Training Program is Headed to Triad
by Randy Pierce
Triad High School in Troy will be one of two in January where students will be able to participate in a special hospitality training program provided by the Madison County Employment and Training Department.
Its director, Tony Fuhrmann, reported to the county board grants committee on Tuesday, December 10, that a state-funded program from the National Restaurant Association called “gold customer service training” has been administered at high schools in Bethalto and Highland already with Triad and Granite City slated to be next.
Fuhrmann said two members of his staff have been reaching out in the direction of chamber of commerce groups, various employers and high schools regarding this program which is designed to teach participants the proper attitude, actions, behaviors, courtesy, verbal approach and other aspects of providing high quality customer service in dining establishments.
There is a great demand for this type of program, Fuhrmann noted, with, for example, Collinsville Community Unit School District 10 expressing an interest in providing it for its entire staff, focusing on the customer service aspect as related to its functions where the public is concerned.
Fuhrmann explained 400 books and exams have been acquired by the county for use in this training, anticipating that they will be fully utilized within the next year both in and outside of the hospitality industry as leaders of businesses and other entities where public interaction occurs realize the value in high quality good customer service.
“We’ve had chamber (of commerce) directors come and do it,” Fuhrmann went on, “and they’re saying, ‘When can we offer this to our members?’”
The two members of the county employment and training department had learned the process themselves from the National Restaurant Association and are now sharing it with others, including high school students.
Meeting the requirements of the state grant supporting this effort, Fuhrmann said the $230,000 allotment for a variety of costs related to enhancing the employment conditions was a factor in increasing the number of training books ordered from 200 to 400. With the acquisition of those, plus additional needed supplies, none of the funds will be left unused and the positive outcomes to be realized from it will extend well into the future, Fuhrmann said.
With a positive outlook toward the gains to be seen as a result of this effort, Fuhrmann said employees at businesses like the Old Herald Brewery & Distillery in Collinsville were among the first to take the training.
A commercial developer who had been made aware of this training program, Fuhrmann noted, reached out to his county department about it because that individual wants to offer it to his various tenant eateries after seeing some “come and go” because he “wants to try to help prevent that because of bad customer service.”
“I think it’s going to be one of those things that’s just going to grow,” Fuhrmann stated, responding to county board member Victor Valentine of Edwardsville that he does not think 400 of the training books would be enough.
