Culinary Foundations
Build confident, consistent kitchen teams with a structured learning plan that covers the essentials of commercial cookery. Ideal for hospitality venues that need practical, job-ready skills delivered quickly and consistently.
Learning plan overview
Culinary Foundations brings together ten short courses that cover kitchen equipment, mise en place, ingredient selection, safe food preparation and core cookery methods. It’s designed to lift baseline skills across the team, reduce waste, improve consistency and protect food safety in busy service environments.
What you’ll learn
- Understand how to select, use and care for commercial kitchen equipment
- Apply mise en place principles to plan, prep and set stations for efficient service
- Identify quality ingredients and store them safely to extend shelf life and reduce waste
- Follow safe food preparation steps from thawing to cooking, cooling and display
- Execute dry and wet cookery methods for consistent, high-quality results
- Prepare sandwiches, appetisers and salads to specification, safely and at speed
- Build essential kitchen habits—organisation, communication and teamwork
Why choose this course?
- Supports food safety compliance and reduces operational risk
- Drives consistency and speed across multiple sites and shifts
- Short, practical modules that fit around service
- Easy to deploy at scale with clear reporting and certificates
Courses included in this learning plan:
In a busy commercial kitchen, the right equipment—and the right know-how—keeps service smooth, safe and consistent. This short course explains large and small appliances, handheld tools and utensils, knives, pots and pans, and measuring equipment. Learners see when and how to use each item, how to clean and store it, and how to avoid common mistakes.
Mise en place is the backbone of every successful service. This short, practical course shows hospitality staff how to plan prep, organise workstations, portion correctly and minimise waste—improving speed, consistency and cost control across the kitchen.
Ingredient quality drives flavour, safety and margin. This short course explains how to assess freshness, classify common ingredient types, and store them correctly across dry store, cool room and freezer. Staff learn simple systems—labelling, rotation and FIFO—to maintain quality and cut waste.
From thawing frozen foods to cooking, cooling, displaying, and packaging, we'll explore best practices and guidelines to maintain food safety throughout the culinary process.
By the end of this module, you will:
- Understand the importance of safe thawing methods to prevent bacterial growth.
- Comprehend the concept of minimising time in the danger zone for potentially hazardous foods (PHFs).
- Know the temperature guidelines for different types of food.
- Learn proper techniques for cooling and reheating food to prevent microbial growth.
- Understand the importance of protecting food from contamination during display.
- Learn how to safeguard unpackaged food from contamination.
- Gain knowledge on the appropriate handling and disposal of single-use items.
Dry cooking methods are core techniques in commercial kitchens. This short course explains when and how to use roasting, baking, grilling/BBQ, stir-frying, shallow frying and deep frying to achieve great flavour and texture—while maintaining speed, consistency and safety.
Wet methods of cookery use liquids or steam to transfer heat, producing tender, flavourful results while preserving moisture and nutrients. This short course explains when and how to apply each method, the equipment required, and which foods suit each technique—so your kitchen can work faster, safer and with fewer remakes.
Sandwiches are a high-volume menu item—and often the first impression of your venue. This practical course shows staff how to choose the right bread and fillings, prepare ingredients, assemble efficiently, and present and store sandwiches to standard. It helps lift consistency, reduce waste and protect food safety.
Great appetisers and snacks set the tone for service. This course shows staff how to plan, prep and present small dishes with balanced flavours and textures, while following safe, efficient kitchen practices. Learners finish ready to produce attractive, consistent plates that keep guests happy and operations moving.
Salads are a high-margin staple across cafés, casual dining and functions. This practical course shows staff how to choose seasonal produce, build flavour and texture, make classic dressings, and assemble to order without slowing service. It helps lift consistency, reduce waste and protect food quality.
Kitchens run on safe habits, sound technique and good teamwork. This short course consolidates key skills—from food safety and preparation to workflow, quality and communication—so staff can apply them confidently on shift. It’s ideal for new starters and as a refresher for existing team members.
Frequently asked questions
Our courses are designed for businesses in the hospitality industry looking to provide professional training for their staff.
At the moment, our courses are available exclusively to businesses through subscription plans.
If your employer has assigned you this course, simply log into our learning management system (LMS) using the credentials from your welcome email. Need help logging in? Contact our support team.
Contact our sales team or request a free demo to explore subscription options and pricing.
Enjoy unlimited access to our entire course library, including this course and any future additions.
Absolutely. We can tailor the course to fit your organisation’s specific needs, culture, and policies. Contact our sales team to explore customisation options.
Our courses are delivered online through our easy-to-use LMS platform or can be provided in SCORM format to integrate with your own LMS.
Absolutely! Schedule a free demo to explore our courses and platform.
