Inconsistency is not always a training problem

The same dish tastes different on another shift. Portions change. A handover is missed. The immediate answer is often: the team needs training.

Sometimes it does. But first, ask what the team is working with.

Is there an agreed recipe, with weights, yield and portion size? Is the equipment suitable? Are ingredients stored and labelled clearly? Who owns the final check? Can the job be done in the time and space available?

If those questions have different answers depending on whom you ask, another demonstration will only solve part of the problem.

Start with one recurring task. Observe it during service. Agree what acceptable performance looks like. Write down the essential steps, responsibilities and checks in a form the team can use.

Then demonstrate the task, let people practise it and watch them do it independently. A completed training session is different from an observed skill.

A short video can help with a specific technique. A checklist can support an opening routine. Neither replaces a clear standard, available tools or a supervisor who follows through.

This is the starting point for En Vie Ops Lab: understand the operating problem, put the right standard in place, train against it and review what happens in practice.

The useful question is whether the work can be repeated well when the owner is elsewhere.