Independent restaurateurs face increasing pressure from large chain operators, many of whom are adopting technology rapidly as part of their global growth strategies.
Meanwhile, independent operators may not yet realise the competition they face for their own survival.
The Metro Chair of Innovation, a research centre at Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), has released its latest research findings on creating an innovative learning community to support and motivate independent restaurateurs to learn and receive training on digital tools.
The latest research focuses on restaurateurs’ challenges and behaviours toward training, as well as innovations in education from other industries, to enable the creation of learning communities.
The concept is an innovative approach to train independent restaurateurs, taking into account the perennial issue of lack of time and money they face, as well as their most significant business challenges, topics of interest, current level of digitalisation and preferred training format.
The study included interviews with more than 50 independent restaurateurs, academics, experts and restaurant associations. A survey of more than 2 300 restaurant owners, managers, chefs and Metro customers was also completed across France, Italy and Spain as they were selected to represent the European countries for the study. These interviews and survey data were then analysed to help create a learning community concept.
Survey results indicated that the main challenges for independent restaurateurs included offering home delivery service, doing administrative paperwork and managing their staff. Their main topics of interest for training, however, centred on managing food, beverage and other supply costs, mastering cooking techniques and forecasting demand.
This gap between challenges identified and topics of interest helped inform the learning community concept, which offers a solution that trains restaurateurs on what they want to learn while gradually introducing more critical topics and more peer to peer interaction.
“The learning community concept not only provides targeted and pioneering training concept on relevant technologies, but also tackles all primary challenges that independent restaurateurs face in their daily operations,” says Dr. Christine Demen Meier, chair holder of the Metro chair of innovation.
As demonstrated by the research team composed of Dr. Christine Demen Meier, Caroline Guigou and Isabelle Vetterli, this educational solution also uses gamification elements to enhance the learning experience, keep participants engaged in the process, and help them develop the ability to comprehend digital content.