to work from VA/MD/DC with travel to FL/OH area restaurants as needed

Certification Support:

• Collaborate with restaurant leadership to provide support, feedback, and coaching in the Certification of Trainers process.

Training Workshop Creation & Facilitation:

• Create and host in-store and virtual training workshops aligned with feedback from guests, sales data, personal observations, and input from business leaders and hourly team members.

Collaboration & Coordination:

• Collaborate closely with the Training & Beverage Department and Operations teams to coordinate enterprise training strategy.
• Support the Director of Training & Development in the procurement of necessary information to keep all training up to date and relevant with in-store offerings, operations & processes.

Hands-On Operational Excellence In-Store Training:

• Provide hands-on, on-site operational excellence training for various roles within the restaurant, highlighting job-specific training, customer service standards, food & beverage product knowledge, compliance & safety, and systems.
• Validate team member expertise, ensuring that employees understand and adhere to standard operating procedures.
• Work with teams in a variety of concepts spanning fast causal counter service, full-service casual, elevated full service and fine dining.

In-Store Audits:

• Conduct in-store visits to audit hospitality, service steps, product knowledge, salesmanship, operational effectiveness, cleanliness, safety, and ambiance.

Performance Improvement:

• Provide feedback to restaurant leaders based on audits and develop training initiatives and approaches to improve performance or knowledge.
• Deliver positive & constructive feedback to team members to bridge skills gaps.

New Restaurant Openings:

• Offer leadership, guidance, coaching, and feedback to team members for new restaurant openings.

Keys to Success in this Role:

• Thorough understanding of restaurant operations, from front-of-house to back-of-house processes.
• Proven track record of enhancing restaurant employee performance and driving organizational success.
• Strong teaching and facilitation abilities, making training sessions engaging and informative.
• Patience in guiding and mentoring employees with the ability to address unique needs and challenges.
• Professionalism, able to maintain a positive demeanor to motivate trainees.
• Efficient management of training schedules, materials, and resources.
• Strong leadership and team management skills, inspiring, coaching, and developing teams.
• Clear and articulate communication skills to convey information effectively.
• Ability to teach salesmanship while maintaining a focus on customer-centric needs & desires.
• Leads by example, modeling and articulating real-time adherence to operational and service standards.

Reporting

• Analyzing guest reviews, PMIX and P&L with a focus on measuring sales, check average, gratuity average, comps and guest sentiment.
• Pulling reports on training completions and quiz performance, to identity areas of opportunity and compliance needs.

Qualifications:

Software

• Proficiency in using Microsoft Office Suite, Restaurant Point of Sale Software, Restaurant Inventory and Ordering Software, and Restaurant Scheduling Software.

Reporting

• Analyzing guest reviews, PMIX and P&L with a focus on measuring sales, check average, gratuity average, comps and guest sentiment.
• Pulling reports on training completions and quiz performance, to identity areas of opportunity and compliance needs.

Who We Are:

Thompson Hospitality is the nation’s largest minority-owned food and facilities management company. Our services include hospitality, full dining and quick service restaurants, campus dining, diversity consultation, facility operations and maintenance management. We are a family-run organization with more than thirty years providing services built on our core mission to provide a positive experience to every relationship we are involved in: one guest, one client, one team member at a time. As a fast growing company, we have a growth plan to more than double in size over the next three years. We are looking for team members who are interested in developing their careers to the next level while joining our team of over 4,000 employees, serving clients in over 40 states to include more than 1.9 million guests each year. Thompson Hospitality focuses on three core areas in everything we do:

Purpose

• Give back to our communities
• Celebrate diversity

People

• Do the right thing
• Treat people the way you want to be treated
• Always do your best
• Be accountable for our actions

Performance

• Serve the highest quality food
• Provide world-class service
• Maintain flexibility to better serve our clients

Salary Range: $55K-$65K

We provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $55,000.00 - $65,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Employee discount
• Health insurance
• Paid time off
• Paid training
• Vision insurance

Restaurant type:

• Bar
• Casual dining restaurant
• Fast casual restaurant
• Fine dining restaurant

Application Question(s):

• What are your salary requirements?
• Do you have experience with new restaurant openings?
• Do you have experience leading training classes and workshops?
• Are you able to travel to Florida and Ohio based restaurants as needed?

Experience:

• Fine dining: 1 year (Preferred)

Ability to Relocate:

• Washington, DC: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: On the road