--- title: "How to create training content that keeps Gen Z engaged" url: https://burnaze.com/article/32542db0-6740-417d-b97f-a5cad4e6f84f source: "Nation's Restaurant News" original_url: https://www.nrn.com/restaurant-labor/how-to-create-training-content-that-keeps-gen-z-engaged author: "Benita Gingerella" category: "Restaurants" industry: "Restaurants" topics: ["Operations"] published: 2026-05-17T16:29:46.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T13:16:17.336Z image: https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/bltea7aee2fca050a19/blta2104160723acc6e/6a0a1c01d78414189391f284/Restaurant_show_training_panel.jpg?width=1280&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale --- # How to create training content that keeps Gen Z engaged **TL;DR:** First Watch and Qdoba operators shared strategies for training Gen Z workers using social-media-style digital platforms. The operators discussed creating short, personalized training videos that resonate with Gen Z during the 2026 National Restaurant Association Show. *By Benita Gingerella, originally published in Nation's Restaurant News on 2026-05-17. [Read the original](https://www.nrn.com/restaurant-labor/how-to-create-training-content-that-keeps-gen-z-engaged).* ## Story VP of Culinary Innovation at Qdoba Katy Velazquez and Senior Vice President of Culinary Strategy at First Watch Shane Schaibly shared their tips and trick to creating training videos that resonate with Gen Z during the 2026 National Restaurant Association Show. Photo: Benita Gingerella Generation Z is projected to represent one-third of the global workforce by 2030. Born between 1997 and 2010, this generation of digital natives has different expectations when it comes to job training. During a panel at the 2026 National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago on Saturday, operators from First Watch and Qdoba gave a run-down of their current training programs and shared some of their best practices when creating training content for this latest generation of workers. Gen Z are social media natives and are used to scrolling and swiping through digital content. At Qdoba, the team uses a training program that is designed to look like a social media platform and allows employees to scroll through a feed of different training videos like they would on TikTok. When planning out what to include in the training videos for the back of house, the team at First Watch tries to step into the shoes of a cook on the line. “One of the biggest messages that I’m constantly preaching to the office is like, go back to when you were a cook, what do you want to see? What don't you want to see? What don't you want to have to sit through,” said Senior Vice President of Culinary Strategy at First Watch Shane Schaibly. Spending several minutes chopping herbs or sharing a long-winded backstory behind the dish, for example, doesn’t need to be included in your training video, he said. Instead, the videos should be short and show rather than tell. “I don't want to sit here and explain, ‘Hello, I'm Chef Shane, today we're going to make avocado toast,’ that sucks. I would not want to watch that as a cook," he said. “I'm a cook, just show me how to cook. I don't care about the backstory.” When Qdoba employees log onto the training platform, they only see videos related to their current position. Offering personalized, bite-sized content mimics what young employees are seeing online and helps keep them interested. “It keeps them engaged, and it's short. We don't have them sitting for three hours watching videos, we have them watching 10 minutes of videos before they start their shift,” said VP of Culinary Innovation at Qdoba Katy Velazquez. Tailoring training content also shows respect for employees’ time. “We're respecting their time and their energy,” she added. “When I'm creating materials just for you in your position and not making you sit through training materials that weren't intended for you, it's actually being respectful for them.” Over the past year or so, First Watch has turned to employees to help generate some of their training videos. Servers are invited to enter a contest where they can submit a training video and receive cash awards or prizes if their video is chosen. “We found that for front of the house, it's been awesome, and the submissions that we're getting from the field have been great, and we're using them,” said Schaibly. ## Entities - Nation's Restaurant News (publication) - Gen Z (person) - Operations (sector) - Qdoba (company) - First Watch (company) - digital platforms (topic) - gen z engagement (topic) - restaurant training (topic) - training content (topic) --- Originally reported by Benita Gingerella, Nation's Restaurant News (https://www.nrn.com/restaurant-labor/how-to-create-training-content-that-keeps-gen-z-engaged). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/32542db0-6740-417d-b97f-a5cad4e6f84f).