4 Steps to Get Hired in UK Hospitality Fast With Zero Experience

Entry-level floor staff spend substantial portions of their shift entering orders into Electronic Point of Sale (EPOS) systems and fielding ingredient questions from customers. Venue managers dread hiring completely inexperienced staff because mistakes on till orders slow down service and errors regarding food allergies can lead to catastrophic medical emergencies and severe legal penalties.

Under the Food Information (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2021—widely known as Natasha's Law—all food pre-packed for direct sale (PPDS) must clearly display the product name and a full ingredients list with allergenic ingredients emphasised. Even in non-prepacked dining, businesses must provide accurate allergen information for the 14 major allergens recognised under UK law: celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, soybeans, and sulphur dioxide/sulphites above 10mg/kg. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) provides a free, publicly accessible online Food Allergen Training module. Completing this takes approximately one hour and yields a downloadable certificate you can add to your application.

You must also learn how hospitality EPOS systems structure floor workflows. Popular platforms in the UK include Toast, EPOS Now, Lightspeed, Square, Tevalis, and Zonal. While you may not have hands-on access to a commercial terminal at home, publicly available video walkthroughs demonstrate standard functions: opening tables by number, applying covers, adding ingredient modifiers (such as 'no dairy' or 'dressing on side'), splitting customer bills, applying service charges, and processing card payments via integrated PDQ terminals.

Key POS Workflows to Understand Before Your Interview

• Table mapping and cover counts: Assigning items to specific seat numbers to ensure runners deliver food without asking who ordered what.
• Order firing and hold routines: Timing mains to fire only after starters have cleared from the table.
• Kitchen void and waste logging: Recording spilled drinks or returned dishes accurately for stock control.