Leading hospitality training platform Ananas is offering free access throughout May and June to help hospitality staff, and people new to the industry, improve their skills.
Whether you already have experience, or are just starting out on your hospitality journey, the depth and breadth of knowledge that Ananas offers through its platform is invaluable. The move to make it free throughout May and June will help workers and the industry in efforts to recover from the impacts of COVID-19.
Ananas was founded by Speakeasy Group’s Sven Almenning, who also created Diageo’s Alchemy training program,
training over 100,000 hospitality staff. Sven told Bars and Clubs why he and the Ananas team had decided to make the platform freely available.
“The reason we decided to do this is simply as a reaction to the situation the industry is in. Staff shortages are severe across the country and venues are struggling to find experienced workers and struggling even more to get inexperienced workers trained.
“It’s something I hear every day, and so we decided that since we feel we have the tools to help, we should help.”
He added: “We realise this is not a solution to the skill shortage in and of itself, but at least staff and venues now have an additional tool in the armoury that they can use during this tough recovery period.
“Online training and staff management is a pretty new concept to most in the industry, but we are seeing more and more savvy operators coming on-board both to save money and time, as well as to drive incremental sales, staff retention and repeat visits for their guests.”
Ananas offers a wide range of training modules that will benefit people across the industry. From learning about the beer, wine and spirits categories and how to serve them, through to understanding about bar and cocktail service.
There are different levels from basic through to intermediate and advanced the Ananas lessons are also presented by award-winning industry icons like Phil Bayly, Tom Egerton and Greg Sanderson.
The platform teaches hospitality staff the skills that employers hire for, crucial in the current skills shortage and this will be huge for venues.
As well as individuals Ananas is available to bars, restaurants and hospitality groups through an annual subscription and for those who sign up for a new ‘Business’ subscription during May and June there will be an additional two months free.
Sven said: “Covid has really hit the hospitality industry hard. Besides the obvious financial impact, we are now faced with an enormous skills shortage. We hope that Ananas can assist in bridging this gap by providing venue operators with an automated and efficient on-boarding and training platform for their teams.”
The move comes as the Federal Government has sought to address the hospitality skills shortage through the changes to working and student visas.
The Government will remove existing work hour caps for Student Visa holders employed in the tourism and hospitality sector; a 40-hours per fortnight limit previously applied during study periods.
In addition, temporary visa holders will be able to access the 408 COVID-19 Pandemic Event Visa for a period of 12 months if they work in the tourism and hospitality sector. This decision adds tourism and hospitality to the critical sectors of agriculture, food processing, health care, aged care, disability care and child care for eligibility for this visa subclass.
Temporary visa holders working in, or intending to work in, tourism and hospitality will be able to apply for the 408 COVID-19 Visa up to 90 days before their existing visa expires and then remain in Australia for up to 12 additional months.
The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, Alex Hawke, said: “Government has listened carefully to the States, Territories and industry and is introducing these changes to support critical sectors for Australia’s COVID-19 economic recovery.
“Tourism and hospitality employs more than half a million Australians and these changes will allow them to supplement their existing workforce to keep their businesses running in addition to generating employment through a job multiplier effect.”
Individuals wanting to access the free training had to the Ananas training platform, while venues or groups looking to take up an annual subscription for their teams and take advantage of the free two additional free months are invited to contact ANANAS on Venues@AnanasAcademy.com or visit: https://ananasacademy.com/organisations/index.html
