LineReady / Guides / New hire training
New hire training checklist for restaurants: Day 1 to sign-off
A new hire training checklist is a written path from "hired" to "trusted on a station alone," split into days, with a sign-off at each step. The split into days is the part most stores skip, and it's the part that keeps training alive when the week gets busy, because "finish Day 2" is a plan and "keep training Marcus" is a wish.
Before day one
Have ready before they walk in
- Paperwork done: I-9, W-4, handbook acknowledgment
- Food handler card scheduled or verified (many states require one within the first weeks)
- Uniform and name tag ready, not promised
- Their logins created: POS code, and their spot in your team app
- A trainer assigned by name: one person owns this hire's first week
The Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 structure
Day 1: orientation and one simple station
- Tour: exits, break area, handwash sinks, chemical storage, office
- The non-negotiables: hygiene, uniform, phone policy, clock-in rules
- Shadow one simple station for the whole shift: bagging or dining room, not the window
Day 2: hands on, trainer beside them
- Work yesterday's station for real, trainer within arm's reach
- Food safety basics on the line: temps, gloves, cross-contact, dates
- Introduce the second station in the slow hour
Day 3: independence and check
- Run the first station alone; trainer watches from the next position
- Walk through the opening or closing checklist for their area
- End-of-shift check-in: what's solid, what gets retrained this week
Past day three, training becomes station-by-station: each new position gets its own steps and its own sign-off. A hire is "trained" on a station when a leader has watched them run it through a rush, not when the video was watched.
Sign-offs beat vibes
Every step needs a checkbox someone owns. Without it, three weeks in, nobody can say whether the new hire was ever taught the fryer, and the first time it matters is during a rush. The record protects the hire too: "nobody trained me on that" is either true or it isn't, and the checklist knows.
Tracking training in LineReady
LineReady's training module holds your program as modules with Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 headings. Assign a module to a hire and every step is trackable; you can see who's on which step from your phone.
- Build each module once: steps, videos, links, and day headings
- Assign modules per person; progress shows completed and in-progress steps
- Section headings organize the path without counting toward completion
- Station ratings on the roster show where each person is trusted