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Restaurants and hotels don’t run themselves—people do. Behind every great guest experience is a hospitality operations manager juggling people, processes, and profits.
From the host who first greets the guests to the owner who oversees business strategy, every member of the staff plays a critical role in delivering quality services and an exceptional guest experience, all while ensuring costs stay under control. But what exactly is hospitality and restaurant operations management? And is it the right career path for you?
Unlike other industries where the barriers to entry could include specialized education or experience, many restaurant employees are in the workforce for the first time. In fact, 63% of U.S. adults have worked in the restaurant industry at some point, and around 90% of restaurant managers started their restaurant career in entry-level positions.
That’s why experienced management is so important. Training and supervising a staff that ranges from teenagers to seasoned professionals takes superior communication skills and expert delegation.
A career in Hospitality and Restaurant Operations Management can be both exciting and challenging. Find out more about industry leadership and what it can take to be successful as a hospitality manager.
What Is Hospitality and Restaurant Operations Management?
Hospitality and Restaurant Operations Management focuses on the day-to-day operations of running restaurants, hotels, resorts, catering companies, hospitals, and more. While hospitality and restaurant management focuses more on the big picture, operations management focuses on the practical execution of daily functions–like managing inventory, overseeing staff, planning menus, and budgeting.
Operations management concerns the logistics of food and foodservice, like ordering and inventory, managing budgets, and planning and costing menus. It may also include human resources functions, like hiring, training, and managing both front of house and back of house staff. These managers have a customer-facing role as well, focusing on improving the guest experience by building loyalty and maintaining high service standards.
Operations management requires strong leadership skills.
Operations Management is a varied and exciting field. Managers rarely do the same thing every day. Instead, their work will shift between tracking finances, leading employees, serving customers, and quality control. With an expert in the field on staff, a business can run more smoothly and improve profitability and longevity.
What Type of Career Can You Have in Hospitality Operations Management?
An education in hospitality and restaurant operations management can open the door to careers in catering, event planning, hotel management, and more. Some of the careers it can help you prepare for include:
Restaurant Operations Manager
Restaurant operations managers oversee the daily function of food service establishments. They often balance both front-of-house and back-of-house operations, creating a seamless experience for diners while ensuring efficiency and profitability. Their duties often include staff supervision, budgeting, inventory control, regulatory compliance, and continuous process improvement. In addition to these key operational responsibilities, they’re charged with maintaining consistently high-quality food, service, and customer satisfaction. Restaurant operations managers must have strong leadership and multitasking skills, with a deep knowledge of all restaurant workflows.
Starting out as a restaurant operations manager can lead to significant career advancement opportunities. For example, someone in this role may advance to general manager or executive chef/owner as they gain more experience and refine their management skills.
Average salary: $66K – $111K
A restaurant operations manager oversees the daily functions of a restaurant.
Food and Beverage Manager
Food and beverage managers, sometimes called food service managers, work more broadly overseeing all parts of food and beverage operations in restaurants and hotels. In addition to supervising daily staff operations, they’re often responsible for:
- Creating menu design, such as buffets and/or pre fixe offerings
- Developing and continuously evaluating food and beverage pricing
- Designing and implementing staff training plans
- Working directly with sales teams
- Meeting guest satisfaction goals
- Maintaining detailed knowledge of inventory and supervising procurement procedures
The pay range reflects the larger role that food and beverage managers play in longer-term business operations, compared to restaurant operations managers.
Average pay range: $42,380 – $105,420
Front Office Manager
Front office managers often work at hotels, resorts, or similar establishments, where they may oversee staff, manage customer inquiries or complaints, and coordinate services across departments–such as communicating services with housekeeping, maintenance, or food and beverage departments. They often have less of a direct role in managing finances, focusing more on guest satisfaction, supervising front desk staff, and daily operational efficiency. The role demands strong communication, conflict resolution, and problem-solving skills.
Average pay range: $54K – $84K
Front office management often entails both customer service and staff management.
Event Planner
A foundation in operations management can provide valuable insights into catering, hospitality management, and event logistic strategies. Whether working independently or for a company, these skills can translate seamlessly to a career in event planning.
In this role, event planners are responsible for navigating intricate logistical details between multiple vendors, often months in advance of the event, to ensure a flawless and memorable experience for guests. From corporate events and private parties to weddings, they must manage every element with hawk-eyed precision. Success in this role requires excellent organizational skills, strong networking and negotiation skills, attention to detail, and effective leadership.
Average salary: $35,990 – $101,310
Event planners spend a lot of time coordinating between vendors and their clients.
Why Study Operations Management?
Many restaurant and hotel managers have no formal training at all, with about 90% starting in entry-level positions. It’s true that you don’t have to go to school to get a hospitality or restaurant operations management job.
However, dedicated managerial education can help you stand out among the other management hopefuls. And a degree might reduce the time it takes for you to land that first management position.
It’s difficult to imagine a position in a restaurant or hospitality business where a relevant degree could not add value in the eyes of hiring managers. With specialized training in topics like financial strategy and team leadership, graduates may find they’re able to make a more meaningful contribution to their work — without 20 years of industry experience.
With a multitude of popular career choices in hospitality management alone, getting a well-rounded education and hands-on industry externship experience can help you find the path that’s right for you and develop the management skills you may need. Plus, it can be a great way to network and get your foot in the door for competitive operations management roles.
A relevant education can show hiring managers that you’re looking for a career, not just a job.
Chefs can also benefit from this education. If you want to make yourself more valuable to your employer or gain competencies that can help you become a chef/owner, restaurant operations management might bridge the gap between your cooking skills and your business skills.
How a Relevant Education Builds Technical Skills for a Career in Operations Management
Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Art offers an online Associate of Occupational Studies Degree in Hospitality and Restaurant Operations Management.
This flexible program can allow you to work full- or part-time while studying and working toward your degree. And the business-focused curriculum is designed to help graduates become more effective future managers.
Online courses can give you the flexibility to pursue work opportunities while in school.
Students will spend some of their coursework concentrating on communications, including professionalism, conflict resolution, debate techniques, and human resources. By researching and practicing communication skills, students can potentially become better managers and leaders for their teams. Students will also explore cultural differences — especially important in a tourist-focused industry.
Some courses also focus on finances. Topics like sales forecasts, labor and food costs, and purchasing can help graduates assess where a business is flourishing and where it needs to cut expenses. In the Catering & Events course, students can work on organization, planning, and project coordination. In Beverage Service Operations, they can explore laws and regulations, budgeting, and inventory for the boozy side of the business.
And in Building Your Own Business, topics can include credit management, business planning, government regulation, and business ethics. At the end of the course, students can create and present their own business plans for a foodservice operation.
After they conclude their coursework, students complete a hands-on industry externship. This provides an opportunity to gain real-world experience and increase their skills while developing industry contacts.
The Path to Leadership
Hospitality and restaurant operations management is an important role in the day-to-day operations of the culinary industry, and education can help you be a more effective and successful administrator and leader.
Whether you want to become a manager, improve your business acumen, or eventually start your own hospitality business, a degree in Hospitality and Restaurant Operations Management can give you the skills and insights to find your path in the industry. Contact our admissions department to find out more about this exciting degree program from Escoffier.
INTERESTED IN DISCOVERING MORE ABOUT HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT?
- How to Become a Restaurant Manager
- What Does a Restaurant Manager Do? Roles & Responsibilities
- The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Home-Based Catering Business
This article was originally published on November 26, 2020, and has since been updated.
