Fast Food and Food Court Crew Course (Australia): Lessons 2026

Lesson 1: Counter, drive-thru and delivery orders

This lesson covers the front of the shop: the counter, the drive-thru window and delivery apps. Speed matters, but a wrong order costs more time than a quick check.

Most takeaway businesses are covered by the Fast Food Industry Award. The Fair Work Ombudsman says this award can cover fast food sold in food courts, shopping centres and retail complexes. Cafés and restaurants that mainly serve food to eat in, or offer table service, are usually covered by a different award.

At the counter

• Greet every customer within a few seconds, even if you are busy: "Hi, I'll be right with you."
• Listen to the whole order before you start pressing buttons. Do not rush the customer.
• Offer once, honestly. Ask about a meal, size or extra item once. Do not keep pushing after a customer says no.
• Read the order back and point to the screen so the customer can check it.
• Tell the customer the wait if an item takes longer to cook, so they can choose something else.
• Hand over carefully: call the order number, check the items against the receipt, and thank the customer.

Allergen questions

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) explains that the Food Standards Code requires allergen information to be provided for unpackaged food too, such as food sold in a restaurant or over a counter. FSANZ advises that this information should be clear, up to date and accurate.

• Never guess. If you are not sure, say so and check the shop's allergen chart or ask your manager.
• Tell the kitchen about the allergy clearly, using your shop's system.
• Do not promise "allergen-free" if food is cooked in shared fryers or on shared grills. Explain the risk and let the customer decide.

The drive-thru

1. Greet the car through the headset in a clear, friendly voice. Do not talk over the customer.
2. Enter the order and read it back from the order screen.
3. At the pick-up window, check the bag against the receipt: item count, drinks, sauces, napkins and any special requests.
4. Hand over drinks in a carrier and hot items with care, then thank the customer.

If an order will take a while, follow your shop's policy. Never lean far out of the window, reach into a car or run after a vehicle.

Delivery-app orders

• Pack hot and cold items separately, and seal the bag if your shop uses tamper seals.
• Check the order number or customer name on the driver's app before you hand over the bag. Never give an order to someone who cannot show a matching order.
• If an item is unavailable, follow the app process instead of swapping items without telling anyone.

Topic quiz 1: Counter, drive-thru and delivery orders

Lesson 2: Food safety on the line

The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code is written by FSANZ and enforced by state and territory food authorities and local councils. Since December 2023, Standard 3.2.2A (Food Safety Management Tools) has added extra duties for food service, catering and related retail businesses.

Category one and category two businesses

Tool 1: food handler training

Every food handler who handles unpackaged, potentially hazardous, ready-to-eat food must have done a food safety training course, or have adequate skills and knowledge, before they start that work. The training covers four areas: safe handling of food, food contamination, cleaning and sanitising, and personal hygiene. Nationally, no particular certificate is required, and your employer chooses how to train you.

Tool 2: the food safety supervisor (FSS)

The business must appoint a food safety supervisor with a certificate obtained within the past 5 years, from a registered training organisation or an organisation the food regulator recognises. The FSS must be reasonably available: working on site, or easy to contact (for example by phone).

How the states do it: examples

This course is background knowledge only. It is not a food safety supervisor certificate and it does not replace the food handler training your employer must make sure you have. Other states and territories have their own arrangements, so check with your manager or local council.

Hand hygiene

Use the hand-wash sink. Wash before starting or going back to food handling and before touching ready-to-eat food after raw food; wash after the toilet, smoking, coughing, sneezing, eating, drinking, touching your hair, scalp or nose, handling rubbish, or cleaning.

1. Wet your hands under warm running water.
2. Lather with soap and scrub for at least 15 seconds.
3. Rinse under warm running water.
4. Dry thoroughly with a single-use towel or a hand dryer.

• Use tongs or gloves, not bare hands, for ready-to-eat food.
• Remove loose jewellery and cover open sores.
• Do not eat, smoke, spit, cough or sneeze over food or food surfaces.

If you are sick

Tell your supervisor if you have, or think you have, a foodborne illness, for example vomiting, diarrhoea or fever, and do not handle food. FSANZ says to go back to food handling only when a doctor says you are well enough, usually 48 hours after symptoms stop.

Temperature control

Bacteria grow fastest between 5°C and 60°C, the temperature danger zone. Keep potentially hazardous food at 5°C or colder, or at 60°C or hotter. Businesses handling this food must have a thermometer accurate to ±1°C.

The time adds up across preparation, display and transport. Cooked food that will be stored must be cooled in two stages: from 60°C to 21°C within 2 hours, then from 21°C to 5°C within the next 4 hours.

Cross-contamination, cleaning and sanitising

Keep raw meat away from ready-to-eat food, use separate boards and utensils as your shop directs, and wash your hands after handling raw food.

Cleaning removes dirt, grease and food scraps. Sanitising kills germs. Always clean first: scrape, wash with hot water and detergent, rinse, then sanitise. You can sanitise with heat (very hot water at 77°C for 30 seconds, or a dishwasher's sanitising cycle) or with a chemical sanitiser used exactly as the label says.

Topic quiz 2: Food safety on the line

Lesson 3: Working in a shared food court

In a food court, your shop (the tenancy) looks after its counter, kitchen and back area. Centre management looks after the common areas: seating, walkways, toilets, central bins and the loading dock. Your manager will tell you the centre's rules.

Typical centre rules

• Take deliveries through the loading dock at the set times, not through the food court.
• Keep walkways and exits clear. Do not stack stock or bins outside your shopfront.
• Follow the centre's emergency and evacuation procedures.

Shared seating

Centre cleaners usually clear tables, but crew are often asked to wipe tables near their counter. Keep space clear for prams, wheelchairs and walking frames.

Spills and hazards

• In your area: put out a wet-floor sign, clean the spill straight away, and remove the sign when the floor is dry.
• In a common area: stay near the spill or mark it, and call centre cleaning or security. Never walk past a spill.

Waste and recycling

• Sort waste into the centre's streams, such as general waste, recycling, cardboard and food organics, using the bins provided.
• Flatten cardboard boxes and take them to the cardboard area.
• Used cooking oil goes into the oil collection container. Never pour oil or grease down a sink or drain.
• Keep bin lids closed and back doors shut to keep pests out.

Food safety in public areas

Keep food covered when you move it through walkways or service corridors, and keep trolleys clean. Do not leave food or stock unattended in common areas.

Security and emergencies

Save the centre security number in your phone and know where it is posted in the shop. Call security for a fight, a suspicious item, a person who needs help, or a hazard in a common area. If a lost child comes to you, keep them with you at the counter and call security.

For a life-threatening emergency, call Triple Zero (000) first. The Triple Zero service says to call if someone is seriously injured or needs urgent medical help, if life or property is threatened, or if you have just seen a serious accident or crime. Then tell centre security so they can guide the emergency services to you.

If the centre's alarm sounds, stop cooking, turn off equipment if it is safe, and follow the centre's wardens to the exit. Do not go back for belongings.

Topic quiz 3: Working in a shared food court

Lesson 4: Rush hour, stations and teamwork

A rush goes well when stations are ready, each person knows their job, and the team talks.

Before the rush

During the rush

• Stay at your station unless your manager moves you. Leaving a station creates a new bottleneck.
• Call out as you move: "Behind!", "Hot!", "Sharp!" and "Corner!" stop collisions and burns.
• Repeat back instructions from your manager so they know you heard.
• Use the oldest held food first, and throw it away when its hold time is up, even if you are busy.
• Tell your manager early when you are running low on anything.
• Help the slowest point. If your station is under control, ask where you can help.

Rushing is never a reason to skip food safety. Hand washing, glove changes and temperature checks still apply when the queue is long.

After the rush

Restock your station, clean as you go, empty full bins, and tell your manager about anything that broke or ran out.

Handling stress

• Focus on one order at a time.
• Take slow breaths when you feel rushed.
• Do not take a rude comment personally. The customer is usually frustrated with the wait, not with you.
• Take your breaks. Your award or agreement sets your break entitlements; ask your manager how breaks work on your roster.

Pay and conditions

The Fair Work Ombudsman says most people under 21 get a junior rate, which is lower than the adult rate. Pay rates change, so do not rely on what friends say. Use the Fair Work Ombudsman's PayCheck Plus tool, or ask your employer which award or agreement covers you.

Topic quiz 4: Rush hour, stations and teamwork

Lesson 5: Hot equipment, difficult customers and late shifts

Your rights and duties at work

Most states and territories use the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws. Victoria has its own law, the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. Under the model WHS laws, the business has the main duty to keep workers healthy and safe. Workers must:

• take reasonable care of their own health and safety and that of others
• follow reasonable safety instructions
• cooperate with the business's reasonable safety policies and procedures.

Under the model laws, a worker may stop or refuse work if they reasonably believe it puts them at serious risk from an immediate or imminent hazard, and must tell the business as soon as they can.

Young workers

WorkSafe Queensland notes that young workers often cannot tell when a situation is becoming risky, and may copy what coworkers do, right or wrong. Employers must give information, training, instruction and supervision. A good way to learn a task is "tell me, show me, watch me". Report unsafe situations, injuries and near misses to your supervisor straight away.

Each state has its own rules for workers who are still children. For example:

• Queensland: the minimum working age is generally 13. School-aged children may work no more than 4 hours on a school day and 12 hours in a school week, and must not work between 10pm and 6am.
• Victoria: businesses need a licence to employ children under 15. Children must be at least 13 for retail or hospitality work, may work no more than 3 hours a day and 12 hours a week during school terms, generally only between 6am and 9pm, and must be supervised by an adult with a Working with Children Clearance.

Fryers, grills and steam

• Lower fryer baskets slowly. Shake off ice and water first, because water makes hot oil spit.
• Never carry hot oil. Filter or change oil only as trained, after it has cooled.
• Open steamer and oven doors and pot lids away from your face.
• Use dry oven gloves (wet cloth passes heat straight through) and call "Hot!" when you carry anything hot.

First aid for burns

Cool the burn under cool running water for at least 20 minutes. Do not use ice, and do not pull off clothing stuck to the burn. Get urgent medical help for a serious burn, for example a deep burn (even if it does not hurt), a burn larger than a 20-cent coin, or a burn to the face, hands, airway or genitals. In a medical emergency, call 000 for an ambulance.

Cooking-oil fires

Fires in cooking oils and fats are Class F fires. The extinguisher for them is a wet chemical extinguisher, which has an oatmeal coloured band. A red-band water extinguisher is only for ordinary materials such as paper and wood (Class A) and is not safe on other classes of fire. Never throw water on burning oil.

1. Raise the alarm and warn people nearby.
2. Turn off the heat if you can do it safely.
3. Use the wet chemical extinguisher or fire blanket only if you are trained and the fire is small.
4. If in doubt, get out, and call 000.

Difficult and aggressive customers

WorkSafe Victoria says frustrated customers often take it out on retail and hospitality workers. Employers must consult workers and put controls in place, such as duress alarms and plans for difficult customers.

• Watch for warning signs: raised voice, swearing, pacing, clenched fists.
• Stay calm. Speak slowly and quietly, keep your hands relaxed, and keep the counter between you.
• Listen and acknowledge: "I can see you've waited a long time. Let me fix this."
• Say clearly that abuse is not acceptable if it continues.
• Get help: call your manager or centre security, or use a duress alarm.
• Remove yourself if you feel unsafe, for example by moving to the kitchen or another safe place.
• Call police if the person becomes physical or threatens violence, and 000 if anyone is in immediate danger.
• In a robbery, Safe Work Australia notes that doing what the robber asks may be the safest option.

Report every incident, even verbal abuse. Reports help the business fix the causes. Write down what happened, when and where, and who was involved. Get first aid, medical help or counselling if you need it.

Late shifts

WorkSafe WA suggests controls such as more staff at opening and closing times, good lighting, less cash kept on site, controlled access to staff areas, and rosters that keep working alone to a minimum. Walk to your car or transport with a coworker if you can.

Topic quiz 5: Hot equipment and tough customers