The restaurant industry is at its best when it is operating around a team mentality—happy staff members who work together toward a common goal: happy customers. The most effective path to this result is buy-in. You need a team committed to the cause and willing to put in the effort. This sense of camaraderie develops more easily when hierarchies are built around clear lines of communication, not a sense of power or ego. The point of a team is that everyone has a part, and each part—from the owner to the dishwasher—always has room for improvement.
It is in this vein that Corban Nichols, Vice President of Restaurant Excellence at Piada Italian Street Food, wrote about his training philosophy for Nation’s Restaurant News (NRN). “Too often in our industry, training is treated like a checklist. You onboard, complete the modules, get certified, and move on. But strong operators don’t see training as a one-time event; it’s ongoing,” he said. “That mindset is what shaped our ‘IN’ framework at Piada: Inclusive, Instructive, Innovative, and Inspiring.”
By structuring training programs around these four components and focusing on an ideology that points toward betterment, Nichols and Piada have built a team environment that employees want to be a part of—and everyone wins. “Since rolling this out, we’ve reduced turnover from 172% to 101%. With the average cost of replacing an hourly restaurant employee around $2,700, that improvement translates to an estimated $1.8 million in annual hard cost savings while building stronger, more stable teams.”
In each factor of Piada’s training strategy, there is a redirection toward the team mentality. “Inclusive training means development isn’t individual; it’s shared. Great teams are built when people are invested in each other’s growth, not just their own,” Nichols said. “Instructive training is about consistency. No matter how someone learns, the process should be clear and repeatable. We follow a simple progression at Piada: introduce, shadow, perform, certify, and validate.” They haven’t eliminated org charts, but they do ask employees to come together, and the communication is clear and concise.
“Innovative training meets people where they are. If it’s not engaging, it won’t stick. We focus on making training memorable through storytelling, repetition, and personality, because if behavior doesn’t change, the training doesn’t work.” This, Nichols added, has “increased guest satisfaction scores from 55% in 2022 to over 85% in 2025, sustaining 80%-plus for multiple years.”
Lastly, “when those pieces are in place, training becomes inspiring. People want to grow, take ownership, and push themselves further.” This is where on-going training becomes inspiring, and creates a positive cycle, perpetuating the “IN” system.
Richard Weil, owner and principal at National Restaurant Consultants, recognizes the critical needs of ongoing training. “Coaching and training for success should never stop. In the people-driven hospitality business, we learn something new almost every day as managers and owners. This also applies to staff in both the front- and back-of-the-house. That is why engaging staff members to be part of ongoing training, and 360-degree coaching promotes the team approach. Continued training and coaching, along with developing staff and managers, will, as Piada has realized, yield greater results throughout.”