Nick’s Story: Changing the industry narrative with the help of FareStart Consulting’s Train the Trainer Workshop  

March 28, 2023

Nick is the Manager of Common Grounds Café and Catering, part of Manna on Main Street in Lansdale, PA. In addition to running the day-to-day operations at the café, Nick is also a trainer for the Common Grounds Training Program, a workforce development program that focuses on training in hospitality, customer service, and transferable skills.

Nick has an extensive culinary background that goes back to when he was nine years old and he and his grandmother would write menus together and cook on the weekends. Nick said his love of food drove his work in the kitchen, but his experiences working in the industry left him dispirited and eager to do something more meaningful.

Nick is familiar with the challenges trainees and the hospitality industry face. “It's a tough business, and it's not for everyone, so I hope to change the narrative of what hospitality is and should be.

For Nick, changing the hospitality industry’s narrative looks like uplifting trainees. “The trainees that come through our program, I want them to see the other side of it, how it can be positive, and how we can foster a non-toxic work environment. My goal for the future is to keep proving to people that there is another way, there is a better way.”

Nick enrolled in FareStart Consulting’s Train the Trainer Workshop to learn new, best practices in culinary job training alongside his peers. The virtual, multi-day workshop helped Nick become a more impactful teacher through empowerment skills training, student-centered coaching and feedback techniques, and adjustments to practices and mindsets that create a more positive, trauma-resilient working environment.

For over 20 years, FareStart Consulting has helped organizations like Manna on Main build and scale mission-driven, food-based job training and employment programs that disrupt poverty, nourish communities and transform lives. FareStart Consulting offers its clients a proven curriculum, along with valuable resources, industry experts and technical assistance to help create a strong culture of learning and respect in the classroom and kitchen.

Nick said that coming together with a cohort of like-minded trainers was a critical part of the learning experience. “Being able to connect with people from all countries with different programs is invaluable, I just wanted to squeeze every bit out of it.”

As groups realized they were facing similar challenges, they set their sights on the changes they collectively wanted to see. “I think the major takeaway is, we must be brave enough and willing enough to change and to keep driving change, and what better way to do that than by training people?  We're training a new generation.”

To register for one of our upcoming consulting workshops, please click here.