Durban, 12 October 2026. HospiTrain, the Durban-based online hospitality training company, today launched isiZulu versions of eight of its restaurant and hospitality courses. Restaurant staff can now complete their training in the language they speak at home, on their own phones, at the same price as the English courses.
The isiZulu courses cover the skills restaurants depend on every shift: customer service, waitering, occupational health and safety, cleaning procedures and food safety, business etiquette, inventory management, financial management and leadership.
Why isiZulu, and why now
isiZulu is the language spoken most often at home in South Africa, by 24.4% of the population according to Statistics South Africa’s Census 2022. In KwaZulu-Natal, where HospiTrain is based, it is the province’s main home language. Yet in many restaurants the training material, the procedures and the manager’s briefing are all in English.
“Most owners run their business in English, but a lot of the people doing the work think in isiZulu,” said Robin van Rensburg, founder of HospiTrain. “When training is in a second language, people nod and miss the detail, and the detail is where food safety, complaints and wastage happen. We wanted staff to understand it the first time, in their own language.”
What is available
Eight courses are available in isiZulu: Customer Service Excellence, Waitering Excellence, Occupational Health and Safety, Cleaning SOPs and Food Safety, Business Etiquette, Inventory Management, Financial Management for Managers and Leadership Excellence. The Restaurant Staff Excellence and Executive Restaurant Management Programme bundles can also be taken entirely in isiZulu.
The isiZulu versions include the course text, the final assessment and isiZulu voiceovers of the key points, which helps staff who are less confident readers. Downloadable reference files remain in English so that they match the procedures already used in-store. Learners have 30 days of access, need 70% to pass, and receive a HospiTrain Certificate of Attendance on completion.
One order, two languages
Restaurants training a team can buy all their seats in one order and choose the language for each person when they register their staff. A kitchen team can take a course in isiZulu while the front-of-house team takes the same course in English, on the same order and at the same price. Details for multi-store operators and franchise brands are on the training for franchise groups page.
All courses run on any smartphone through the browser or the free TalentLMS app, so staff can train between shifts without a computer or a classroom.
About HospiTrain
HospiTrain (FranchiseTraining.co.za (Pty) Ltd t/a HospiTrain) is an online training platform for restaurants, hospitality businesses and franchise brands, based in Durban, South Africa. Its courses are aligned to international hospitality standards and practices and are built for phone-based, on-the-job learning. HospiTrain was founded by Robin van Rensburg, who has 30 years of experience in franchising and has worked with more than 90 brands.
Media contact
Robin van Rensburg, Founder, HospiTrain
Email: info@hospitrain.com
Website: hospitrain.com/zulu-training
References
Statistics South Africa: South Africa’s Evolving Cultural Landscape: A 26-Year Transformation (Census 2022 language data). https://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=18173
