Use Case
Accelerating Training Turnaround to Maximize Return on LTOs
with Olga’s Kitchen | 4 min read
The Challenge
Efficiently Distributing Short-Lived Trainings
Founded in 1970, Olga’s Kitchen is an American restaurant chain based in the Midwest, specializing in Mediterranean food and a family oriented atmosphere. With twenty four company owned locations, six ghost kitchens (Olga’s Express), and a growing team, management found it increasingly difficult to distribute teachings quickly and equally, especially information regarding their short-lived (but impactful) Limited Time Offers.
In the past, individual location managers distributed physical copies of LTO training materials, and were responsible for ensuring team members quickly learned the necessary promotional information. This physical distribution methodology made it difficult to ensure everyone was receiving the necessary training materials on time, and hindered leadership’s ability to track employee compliance.
The Solution
Consistent Delivery + Adaptable Trainings for LTO Campaigns
Olga’s Kitchen closed the communication gap between leadership and individual restaurant employees by pushing updated, interactive LTO trainings directly to employees via their LMS, the Kitchen Sync. This allows them to expedite their training process, and present updated, interactive LTO information in real time with consistency, efficiency and increased trackability.
Quickly Dispersed Information
Olga’s Limited Time Offers range in scope, and may incorporate promotional deals, different menu items, and seasonal specials. When employees are able to learn about LTOs the moment they appear on the LMS, they learn in real time, and are more prepared for when special offers become active.
To expedite and simplify employees’ training experiences, Olga’s Kitchen placed new LTO information in modules on the Kitchen Sync, and controlled the distribution with permissioning. Permissioning allows required training materials to be pushed out to those that need it in real time, and lets learners complete lessons quickly. So new information remains readily visible, lessons appear at the top of the Kitchen Sync home page, and ensures that employees immediately see updates when they login.
Experiential and ‘Hands On’ Learning in Modules
To cater to different learning needs, Olga’s L&D team created a well-balanced blend of engaging lessons with copy to read, videos to watch, and ‘hands on’ interactive training. The ‘What’s Cooking’ page allows employees to build menu items virtually with a drag and drop feature, while ‘role-play’ videos provide employees with idealized representations of behaviors and interactions that Olga’s management wants to foster in the workplace. These interactive lessons help keep employees motivated to complete trainings, and strengthen employees’ product and LTO knowledge before they’re expected to perform tasks in front of customers.
Ensuring Punctual Completions
By digitizing LTO training, Olga’s Kitchen leadership team increased their ability to track individual completions. They can ensure employees are completing LTO lessons on-time, and know with certainty that employees are receiving the appropriate information for the upcoming campaigns.
Leadership can pull reports with ease and quickly identify employees that still need to complete LTO trainings. They can quickly and directly reach out to location managers, and ensure that employee follow-ups are performed. This verifies that each employee completes the required training, and each team member is prepared for the LTO launch.
The Benefits
Training On Time = Greater ROI
With this new method of timely training in place, employees learned seasonal LTO lessons on schedule. As a result, Limited Time Offer completion rates jumped to over 80%, and Olga’s more than doubled the previous year’s LTO holiday gift card sales. A more in-depth knowledge of Olga’s LTOs and preferred sales tactics allowed employees to effectively upsell and cater to customer needs, while allowing their growing teams to bring in more revenue from crucial LTO campaigns.
80%
Increase in LTO
Completion
50%
Increase in
Gift Card
Sales
