Jaclyn Connelly knows all about the world of retail food. The owner of a Muffin Break franchise in Melbourne’s bustling Northland Shopping Centre worked her way up from employee and knows every aspect of the business.

“I worked at Muffin Break for a long time and I saw the potential there,” Jaclyn explained. “When the owners decided to sell, I thought I might as well buy it.”

Four years on and Jaclyn now manages a staff of 18, with older employees working during the week and junior staff taking on the weekend shifts. Staffing is a constant challenge for any employer in the retail food sector.

“It can be tricky finding people, getting them to do the right thing and making sure they’re having a good time,” explained Jaclyn. “It’s not a professional career for some of them and they can have a ‘whatever’ approach. Sometimes they really don’t care.”

To address this, Jaclyn decided to take advantage of the government training incentive and offer the Certificate III in Retail through Positive Training.

“It gives the staff an incentive,” Jaclyn said. “We’re a tight knit group and the training brings everyone together and improves the culture in the business.

“The staff are friends outside of work too and through the training they get to know each other better. While they’re working it’s all rush, rush, rush.”

Most of the staff who have taken on the training are juniors. Because of the training, Jaclyn has been able offer new responsibilities and opportunities to these staff.

“The training has made them more aware of what’s involved in the business,” Jaclyn said. “It’s the little things that are often overlooked, like checking the temperatures on the fridges, being aware of shop theft and things they probably wouldn’t have thought of in the past. It has definitely broadened their view.”

Positive Training’s practical approach has resonated well with Jaclyn’s staff.

“Positive Training are very hands on,” Jaclyn said. “It’s not a sit down and read a book approach – it’s more related to retail and what we do.”

“It’s fun and they can relate to it. In their first lesson they get to go outside and use a fire extinguisher. I never got to do that.”

The application of what they learn in the course to their job is a visiblew benefit of the training.

“They bring their learning back to the store,” Jaclyn said. “For example, they’ve become very good at up selling.”

However, it is staff cohesion that is the biggest benefit from the training.

“They work together in a group for their traineeships,” Jaclyn explained. “As a result, they work together in the store better as well. They’re a pretty outgoing bunch – always cracking jokes and playing tricks on each other. They work really well as a team.”

For Jaclyn, it’s important that the staff enjoy the training. “The guys love going to it,” Jaclyn declared. “It’s going really well.”