From First Shift to Future Leader: The Role of Training in Retention and Culture

The restaurant industry has always been a people first business. From the front of the house to the back of the house, it runs on human effort – on talent, teamwork, and trust. But in a labor market defined by high turnover and rising wages, restaurants and food service operators are being forced to rethink how they build and retain teams. One powerful answer? Ongoing training – not just as a means of compliance or on boarding, but as a continuous strategy to attract talent, strengthen culture, and keep good people growing within the business. Sandra Moran, Chief Marketing Officer of Schoox, a learning and development platform designed for frontline teams, talks with Total Food Service about the role of training in employee retention and culture and says it plainly: “It’s interesting that we have the kind of challenges we have with retention and turnover and constant change, and yet people still aren’t more serious about the role learning and development plays in that.”