When owners compare training options, they usually compare the price on the invoice. That is the smallest part of the cost. The bigger numbers are hidden in wages, rosters and lost trade.
Here is a simple way to work out what training really costs per head — and why phone-based learning changes the maths.
The visible cost of classroom training
Classroom training usually carries a trainer’s fee or day rate, a venue or a closed section of your restaurant, printed materials, and travel if staff come from several stores. For larger organisations, the Association for Talent Development reported an average cost of around US$82 per learning hour in its 2016 State of the Industry research, with face-to-face classroom delivery still making up about half of all learning hours. Hospitality businesses rarely have corporate training budgets, so that kind of spend is out of reach for most.
The hidden costs most owners forget
Wages while staff sit in training rather than serve. Overtime or casual cover for the people who are away. Your own time, or your manager’s, organising and delivering it. And the sales you lose if you close a section or run short-staffed.
Then there is timing. If you can only run a session once a quarter, new starters wait weeks for their training — and learn bad habits in the meantime. Some leave before they are ever trained.
Work out your own number
Take a recent training day. Add the trainer and venue costs, plus the wages of everyone who attended, plus the cost of covering their shifts, plus your own hours. Divide by the number of people trained. That is your true cost per head for one session.
The phone-based alternative
With online courses on the phone, most of those hidden costs disappear. There is no venue, no trainer’s day rate and no need to close a section. Staff learn in short bursts between shifts, so you are not paying for a lost afternoon of service. New starters can begin on day one instead of waiting for the next session.
To make this concrete with our own prices: Restaurant Staff Excellence bundles five courses — customer service, business etiquette, health and safety, cleaning and stock control — for US$139 per person, or under US$28 per course. Restaurant Manager Excellence bundles seven courses for managers at US$239. Prices on our courses page display in your local currency.
Where classroom training still wins
Practical skills — knife work, carrying plates, operating equipment — still need hands-on coaching. The smartest approach uses online courses to teach standards and reasoning, and saves your expensive face-to-face time for the physical skills that need it.
The cost of not training
Finally, remember the alternative is not free. Untrained staff cost you in waste, mistakes, complaints and turnover. Restaurant365’s 2026 mid-year report found operators now rank training as their top retention strategy, because replacing people costs far more than developing them.
Work out the true cost per head of your last training day. Then compare it with a course your staff can start tonight.
References
Association for Talent Development: 2016 State of the Industry Report (press release). https://td.org/content/press-release/atd-releases-2016-state-of-the-industry-report
Restaurant365: 2026 State of the Restaurant Industry, Mid-Year Report. https://www.restaurant365.com/guides/2026-state-of-the-restaurant-industry-mid-year-report/
