Restaurant Management Career

A career in hotel and restaurant management might be for you if you like to make important decisions, hire staff and run the day to the day operations of your business. It might sound like fun stuff but it is hard work. As a manager, you will be the first one to arrive and the last one to leave. All responsibility will fall on you. The perks of being in hotel and restaurant management business, however, can be great.

As a manager, you are responsible for everything that goes on in your hotel or restaurant. You need to have food orders in on time, make sure guests are accommodated for and ensure that your staff respects and listens to you. You must be a great communicator and leader to succeed in hotel and restaurant management.

Whether it is a high profile hotel, a glamorous restaurant or a small deli, a manager must indulge himself in the business. If one thing goes wrong it falls on the manager's shoulders. The service industry is the biggest industry in the United States today. It garners more attention and customers than any other business in the country. Don't expect this trend to stop.

Small businesses are currently thriving in the U.S. More and more of these offices are popping up everywhere. Combine that with the stature of the service industry and a small hotel or restaurant can prove to be quite profitable. Being involved in hotel and restaurant management is becoming a common experience for many people today. People with little to no experience are getting into the business. But those who do the best have a degree specializing in management.

It's a great time to become restaurant manager. The U.S. Department of Labor cites the field of restaurant management as an emerging industry, and predicts it will continue to do so. As a restaurant manager, you are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the restaurant. Not only must you have a love of food, you must also have a background in management.

A restaurant manager needs to ensure food deliveries. Manage personnel, and enhance the customer experience. But of course that's also part of the reward - you get to enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that a successful restaurant was the result of your service skills. And not only will you have to fare well with your customers, you'll have to fare well with your staff. Managers must communicate well with the employees, motivate the staff, and lead by example.

In restaurants that change their menu items, manager often select new dishes. They consider what items have been popular in the past, and what foods on hand must be used. Then they analyze recipes to decide costs for food and labor. Based on this analysis, they assign menu prices.

Managers are often responsible for recruiting and hiring new kitchen and serving staff. They organize and direct worker training programs. In addition, they schedule staff work hours and assign duties. They may also evaluate employee performance.

Large restaurants often have bookkeepers. However, managers of small facilities often have administrative duties. For example, they keep records of employee hours and wages. They prepare payroll and tax report paperwork. They keep records of purchases and pay suppliers. They also evaluate the success of new dishes and remove them from the menu if they are not profitable. Some managers use computer software to help them with these record-keeping duties.

Almost three-fourths of all food service managers were previously restaurant managers, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics. Most restaurant management professionals receive a two- or four-year degree in restaurant or food service management.

Nine out of ten restaurant operators raise money for charities, or donate food or space.

Restaurants fight hunger, support health-related causes, mentor youth, and improve their communities. If you’re just starting out or your restaurant wants to increase its philanthropic efforts, you may donate money to support a children’s hospital, United Way, local non-profit, museum, library, school, zoo, military support group or homeless shelter.

High standards need to be maintained, and health and hygiene safety regulations need to be met at all times. This includes the quality of raw ingredients and prepared food, food storage, and customer service. The maintenance of equipment, stock and the budget is also controlled by the restaurant/catering manager.

Many independent hotels, and most hotel chains, run management trainee schemes that can lead into restaurant or catering management. Fast-food chains, catering companies and large restaurants are also likely to run restaurant management trainee schemes. Some employers may take on candidates with A levels, BTEC National awards, or Scottish Highers. However, it is more usual for entry requirements to include a foundation degree, BTEC HNC/HND, or degree. Relevant subjects you can study at this level include hospitality management with business, culinary arts or marketing, and international hotel and restaurant management.

The entry requirements for a degree are likely to include five GCSEs (A-C)/S grades (1-3) and a minimum of two A levels/three H grades. For a HNC/D or foundation degree, you are likely to need four GCSEs (A-C)/S grades (1-3) and one A level/two H grades.

An Access to Higher Education qualification may also be accepted for entry to certain courses. If experienced in a related field, you may be able to gain recognition of skills through Accredited Prior Learning (APL). Please check with colleges or universities for exact entry requirements.

There is no maximum age limit to become a restaurant or catering manager.

Training is usually provided on the job. In addition, you can work towards a qualification such as an NVQ/SVQ Level 3 or BTEC National Certificate in Hospitality Supervision.

If you are a graduate with a degree not related to hospitality, you can take a one year BA (Hons) conversion degree course in Hotel and Catering Management, or Hospitality Management.

Restaurant or catering managers can take a number of routes into different careers. Hotel management is an option. In a large chain of hotels or restaurants, it may be possible to progress to regional or area management.

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Proper Preventive Maintenance Starts With Knowing Your Restaurant Equipment    by Kingston Amadan

Several weeks ago, I was forced to replace a very expensive piece of equipment at my bistro. A convection oven that I inherited with the building suddenly stopped working. I called a repair service and the machinery medics were quickly dispatched. Unfortunately, the news was grim... I would need to purchase a replacement unit. The technicians that came out were unable to repair it. In fact, they had no idea why the unit had failed, only that they wouldn't be able to fix it. I contacted my restaurant equipment supplier, who, it turns out, had sold the now defunct unit to the previous owner. When I told him about the old unit and that I would need a replacement, I expected him to be ecstatic, knowing full well that my wallet was about to take a major hit. Instead, he surprised me by asking me a series of questions about the old unit.

With his help over the phone, we were able to get the unit up and running in about twenty minutes. That's pretty amazing, I think. The problem was caused by a lack preventive maintenance measures to the oven. We were under the impression that we were taking proper care of it, though in truth, I never bothered to check and see if there was more that we needed to be doing in the way of preventive maintenance. A few days later, I got a letter from my equipment supplier, with specs on every piece of equipment in my restaurant, along with the necessary preventive maintenance measures that I should take with each one. The majority of these I already knew about, but there were a few I was unaware of. Since I received the letter, my staff has been performing all the recommended preventative maintenance measures and we really notice a difference on the pieces of equipment we were neglecting to take proper care of.

Preventive maintenance is important in the restaurant business, especially with the cost of replacing an expensive unit. The only way to take proper care of your equipment, however, is to know it well enough to know what preventive maintenance measures needs to be performed. I am grateful to my equipment supplier for helping me to realize that.

About the Author

Visit CPAPC for restaurant supplies and equipments

The Importance of a Knowledgeable Restaurant Equipment Supplier to Your Business   by Kingston Amadan

It was early on a Friday night, and already the front of the house was packed. My kitchen looked like a beehive, and as usual, my whole staff was working furiously to keep everybody happy. It's a necessity both they and I have come to live with as a result of our setup. You see, our kitchen is entirely too small for the amount of business we get. Because of my location, which I wouldn't give up for the world, there's not a lot I can do about it.

Anyway, things were running as smoothly as they ever do, when one of my main refrigeration units went down. One of my line cooks came from the back and informed that we were going to lose a lot of steaks if we didn't act fast.

Since we have no room, we formulated a plan to get the meat into one of the bar coolers until we could figure out what to do. While some of my staff was working on that, I made a call to a repair service, since I didn't think I would be able to reach my equipment supplier on a Friday night. They told me the next time they could come by to take a look would be on Monday. In desperation, I called my restaurant equipment supplier. Luckily, he was still in the office.

I explained what had happened and he thought about it for a minute. After grilling me (no pun intended) for a while on the preventive maintenance measures I had taken with the unit, we got on the subject of coils. It seems this particular unit has a sheet of metal between two sets of coils on the rear of the unit, leaving the rear coils exposed while hiding the interior set. The manufacturer put the thin sheet of metal between the coils to act as a heat transference device, as the heat produced between two sets of coils on a commercial refrigeration unit can be pretty intense. The sheet would absorb heat from both sets of coils and help to dissipate it, since it had more surface area.

The bottom line is that we had been cleaning the exterior set of coils, but not the interior set. My restaurant equipment supplier mentioned that this was an unorthodox (yet effective) setup for the back of a cooler, so he wasn't surprised we weren't aware of the interior coils. He told how to remove the metal sheet and suggested I clean the interior coils to see if that might be the problem.

My GM and I took the unit out back and removed the sheet and took a look at the inset coils. They were in bad shape, having never been cleaned before (or at least no as long as I owned them). To make a long story short, we cleaned them thoroughly and tried the unit again. Within five minutes, things were nice and frosty on the inside again. I called my equipment supplier back to thank him for his help. Of course, he told me to call him first before I use a repair service for out-of-warranty equipment, which I should have done in the first place.

Having a knowledgeable equipment supplier is of the utmost importance of my business. This particular Friday night, I was reminded of that in a big way.

About the Author

Visit CPAPC for restaurant supplies and equipments

An Insider's Word to the Restaurant Biz   by Jonathan Chin

I figured I'd put up a some thoughts on what it is like to work in the restaurant biz in Manhattan since I did it for eight months. In one word: crazy. But seriously, restaurant work is really only for those people who are completely psycho. I was pulling 70-80 hours a week and most people would call that pretty weak for the restaurant biz. A lot of chefs start their careers working at 100 plus hours per week. Still, there is a culture about the restauranteurs that I met. It's not work for them and to be honest, it never really felt like work for me either. The best part of the restaurant biz is the food and beverage culture that you get immersed in. For anyone who wants to learn a lot about food and not pay to learn, but instead be paid to learn, the restaurant industry is great. Of course, the price is the hours worked.

If you want to learn the restaurant biz in Manhattan, you have to start at the bottom. Ultimately, every restaurant is going to desire managers who can honestly say they've worked every position and know how things should be done because they've already done every job. In Manhattan especially, there's the added obstacle that you really can't start to be a waiter unless you learn to bus tables and be a runner. A runner is just someone who runs food from the kitchen to the tables, but doesn't really interact with the customers.

If you're really lucky, you can find a restaurant that is opening, track down the owner and tell him you'll work for free just so you can learn the biz. You'd be surprised how open a restauranteur is to this because there are so many things to do in a restaurant opening. Most restauranteurs have a pre opening list that has hundreds of things that have to be done before an opening.

About the Author

Jonathan Chin is a writer for intensecooking.com Check us out if you want to learn how to cook.