The FHRAI Institute of Hospitality Management (FHRAI-IHM) in association with the regional Associations of the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) organized a series of capacity building training programs for Food Production and Room Division and F &B Service staff of hotels and restaurants. The objective of the training programmes was to reinforce knowledge and update skills of the workforce employed in existing hospitality establishments in the country. The programme was rolled out in seven batches starting 3rd June 2021 and concluded on 30th June 2021. Mr Venkatesan Dhattareyan, Regional Director - West & Central Region, India Tourism, Mumbai inaugurated the first batch which trained 640 hospitality professionals under the stated programmes. 

“The training programmes have been developed to strengthen the skill sets of the entry-level or junior staff working in the Food Production and the Room Division & F & B Service departments at hotels. We were anticipating somewhere around 100 to 120 participants for the first batch but were pleasantly surprised to receive an overwhelming response. Over 640 hospitality professionals from across the country registered and participated in the training programmes. The trained participants were awarded certificates upon successful completion of all four sessions of about an hour across the selected modules,” says Shri Arun Kumar Singh, Director, FHRAI-IHM.

Regional hotel and restaurant Associations of the FHRAI – HRAWI, HRANI, HRAEI and SIHRA extended support and urged its members to nominate staff for the trainings. The training sessions were held under the direct supervision of Shri Arun Kumar Singh, Director, FHRAI-IHM. Dr Himanshu Talwar, Add. Director of FHRAI-IHM and Asst. Secretary General of FHRAI coordinated and facilitated the programmes.

“We thank Mr Venkatesan Dhattareyan for his valuable time to motivate the participants before the commencement of the programme. He emphasized on the need of conducting such knowledge imparting programmes on a regular basis for keeping professionals in the field up to date on the developments and best practices in the industry. On the back of such tremendous response, we plan to organise more training programmes that will help hospitality professionals gain insights on international best practices and latest developments in the field”, says Mr Singh.

The programmes covered several different aspects of Hospitality management including Hospitality and Chef as Professionals, Food Safety – Understanding Contaminants; Safety, Hygiene, Preservation & Good Practices, General Concerns & Spirit of Hospitality under the training module for Food Production Department. In the training for Room Division & Food Service Department, the module covered topics on Interpersonal skills, Body language, Listening skills, Empathizing & mindfulness.