Our latest platform improvements included a major upgrade to cocktail training on Small Batch Learning. We took our existing recipe tool and added a bunch of cool new features that strengthen the functionality for hospitality user groups – and help managers and service teams achieve an all-important single source of truth.

(Before you switch off, retail learners, WAIT! Although these changes were primarily made with our hospitality user groups in mind, cocktail recipe knowledge is still a great way for retail teams to impress customers with savvy product knowledge – by recommending delicious drinks to make with each spirit or liqueur.)

The new features

• “House” cocktail label & filter
• Ability to embed recipes in lessons
• Ability to add recipes to a user group’s Collection
• Improved recipe search by base spirits & other ingredients
• Ability to add user group-specific POS/SKU codes to both a recipe & its ingredients
• Ability for staff to download & print recipes (as a cheat sheet)

Let’s go through a few of these in more detail:

1. “House” label & filter

This enables a team to clearly identify which cocktail recipes in > Browse (the Small Batch Learning training library) belong to their bar and which are SBL’s – with recipes authored by the team’s user group clearly labelled “House”.

That’s important, because it’s these versions of each drink (not SBL’s) which will display the correct brands and specs for each venue – so bartenders and floor staff know exactly how a cocktail is made according to the house standard and how to communicate it confidently to guests. 

Users can also filter by “House” cocktails, and if a user’s search for a recipe returns multiple results, “House” recipes are displayed first by default.

2. Embed a recipe in a lesson

How about if managers want to build a lesson just on gin cocktails? Or train their teams on all the “House” recipes featured on their new menu? And add a quiz, to make sure the recipe knowledge has been retained? Now they can, because recipes can be added (and displayed) within a standard lesson page – and the lesson then assigned to relevant learners.

This also means different teams within a company can be assigned different recipes (or groups of recipes). For example, bar teams at two different venue concepts where the cocktail menu is totally different. Or, where teams in different geographical locations work with slightly tweaked drinks lists.

Plus, any lessons with recipes are automatically backlinked from the recipe card in > Browse, so all recipes display any related lessons – giving teams a shortcut to finding important training.

3. Add recipes to > Collection

Managers already have the ability to gather all training that’s job-relevant to their teams in one place – a curated space in > Browse called > Collection. As well as lessons, courses and training plans, recipes can now be added there too.

4. Add associated POS/SKU codes

To make sure the right recipes are entered into a venue’s POS system, or the right ingredients are ordered by each bar, our new functionality allows managers to add stock codes or other internal identification codes to both the recipe itself and all its ingredients.

5. Download & print recipes

No one wants staff looking at a screen during service, so all recipes are now downloadable for printing as cheat sheets, in case teams either need to add them to a paper folder (or stick them up somewhere convenient behind the bar).

Why online recipe training wins

Remember, each venue can create unlimited recipes (and lessons, courses and training plans) with a Small Batch Learning training platform set up for their business. Plus, all recipes (like any other content) can be edited directly on the platform, so changes show up immediately for all team members – very handy when specs get tweaked or brand ingredients change.

So, no matter how many cocktail recipes you have, how many menu variations you need to train on, or how many drinks you want to archive in your own recipe database for future reference, Small Batch Learning can handle it.

And that single source of truth is important! 

Here’s why:

• For a cocktail program to be successful, it needs to be consistently executed (from drink to drink; from venue to venue). Less experienced bartenders may not yet know the recipes inside out (or where to find specs when they need a memory refresh). Even experienced bartenders may still be going rogue with recipes (including base spirit, glassware and garnishing), which can easily blow out your profit and stock calculations.
• Training on drinks and (especially) new menus solely face-to-face will quickly run up against problems. Diary syncing for everyone (floor and bar teams) is nigh on impossible: people have a day off, are sick, or just busy setting up operations. Transferring training online for all recipes – or at least creating a reliable digital reference point – solves this in an instant.

If you’d like to find out more about setting up Small Batch Learning for your team and taking your skills, operations and product training to the next level, request a demo using the button below.

Find out more