The answer is smaller than the buying process makes it look, and it depends on one thing: how many kitchens you are answerable for. Run a single restaurant and you should start on a free tier and train your own procedures — TrainedTeam is free for up to 5 users and ProProfs Training Maker for up to 10 learners, and neither needs a sales call. Run two to thirty sites and the platform that wins is usually the one already holding your inspections or your schedules, because a second app your managers never open trains nobody. Run a franchise and you are really buying per-location commercials, translations, and franchisee-level reporting, which is a demo-led purchase whether you like it or not. Everything below is sorted on that: seven platforms judged by the shape of the operation rather than by feature count.
One scope note, because we publish two of these lists. Our best hospitality training software 2026 covers the UK and European side of the market — hotel groups, pub companies, and the hospitality-native LMS vendors that sell to them — and only TrainedTeam and Opus appear in both. This post is narrower and more American. If you run hotels or a mixed estate, read that one; if you run restaurants, stay here.
Every price, plan name, and free-tier claim below was checked on each vendor's own website on 8 September 2026. Where a vendor publishes no price — or, in one case, serves a pricing page that returns no readable content at all — the entry says so rather than repeating a number from somewhere else. TrainedTeam is our product, it is first, and its limits are stated as plainly as everyone else's.
How do you choose? Start with the shape of the operation
Feature grids are close to useless here, because the same feature means different things at different sizes. Three shapes cover almost every restaurant business, and they buy differently.
- Single site. One kitchen, one manager, 10 to 40 staff, most of whom will not be here next year. You need your own procedures trained and evidenced cheaply, starting today, without a sales call. Published pricing and a real free tier matter more than anything on a feature list.
- Multi-unit, 2 to 30 sites. Consistency becomes the problem. You need one version of the procedure, rolled to every site, with visibility of who has completed what — and usually the operational records (temperature, cleaning, opening) in the same place.
- Franchise or multi-brand. You are not training staff, you are equipping operators to train staff. Per-location commercials, translations, and franchisee-level reporting stop being nice-to-haves.
The seven platforms at a glance
| Platform | Publishes pricing? | Free plan | Best fit | Evidence features |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TrainedTeam (ours) | Yes | Yes — up to 5 users | Single site, small group | E-signatures, knowledge checks, photo proof, expiry tracking |
| ProProfs Training Maker | Yes | Yes — up to 10 learners | Single site wanting course-shaped training | Quizzes, certificates, reporting |
| 7shifts | Not verified — page did not render for us | Not verified | Restaurants already scheduling in 7shifts | Quizzes, acknowledgements, checklists, completion tracking |
| Mitti (formerly SC Training / EdApp) | Yes | Yes — up to 10 seats | Multi-unit, inspection-led | Inspections, recurring courses, training matrix (paid) |
| Xenia | No — custom per location | Free trial only | Multi-site operations execution | Inspections, corrective actions, temperature monitoring |
| Jolt | No — quote only | Not stated | Multi-unit with a food safety records problem | Task lists, temperature sensors and probes, labelling |
| Opus | No — quote only | Free trial only | Franchise and multi-brand rollout | Checklists, audits, reporting, translations |
Every cell above was checked against the vendor's own website on 8 September 2026, and where a vendor's page returned no readable content the cell says so instead of guessing. Prices and plans change without notice — confirm anything load-bearing before you sign.
1. TrainedTeam — your procedures, trained and evidenced (ours)
TrainedTeam for restaurants is built around the documents you already own. AI drafts an SOP from a description or a walkthrough video, five types of knowledge check test whether the crew understood it, and every completion carries an e-signature with name, timestamp, IP address, and the document version they signed. Task runs can require photo evidence. Certifications track their own expiry dates. The template library includes the restaurant documents that get asked for — a restaurant staff training SOP, a restaurant opening and closing checklist, and a food temperature log — all readable in full with PDF download and no signup.
Pricing: free for up to 5 users with no time limit; paid plans are flat-rate by team size from £24/month (US $33/month) billed annually, and the numbers are on the pricing page. Flat-rate matters in an industry where headcount swings by season. Honest limits: no SCORM or xAPI import, and no ready-made video course library — if you want off-the-shelf courses on wine service or harassment prevention, ProProfs and Mitti below both ship libraries and we do not. Best for: a single restaurant or a small group that needs its own SOPs trained and proven, starting free.
2. ProProfs Training Maker — published prices, real free tier
ProProfs is a general-purpose LMS rather than a restaurant tool, and it earns a place here for one reason: it is honest about money. As of September 2026 its pricing page lists a free plan at $0 forever for up to 10 learners, with unlimited courses and unlimited AI course creation; Essentials at $1.99 per active learner per month up to 100 active learners; Business at $3.99 per active learner per month up to 200, which adds a library of 500+ ready-made courses; and Business Complete Elite at $4.98 per active learner per month for unlimited learners, adding SSO and API access on annual billing only.
Honest limits: nothing about it is shaped like a restaurant. There is no temperature log, no opening checklist, no notion of a shift. And per-learner pricing means the bill tracks your headcount, which in a restaurant is a moving target. Best for: a single site or small group that wants formal, course-shaped training with a price you can read before you talk to anyone.
3. 7shifts — training inside the app your managers already open
7shifts is restaurant-native scheduling and team management, and as of September 2026 its employee training page makes the pitch plainly: training “lives in 7shifts, where your team already works”, with “no new login, no second app, no extra rollout”. The module itself is genuinely relevant. Upload SOPs, menus, and handbooks and its AI turns them into ready-to-use courses; auto-generate quizzes; assign “by role, department, or location”. Courses can mix “reading, video, quizzes, acknowledgements, and checklists in any order” and add “real-world tasks like shadow shifts”. And you can “copy courses across different locations without rebuilding them”.
Pricing:we could not verify it. 7shifts' pricing page returned no readable plan or price content when we checked it on 8 September 2026, so this post quotes no 7shifts plan name, trial length, free-plan claim, or figure — ask 7shifts in writing for the per-location price and what the training module costs on your tier. Honest limits: training is one module of a scheduling, payroll, and tip management platform. That is a strength if your managers live in it already and an argument against if you do not want the rest. Best for: US restaurants that already run schedules, time clocks, or payroll in 7shifts.
4. Mitti (formerly SC Training and EdApp) — inspections first, training alongside
Worth knowing before you search for it: as of September 2026 the SC Training site carries a notice that SC Training is now Mitti, and safetyculture.com/training redirects to mitti.com/training, where the footer reads Mitti (by SafetyCulture). Same lineage, new name. The platform pairs digitised inspections and checklists with workplace training, which suits restaurants whose training and food safety records are the same conversation.
Pricing: published, which is unusual in this list. As of September 2026 a Free plan at $0 for small teams up to 10 seats includes basic training, five active inspection templates, and basic analytics; Premium is $24 per seat per month billed annually or $29 monthly, adding advanced training, unlimited inspection templates, recurring courses, a training matrix, and SSO; Enterprise is custom priced, with site-based pricing available. Honest limits: it is per seat, so a 40-person crew is a real monthly number, and the training features restaurants care most about — recurring courses and the training matrix — sit above the free tier. We compare it with our own product in TrainedTeam vs SafetyCulture. Best for: multi-unit operators who want inspections and training in one platform and can live with per-seat cost.
5. Xenia — operations execution across sites
Xenia is an operations execution platform for multi-location frontline teams, with restaurants among its named industries. As of September 2026 its Basic tier covers daily task management, digital checklists and audits, basic reporting, and a template library; Pro adds, in Xenia's own row labels, “AI Co-Pilots for Operational Insights”, “Custom Dashboards & Advanced Grids”, a “Content & Training Documentation Hub”, a “Communications Suite of Tools”, and third-party integrations; Enterprise adds “HRIS Integrations & SSO” and “Public API Support”.
Pricing: not published. As of September 2026 all three tiers show custom pricing per location, or an invitation to discuss your needs, and the page states that both per-user and per-site pricing are available. Honest limits: training here is a documentation hub inside an operations product, not a full learning platform with course paths and certification tracking as the centre of gravity — and there is no published number to sanity-check a quote against. Best for: multi-site groups whose primary problem is task execution, inspections, and corrective actions, with training carried alongside.
6. Jolt — when the training problem is really a records problem
Jolt is restaurant operations software: as of September 2026 its own site lists task lists, remote sensors, temperature probes, a labelling system, employee scheduling, a time clock, a communication manager, and an information library, and frames the product as making employees work like you are there when you are not. Training is described as teaching employees what to do and how to do it best, rather than as a standalone LMS.
Pricing: not published. As of September 2026 the Jolt pricing URL returns a permanent redirect to a SmartSense quote request form, and the Jolt homepage presents Jolt and SmartSense together, pointing visitors to how the two are working on compliance and safety. Request Quote and Request a Demo are the only routes to a number. Honest limits: quote-only, with hardware in the mix, and a corporate picture that is visibly mid-change — worth asking directly what you are buying, from whom, and on what contract term. Best for: multi-unit operators whose real problem is food safety evidence rather than skills training.
7. Opus — franchise-scale frontline training
Opus sells itself on frontline training — its homepage headline is “Turn training into traction” — and lists restaurants, hospitality groups, and franchises among its industries. The restaurant credentials are real: as of September 2026 its homepage names Shipley's Donuts at 340+ locations, and its customer stories include Bonchon at 150+ restaurants in 7 languages. The product covers mobile-first training, AI search, a resource library, a course marketplace, translations, checklists and audits, and reporting.
Pricing: not published. As of September 2026 there are three tiers — Core, Growth, and Enterprise — with the pricing page stating that Opus is typically priced per location, with per-user pricing where that fits better, annual, quarterly, or monthly billing, and volume discounts. A free trial is offered. Honest limits: demo-led and per-location, which tells you who it is for. One restaurant is not the target customer. Best for: franchisors and multi-brand groups rolling standards out across dozens or hundreds of locations.
What should you actually do about it?
Single site with no budget: start with ProProfs or TrainedTeam free tiers and see which shape fits — courses or procedures. Already in 7shifts: ask what its training module costs on your tier before you buy anything else, because the platform your managers already open is the one that actually gets used. Two to thirty sites where inspections and training are the same job: Mitti or Xenia. Food safety records as the pressing problem: Jolt. Franchise rollout: Opus.
Then run the only test that matters. Pick your two newest hires and try to produce, in five minutes each, what they were trained on before their first shift and the evidence they understood it — not a completion tick, an answer they gave. If you cannot, the gap is not your course library, and no amount of ready-made content will close it. That is the test we built TrainedTeam to pass, and it is free for up to 5 users if you want to try it on Monday.