Learning and Development Trends Report: What Hospitality Data Shows for 2024

More and more hospitality leaders are recognizing the role robust training programs play in improving performance, driving revenue, and ultimately, growing their businesses. CHART (Council of Hospitality and Restaurant Trainers) and Opus Training jointly surveyed over a hundred learning and development (L&D) leaders in hospitality, primarily in multi-unit restaurants, to gauge their input on learning and development trends shaping 2024.

Part 1 of this report focuses on actionable insights that can help L&D leaders in hospitality advocate for their programs, influence buy-in, and maximize training efficacy. Part 2 shares how businesses are investing in training, both in terms of money and time spent. Let's dive into the top trends for 2024 and beyond.

What’s Covered in This Article

Learning and Development is Back in the Spotlight

With an influx of new workers in the past several years, hospitality leaders ramped up their L&D spending accordingly: 63% of those surveyed say they increased their training investment in recent years.

In the next year, though, respondents expect only a modest raise in training spending, with 65% saying they expected it to increase slightly. This may indicate budget-consciousness when businesses face the challenge of increased labor, food, and material costs. 

💡 Takeaway: Although current L&D budgets reflect a post-pandemic enthusiasm for standardized training programs, investment is starting to taper. To ensure a strong training program for years to come, L&D leaders must make the most of the extra resources they’re being given today.

Returning to Hospitality Roots

This year, priorities aren’t as centered around tech such as point-of-sale (POS) systems or food preparation. According to the 2024 State of the Restaurant Industry report from the National Restaurant Association (NRA), nearly one in five restaurant jobs are filled by first-time workers — and as such, they’re coming in without the soft skills needed to deliver great service.

This, in turn, has spurred L&D leaders to start from square one, hoping they can eventually build a leadership pipeline. When asked about their top priorities for training in 2024, respondents' top three answers were management and leadership (80%), customer service (60%), and interpersonal skills (45%).

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💡 Takeaway: Unlike years past, the vast majority (80%) of L&D leaders plan to focus on developing soft skills — leadership, customer service, and interpersonal relations.‍

Is It the Year of the Frontline Manager?

L&D teams have long seen gaps in manager training, but with the urgency of getting new hourly hires up to speed, manager development tends to get placed on the back burner.

Amid the post-pandemic influx of less experienced employees, however, these gaps have become more noticeable. In 2023, 36.9% of 16-19 year olds in the US were in the general labor force — the highest level since 2009.

Given their critical role in operations, L&D leaders who have shored up hourly employees will be redirecting their dollars toward frontline managers in the next year. Significant investments in training are expected to increase for managers (+3%) while decreasing for hourly BOH (-4.5%) and FOH (-15%) workers. 

💡 Takeaway: While hourly frontline employees have been the primary focus in years past, the next year will see increased investment in training frontline managers, who are key to field buy-in and overall training program efficacy.

Learning and Development Trends Are Grounded in the Realities of Frontline Work

Investments in training that initially poured in when restaurants began reopening en masse have slowed down, especially in areas where ROI hasn’t materialized. The top three L&D trends – microtraining, continuous learning, and hands-on training – reflect the pragmatism required in today’s environment. Respondents said they were likely to use microtraining (87%), hands-on training (89%), and continuous learning (92%) in the next year or two.

Microtraining and Hands-On Training Address New Hire Challenges

It’s become widely accepted that microlearning is the preferred format for the TikTok generation. L&D leaders are increasingly layering this bite-size e-learning content with good old-fashioned hands-on training for a more engaging, effective way to deliver essential information, hone new skills, and retain knowledge.

The end result is employees who become more productive earlier on, improving satisfaction and reducing turnover.

Enter Continuous Learning

Everboarding — not onboarding — is the latest buzz. Employees can start working as soon as they get the basics, but that leaves gaps that can affect customer experience. The goal is to see progress in performance via ongoing training for everyone, from rookies to veterans.

Improving training doesn’t just improve performance, though — it also helps you widen your recruitment pool. A better training program can attract candidates looking to grow their careers while making it possible to bring in those who have less experience but are hungry to learn.

Given that 90% of restaurant operators stated that recruiting and maintaining employees will still be a challenge in 2024, this might just give you the competitive edge you need.

‍What About The Other Development Trends in 2024?

Gamification has been trending downward, possibly due to fatigue — after all, it’s been an L&D buzzword since the early 2010s. 

And while there has been increased discourse around game-based simulations facilitated by AR/VR, their relatively recent debut makes their ROI unclear. As for AI, it hasn’t quite reached mass adoption yet among L&D teams — but the potential is there, especially as L&D technologies improve how it's applied to training.

💡 Takeaway: While these trends are not new in themselves, what is new is the way L&D leaders are combining them into training programs. Using a blended learning approach, L&D leaders can rapidly aid recruiting, increase productivity, and reduce turnover — all while providing employees with career development. 

Mobile E-learning is Here to Stay

E-learning has cemented itself as a fixture of L&D rather than a fad: 100% of those polled said they used an e-learning platform, up from 86% in 2019. Given that 88% of our respondents work in businesses with greater than 10 units, it’s clear e-learning is necessary for growth.

Although it’s already widespread, many note that they’re not fully utilizing elearning. 77% of respondents said they plan to increase e-learning usage within their company in the next year.

While business leaders have historically been hesitant to let employees use their smartphones on the clock, they’re increasingly accepting that we live in a digitally native world. With 83% of respondents’ employees accessing e-learning on their smartphones — more than tablets (67%) or desktops (62%) — it’s no longer a question of whether you should adopt mobile training, but how you do so.

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In particular, programs should be mindful that it’s possible to over-index digital training solutions, which may explain the small number of respondents who plan to decrease their e-learning investments. This makes it all the more important to balance e-learning with real-world, hands-on training.

💡 Takeaway: Whether businesses like employees using smartphones or not, they’ve come to accept it — mobile training usage has more than doubled in the last several years. Still, it needs to be layered with other forms of training for best results.

L&D Teams Want Buy-in and Content Support

Many L&D teams reported they're refining their L&D programs as they go along. New programs are understandably working out the kinks, while more established ones are honing best practices. 

Teams’ desire for more field-level buy-in (69%) reflects an age-old problem in the L&D space that many cite as the root cause of low engagement — further validating the increased spending on manager training and underscoring the importance of accessible, employee-friendly systems.

💡 Takeaway: While securing field-level buy-in is always a challenge, effective programs largely owe their success to user-friendly training platforms, high-quality (yet succinct) learning content, and structured programs.

The Most Effective Programs Embrace the Top Trends

To learn what separates an average L&D program from a great one, we segmented the responses from those with self-reported high efficacy vs. lower efficacy. What we found were some clear commonalities across both groups.

What effective training programs had in common

  • Accessibility: Mobile-based learning platforms with user-friendly interfaces result in higher engagement and completion rates.
  • Efficient training content: Bite-size, app-based content delivery improves information retention.
    Structured training and internal growth: Cultures that place value on employee development and internal promotions see improved competence and retention.

The obstacles less effective programs encountered

  • Inconsistency: A lack of consistent training experiences and low engagement rates across different locations are major issues.
  • Technology and content gaps: Businesses need updated, detailed training materials and technology that will help, not hinder, L&D.
  • Cultural attitudes: Learning cultures that value training and have secured support from leadership see better execution and greater compliance.

Knowledge Sharing Helps L&D Teams Level Up

It comes as no surprise that L&D leaders are enthusiastic about their own growth, training, and development. Few have formal education related to the field (25%), but 94% say they do plenty of learning on the job — and outside of it, for that matter.

More notably, L&D leaders who rated their program as highly effective were more likely to invest in professional certifications and develop peer relationships. How often they did so was important — over 75% said they did one-to-one networking or engaged in community forums at least a few times a year.

The less effective L&D programs tended to be in earlier stages of development, with teams that likely had less experience than their “highly effective” counterparts. For them, networking and joining professional associations like CHART to learn from their peers is all the more important.

💡 Takeaway: The most effective L&D leaders report that learning from peers is key to improving. When executives encourage peer networking, it benefits the business as a whole.

Training Budgets Top $1,000 Across All Roles

Businesses spend roughly the same amount on training for front-of-house (FOH) and back-of-house (BOH) employees: $1,242 and $1,229, respectively. Assuming an average salary of $15 per hour, that’s equivalent to 80 hours or 10 eight-hour shifts. Since FOH employees traditionally received more training than BOH employees, the now comparable investment underscores the value of the BOH team and the importance of product quality.

At the manager level, however, budgets increase significantly: $4,918 for unit-level managers and $6,241 for general managers. 

While respondents reported that they expected investments in hourly employee training to decrease in the next year, they expected investments in manager training would increase. A full 28% expected significant increase in manager training spend, leading us to declare 2024 the “Year of the frontline manager.”

💡 Takeaway: Businesses allocate budgets between $1,200 (hourly roles) and $6,000 (general managers).

New Hire Role Training Sees Significant Post-Pandemic Increases

Compared to 2019, new hire training hours in 2024 have increased across the board, between 14% and 63%.

There were healthy increases among both FOH (+57%) and BOH (+45%) hourly workers. The highest growth, though, was again among unit-level managers (+63%), who now spend an average of 196 hours — that's nearly five weeks — training in their new role.

💡 Takeaway: Onboarding hours have increased by about 40% across roles post-pandemic. The training between QSR and full-service restaurants differs by 50% 

QSRs Spend Less Time on New Hiring Training Compared to Full-service 

QSR’s simpler operations mean their employees undergo less training than those at full-service restaurants. So, we’ve provided a breakdown between the two to offer more relevant benchmarking data.

QSRs surveyed spent 25 hours on new hire training for both FOH and BOH employees — a decrease of 32% (FOH) and 34% (BOH) from their full-service counterparts, who onboard for a total of 37 (FOH) and 38 (BOH) hours.

There is higher parity in new hire training hours for unit-level managers and general managers across restaurant types. General managers at QSRs spent 228 hours training, while those at full-service restaurants spent 281 hours training — a difference of 19%. And the difference in unit-level managers was even lower: 193 hours at QSRs vs. 214 hours at full-service restaurants, resulting in a 10% difference.

Upsurge in Ongoing Training Reflects a Need for Adaptation

Ongoing training has seen an outsized increase recently, growing at a much faster clip over the last five years than new-hire training. In that time period, average ongoing training hours for employees increased between 125% and 242% (depending on role). FOH/BOH hourly employees spend roughly 30 minutes per week training, while unit-level managers and general managers spend closer to an hour per week.

The average cost of turnover for a restaurant worker is nearly $6,000. And with helpful training makes employees 76% more likely to stay, L&D investments are money well spent.

💡 Takeaway: Time spent training tenured staff has increased at a faster clip than it has for new hires — between 125% and 242%, depending on role — signaling the shift toward continuous learning.

QSRs Lead the Way in Ongoing Training

While QSRs' overall training hours are lower, tenured employees actually spend more time training at QSRs than at full-service restaurants.

In fact, FOH/BOH hourly employees spend over 80% more time training than their full-service counterparts, 39 hours per year at QSRs vs. 21 hours at full-service restaurants.

For unit-level managers and general managers, the difference is even more pronounced. Unit-level managers at QSRs train for 157% longer than their full-service counterparts — a figure that increases to 173% for general managers.

While full-service restaurants’ more complex operations lead them to frontload training, those aiming to make onboarding more efficient may want to look to their QSR counterparts for inspiration. Reallocating hours from onboarding to ongoing training can result in faster starts, lower turnover rates, and better customer service.

💡 Takeaway: Full-service restaurants spend less than QSRs in ongoing training— revealing an opportunity to improve skill gaps and knowledge retention among their workers.

Investing in Ongoing Training Can Lower Costs

QSR restaurants surveyed spent significantly less in training than their full-service peers — between 44% and 79% less, depending on the role. And the outsize rate at which QSRs utilize ongoing training over new hire training is likely a contributing factor.

While it’s unlikely that full-service restaurants can lower their training spend to that of QSRs, continuous learning may help them offset the 40-50% difference. Slightly reducing your onboarding investment (say, by 10-20%) allows new hires to get on the floor faster. 

Then, you can redirect those resources toward ongoing training such as microlearning modules — which can often be completed quickly during shifts — to improve knowledge retention and skills. 

💡 Takeaway: Although full-service restaurants may not be able to decrease their training costs to those of QSRs, employing ongoing training may help them get closer.

Now What?

In a time marked by rapid technological advancements and evolving workplace dynamics, hospitality trainers stand at a critical juncture. But with more executives embracing L&D, employees hungry for career development, new training techniques being refined, and more advanced technology emerging, there’s plenty of reason for L&D leaders to be optimistic — especially if they spend their resources wisely.

The organizations that will come out ahead will be the ones who cultivate a continuous improvement mindset not just in frontline employees, but within their own L&D departments.

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About CHART and Opus Training

CHART (Council of Hospitality and Restaurant Trainers) is the one place hospitality training professionals gather to learn, connect, and grow. Members get life-changing personal and professional development experience that results in the highest levels of performance for themselves and their organizations. Join a community of L&D leaders from over 300 of the nation’s top restaurant, foodservice, and lodging companies. To learn more, visit chart.org

Opus is the hospitality training platform purpose-built for the frontline. Train 100% of your team in 101 languages on the job to quickly get them up the productivity curve. With full visibility across your workforce, you get the frontline business intelligence needed to drive your business. We work with growing multi-unit brands, including Jose Andres Group, Shipley Do-nuts, Craveworthy Brands, and Hart House. To learn more, visit opus.so.

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