Tag Archive for 'restaurant management school'

What is on a Restaurant Management Course List?

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on May 2, 2011
in Culinary Schools
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Restaurant Management CourseIf you’re interested in entering the culinary field at the managerial level, you may want to consider a degree or program in restaurant management. This educational concentration, which is growing in popularity among hotels, restaurateurs, and catering companies, allows you to combine business training with culinary skills to make a real impact behind the scenes.

Although each school is necessarily different, much of the coursework you’ll encounter is the similar. Before selecting a restaurant management program for yourself, ask to see the school’s list of courses to ensure that you are getting the education you need to succeed in the field.

General Business Courses

General business courses are applicable at restaurants, hotels, and any other type of managerial setting. These courses will allow you to branch away from the culinary field if you choose to at a later date:

  • Career Development
  • Managerial Accounting
  • Global Management
  • Organizational Development
  • Human Resource Management
  • Business Planning and Marketing
  • Public Relations
  • Procedures and Manuals
  • Information Management Systems
  • Cost Control
  • Sustainable Purchasing

Culinary-Based Courses

You aren’t likely to encounter a heavy focus on cooking techniques and skills, but that doesn’t mean you can skip this side of the restaurant industry altogether. You can expect to learn:

  • Cooking and Food Preparation
  • History of Cuisine
  • Food Display and Buffet Techniques
  • Menu Creation
  • Food and Beverage Operations

Restaurant Growth and Development Courses

Part of being a successful restaurateur is being able to build a business from the ground up. You may take courses in:

  • Facilities Design
  • Restaurant Concepts and Creation
  • Restaurant Real Estate
  • Kitchen Design and Equipment

Hospitality Industry Courses

Other basic management courses that focus specifically on restaurants and the hospitality industry include:

  • Safety and Sanitation
  • Menu Management
  • Legal Issues and Ethics in Hospitality
  • Event Management
  • Hospitality Industry Trends
  • Tourism Management
  • Hotel Operations Management
  • Wine and Spirits Management
  • Casino Operations

Although most programs offer training at the Bachelor or Master’s degree level, you may be able to find diploma/certificate programs or build on an existing culinary degree with continuing education courses in restaurant management. Depending on your personal goals and interests, you can spend months or years developing skills in this field.

Related Topics:

A Day in the Life of a Restaurant Manager

Restaurant Management Careers: Food Service Managers

Find a Hospitality Management School in Your City

Hospitality Management Programs: The Lodging Operations Course

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on April 18, 2011
in Hospitality Management
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Lodging OperationsHospitality management is a great career path for those who want to straddle the line between culinary training and a more business-oriented approach. Like restaurant management, this field is all about making the experience of the guest positive from the first moment they arrive. Whether this means providing great accommodations, putting the guests in front of an exquisite meal, or planning an event they’ll never forget, hospitality management is customer service at its best.

As you go through your hospitality management course (either at the Bachelor or Master’s level), one class that is likely to come your way is lodging operations.

What are Lodging Operations?

Lodging operations is a leadership-oriented course that focuses on hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, and resorts. It goes beyond simply teaching students how to set up reservations and organize large-scale customer service initiatives to include:

  • Marketing and branding concepts
  • Incorporating the culinary experience into the hospitality setting
  • Developing employee training programs
  • Implementing energy-saving innovations
  • Surviving in a competitive hospitality market
  • Everyday leadership opportunities

This broad scope of learning is ideal for students who are pursuing an advanced degree in hospitality management. After all, if it is your goal to seek high level work in the field, it’s important to have a strong basis of understanding for how to help a hospitality organization succeed. And in many cases, these same principles are applicable in a restaurant setting, as well, making it easy to switch between fields as your career advances.

The Lodging Operations Course

Depending on where you go to hospitality management school and the degree you’re pursuing, your exact course syllabus will vary. Overall, you can expect to make on-site visits or virtual field trips to successful hotel models, and you may even be eligible for an internship at one of these locations near the end of your education.

A degree in hospitality management is a great core for a future career in restaurants, hotels, resorts, and other similar settings. Lodging operations is just one part of the whole picture. In addition to culinary training, management courses, communication skills development, and technology training, it’s important to incorporate theory-based and logic-based courses like this one.

Related Topics:

Hotel Management as an Alternative to Becoming a Chef

Culinary Degree or Hospitality Management Degree

Find a Hospitality Management School in Your City

Cooking Class Options: Food and Wine Pairings

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on April 8, 2010
in Cooking Classes
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Food and Wine PairingsA good culinary education can mean a number of things. For students looking to learn everything at a big name school with big name post-graduation opportunities, it might be defined as a four-year program in which you live and breathe all things culinary. For students in search of a quick program that will teach them the skills needed to find entry-level kitchen work, a community college program or an intensive training course at a private vocational facility might be more the thing.

For students who simply want to boost one small portion of a larger interest in all things culinary, cooking classes provide a perfect solution. Offered through big-name schools, private chef tutors, and even continuing education courses, cooking classes tend to be both cost-effective and entertaining.

Cooking classes are usually defined as any program that lasts just a few in-kitchen hours. Some courses run over a period of six weeks, with students coming by for one or two hours in the evening one day a week. Other cooking classes are weekend or day programs, wherein students spend a few hours learning about a particular type of cuisine or skill.

Of these types of cooking classes, one of the most popular options is food and wine pairings. Thanks to a higher interest in gastronomic refinement than ever before, many home cooks and aspiring chefs are using wine pairings as way to bring a new level of fun and class to their food.

Many of the things you will learn in a food and wine pairing cooking class have to do with the wine itself (the sorts of things that sommeliers are experts at). You may learn how to:

  • Detect flavors and intensity in wine
  • Contrast and complement textures and flavors in the food
  • Distinguish between the different types of wine
  • Prepare and serve wine
  • Use appropriate glassware for service

Of course, one of the best things about a food and wine pairing cooking class is that you have to sample both the wines and the foods in order to make the best decisions for your palate! Whether you’re interested in furthering your culinary career or you want to explore new options in your personal accomplishments, cooking schools that teach these kinds of courses can provide the perfect solution for your lifestyle and  your budget.

Should You Go to Culinary School to Become a Food Critic?

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on February 19, 2010
in Culinary Career
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Food CriticIf there’s one career that seems more glamorous and food-centered than becoming an Executive Chef, it’s becoming a food critic. Food critics seem to have the ultimate job: they go around tasting incredible dishes from incredible restaurants and provide their opinions on each one. And the more famous the food critic, the more prestige that comes with it. In fact, the top food critics are often the recipients of flattery and free stuff – all part of the package as chefs vie for attention and a few gold stars.

Unfortunately, becoming a food critic isn’t as easy as loving food and having decided opinions about it. In fact, culinary school is one of the most common places to find the food critics of tomorrow. That’s because the most important part of being a food critic is simply being able to cook. Of course, there are additional considerations, as well:

Writing and Journalism Skills: Most food critics write up their opinions in regular articles, blogs, or columns. This means being able to report and write interesting reviews, since you can’t be a successful food critic unless others are interested in reading what you have to say.

Knowledge about Food: You also have to have a familiarity with different ingredients and types of cuisines. Food critics have to be able to discern the different flavor profiles in a dish and compare it to others, using their own knowledge base to determine how innovative a new chef is. This is one place where having a culinary education comes in, since food critics with a background in cooking have more familiarity with cuisine.

A Discerning Palate: Food critics also have to be able to make realistic opinions on different dishes. If you’re the type of diner who likes just about anything, you probably won’t make a good food critic. After all, you have to be able to tell the good from the bad and the near-perfect from the perfect. A background in culinary school can go a long way in developing your palate.

Professionalism: The best food critics are also known entities in their field. They network with food editors, restaurant owners, celebrity chefs, reporters, and other culinary professionals. They know how to give a bad review without severing personal ties, and they are charismatic enough to become popular with others in the culinary profession. This takes a high level of professionalism and connections that are often made at top culinary schools around the world.

Becoming a food critic is a dream for many culinary students and gourmands all over the world. While it is a difficult profession to break into, culinary school might be a great place to start. After all, not only are you learning how to eat good food, but you’re learning how to cook it, too. That makes for a well-rounded education with plenty of opportunities in terms of a future culinary career.

Culinary Degree or Hospitality Management Degree

Published
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on October 20, 2009
in Hospitality Management
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Culinary Degree or Hospitality Management DegreeWhat is the Difference between a Culinary Arts Degree and a Hospitality Management Degree?

Hospitality management is one of the hottest fields in the culinary community right now. Not only does it tie into the food aspect of the food and restaurant industry, but it also includes a strong sense of business and general management. For some culinary students, this represents the perfect combination: creative license when it comes to issues of food, and a little more structure when it comes to career logistics.

What Exactly is Hospitality Management?

Hospitality management is basically the business side of running a restaurant, hotel, or other facility. Much of the work relates to things like:

  • Menu development
  • Human resources/hiring
  • Managing employees
  • Ordering and keeping a kitchen stocked
  • Customer service
  • Keeping a facility up to code

However, depending on whether you work in a restaurant, catering facility, cruise ship, hotel, or other facility, your required skills will vary. For example, you may have to jump on the line to help with a peak period one day and spend the next sitting at your desk helping to prepare tax documents.

How Hospitality Management Degrees are Structured

Because so much of hospitality management is about business, it is often taken as an Associate, Bachelor, or even Master’s Degree course. There are shorter education options, but individuals with a higher education degree are more likely to find a job in middle management or get promotions once your career is underway. You can also switch to other fields with greater ease, should you discover that the culinary field is not for you.

Remember, though, that much of hospitality management is about people and numbers. If you want to go to culinary school to focus on food, you might be better off pursing a culinary degree.