The restaurant business can be as tough as a cheap piece of meat. It can also as rewarding as a sumptuous candle-lit dinner. And the difference between success and failure in the competitive restaurant might be a culinary management degree.
If you’ve always dreamed of running a popular restaurant—or opening your own—knowledge of food preparation and restaurant management is essential. While obtaining a restaurant-culinary management degree you develop basic skills such as managing kitchen staff, developing a menu, and managing wine, spirits, and beverages. Studies also include international cuisines, restaurant accounting, marketing, customer relations, and human resources management.
Restaurant managers have to deal with two specific areas, known as the “front of the house” and the “back of the house.” The front is the house is the customer area where hosts, servers, cashiers, and bartenders work. The back of the house is the kitchen where the real action is. Managers deal with executive chefs, sous chefs, line cooks, pastry chefs, and others who work to produce fresh food in a timely manner.
The front and back are polar opposites in a restaurant and a successful manager must smoothly oversee both. This requires a high degree of organization. Managers need to create menus from a financial perspective, forecast weekly food and drink purchases, plan banquets and other food events, and create training programs to improve staff service and sales. Managers also need to be strong leaders who can rally employees who are under constant pressure.
Successful culinary managers must be versed in a wide range of subjects that can make or break a restaurant. Little wonder that employers and investors seek out those who hold restaurant-culinary management degrees. If you’re a foodie who dreams of running a restaurant where making memories for customers is your daily bread and butter, a degree in culinary management might be for you. Maureen “Mo” Shaw, Manager of Ray’s Boathouse Café in Seattle sums it up: “You’ve got to have personality because we’re in the people business. It takes somebody that is completely passionate and excited, who has a love for food and people. You need financial understanding to write budgets, strategic ability to see the big picture, food and wine knowledge, organization, and flexibility. And lots of stamina!”