Rescuing hospitality training programmes from a swarm of mundane spreadsheets.

It’s astonishing that in an industry that’s built on service and people, training programmes have been reduced to boring, black-and-white checklists. This is certainly the case in the UK, where unfortunately, a career in casual dining isn’t celebrated as much as it should be. But when we remind ourselves that this sector contributes around £18.7 billion to the UK economy every year, it’s hard not to take it seriously.

So, when we discussed the rewrite of YO! Sushi’s manager-in-training programme (a joyful meeting over sodas and sushi), we quickly realised that we were doing far more than just polishing a few bits of instructional copy.

The senior People Team at YO! Sushi agreed. This new training programme needed to introduce a new way of learning – to attract, and retain, the best leadership team in the country. And so, we put our heads together to launch an interactive 3-volume book – centred around stories and wholesome inspiration. The idea was to invite the team members of YO! Sushi to partake in a meaningful journey and inspire them to show up as the greatest versions of themselves.

The creation of a sea-riously good (and unforgettable) training programme.

Manager-in-training programmes are no easy feat. At YO! Sushi, they involve a detailed study of 3 core areas: Compliance, people and HR, and marketing.

The research and planning phase of this project was endearingly similar to a back-to-school exercise. As the senior team members of every department delivered training content to us, we didn’t just pigeon-hole it into the correct categories – we ensured we understood it, too. We then brainstormed, and brainstormed, to determine how we were going to deliver this content in a way that was engaging, easy to digest, and still legally compliant.

These are the key ideas we rolled with:

• A 3 volume book, featuring the following sections: The Book of Compliance, The Book of People, The Book of Marketing (Sounds somewhat Biblical, right? That was the point).
• A book that would be designed like a journal for managers-in-training to physically use. Grow with YO! features note-taking pages, an easy-to-use checklist, and calendar space for efficient scheduling and accountability. A keepsake.
• Grow with YO! was thoughtfully designed by Artwork Creative’s in-house team – and we had a design brief for every single page. Not only this, but the book features evergreen sections such as the history of YO!, personalised messages from the senior team, and inspirational real-life stories of some of the employees at YO! Sushi. Yes, we interviewed them.
• Encouraging proactive learning. From quick quizzes at the end of each section, to proposed exercises, and even a new fiction brand character to explain YO! Sushi’s Steps of Service, we made sure Grow with YO! felt like an empowering learning experience, rather than a chore.

Even among all the charming details, what makes Grow with YO! a success is that it speaks directly to the trainees and thereby, invites them to tap into their own story – and nobody else’s.

From the moment the first page is turned, budding leaders are made aware they’re about to embark upon their own journey. This, we feel, is what has helped set YO! Sushi apart as an employer, more than anything else.

Great leaders mean even greater profits.

It’s all well and dandy writing and designing a 3-volume book, but what has this meant for YO! Sushi’s bottom line?

Well, once again, we prove that story equals profit. By redesigning the casual dining brand’s manager-in-training programme and taking a story-led approach, YO! Sushi has (officially) positioned itself as one of the best hospitality companies to work for in the UK.

The company continues to encourage internal promotions and career progression, and Grow with YO! has had an enormous part to play in this. This means, happier team leaders nurturing happier teams – who then go on to inspire happier guests, who continue to return to the restaurant again and again. In fact, since the launch of Grow with YO!, YO! Sushi has opened more sites across the UK and USA, as well as 50 new sushi counters at Tesco supermarkets.

We cannot take credit for all the new openings. But we’re willing to bet our chopsticks that this growth would have been near-impossible to sustain without the necessary, and deliciously engaging, training programmes and literature