Computer-based training clicks with both franchisees and their employees

By Dina Berta

You would have thought it was Christmas when the computers arrived this spring at Cynthia Booth's two Cincinnati-area McDonald's restaurants, the franchisee recalled.

"They were so excited," Booth said of her crew members. Both the computer-savvy younger employees and the older workers who never had used a compute welcomed the technology - and the opportunity to train on it - with open arms.

Booth uses the computers, which are set up in the break rooms, to orient new employees and train them about safety, security and hospitality as well as the skills needed for various stations, such as the fryer, drive-thru and front counter. Longer-term employees use the computer for refresher courses.

That type of interactive training - on CD-ROMs, computer hard drives or on the Internet - has been on the rise in the restaurant industry as operators search for cost-effective ways to offer employees uniform instruction that will improve customer service and performance.

But while computer-based training is cost-effective and it allows employees to learn at their own pace, foodservice operators still are grappling with a variety of related issues. And trainers and human resources executives are working with their companies' information technology and marketing and operations departments to answer the questions.

Among the problems still to be tackled are the following : Should interactive training be mandatory or voluntary for franchisees? And should the focus of video-laden courses be CD-ROMs or the Internet given that streaming video takes more broadband, which is not expected to become widespread for several more years?

"Everyone's trying to figure it out," said Ellen Moore, senior vice president of the Learning and Certification Division of the National Restaurant Association Education Foundation in Chicago.

"It's not a slam dunk program the training department cranks through the system," she said. "There has to be system wide commitment and at a high level. It has to be top down and bottom up."

For McDonald's, the computer-based training started as a grassroots effort by its Midwestern division, said Holbrook Hankinson, senior director of U.S. Training and Learning Development for the fast-food chain in Oak Brook, Ill.

"They saw a need for a more consistent way to train our crew and in a more interactive, fun way," Hankinson said. "They put the first version together and brought it to us. Our job is to enhance the program."

McDonald's developed 11 different courses and put them on CD-ROMs. The programs consist of videos and graphics and require users to make choices to demonstrate their understanding. The training courses come loaded on Gateway computers through an arrangement McDonald's made with the manufacturer. The company brokered the deal with Gateway to make it easier for operators to buy computers or laptops with the programs already loaded.

"It takes out the hassle," Hankinson said. "It's already there for them. They just open the box, put it together, turn in on and start training."

The training programs are not required for franchisee operators, but those who do wish to use them have to buy the computers themselves. Desktops cost about $1,300; laptops cost almost $2,000.

Booth, who became a McDonald's franchisee less a year ago, saw the purchase as an investment in the future growth of her stores.

"It's a wonderful complement to the on-the-floor training". Booth said. "By the time (employees) go through it and get on the floor, they've really grasped the details of crew operations we've trying to teach. They remember more, and they are quicker." And better-trained employees are better able to serve customers, she added.

Allied Domecq Quick Service Restaurants, Randolph, Mass.-based parent of Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins and Togo's Eatery, opted to mandate computer training in every store. The company has built up to 16 different training titles on CD-ROM in the past 18 months. Four more titles are due out this summer. Each brand has 11 titles that are brand-specific and operators must carry them said Kevin McNamara, vice president of training for company, which has 10,000 units worldwide. Operators also must purchase computers for their stores.

At first have was some resistance to the mandate until operators saw the programs that use video, voiceovers and graphics, McNamara said. The training programs are of such a high quality that they have received an award form an audio-video association.

"You have to see it to realize the benefits," he explained. "Once they (franchisees) saw it and saw what they were able to do, the resistance melted away."

Each of the title takes 20 to 40 minutes to complete. Employees learn such techniques as how to serve disabled customers, how to make doughnuts and how to scoop ice cream.

A mandated program helps ensure that employees are learning the proper way to do things as well as the company's core values and vision statements, McNamara said.

"They are not learning by myth and legend," he said. "We wanted to take a much more professional approach to training."

When employees finish the courses, they are more confident in their positions in the store, McNamara said.

Allied Domecq's goal is to move the titles onto the Internet once broadband becomes more accessible, he said.

Atlanta-based Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits made a decision three years ago to transfer all of its training materials onto the Internet to provide easier access to its operators, said Mary Lou Atkins, the company's director of training.

The company has developed a training module for managers that is posted on the Web. By the end of next year there should be 28 modules that managers can take either at work or on home computers.

The first module, which features a lot of animation and interactive pieces, has been getting high marks from users, Atkins said.

Most Internet-based training programs do not have the intense amount of video that CD-ROM programs do, but restaurants are finding way to make the courses entertaining with graphics, animation and video slides.

"Would (employees) rather do this than video games? No," said Bill Asbury of Pencom International, a training development and publishing company based in Denver. "Training is still training. But as computer-based training goes, it's very engaging."

Pencom established a learning portal on its Web site that also can be customized for individual restaurant chains.

Damon's International, the Columbus, Ohio-based casual-dining restaurant chain with 146 stores, used Pencom to create an online program.

Employees access courses through the point-of-sale systems in the restaurants, using the touch-screen terminals to move through the course. Damon's leases the cost of the Web site to franchise operators.

The NRA Educational Foundation will launch its own portal training Web site next month for restaurants to use for interactive programs. The non-profit organization also has been turning its written programs into virtual realities on CD-ROMs.

"Online will never replace the need for classroom instruction, but we're going to see more of it as the cost of hardware comes down and more and more people become wired at work and at home," Moore said.