All food service jobs involve the same skills whether in the restaurant or hospitality industry:
- providing good-tasting, quality food timely and at an affordable cost.
- making a profit.
- serving quickly.
- being organized.
- having a service staff that understands their duties and keeps sanitary conditions dictated by health laws, while serving the customers with a smile.
In hospitality career opportunities, there may be a food and beverage manager that oversees the chef, the banquet department, restaurant management, the catering department, bar managers, and the other food service jobs. This can be one of the most lucrative food service jobs in the hospitality industry.
Food service jobs often require some math ability whether to figure calculate customer's bill, make change, or figure mark-ups on food. Food server jobs often involve a high-turnover labor pool. Hiring, firing, and scheduling a wait staff, bus persons, dishwashers, bartenders, and hosts or hostesses to keep the service aspect of the business running smoothly can be challenging and requires dependable, hard-working employees.
Restaurant management needs to be good at forecasting peak business periods to keep tables moving quickly, keep employees taking and serving orders, bringing the check, and busing the table for the next customers to maximize seating. Errors made by employees in these areas affect the amount of sales a food service establishment can make.
In hospitality industry careers in food service, it may involve a catered banquet event, where the menu and price is pre-determined and the number of attendees is known.
Food service jobs involved are usually the kitchen and banquet servers with a catering director or banquet manager to oversee the function. It is much more controlled than a normal a-la-carte restaurant, and sometimes banquets are more profitable for the establishment.
Repeat customers want an establishment where they are served good food at a good price, with smiling service in a quick, efficient manner. This requires good customer service by a friendly, attentive server. Food service jobs, whether in restaurant management or the hospitality industry require good customer service skills, with which the staff will make better tips and reduce turnover.
Colleges offer degrees in hotel and restaurant management which provide education for either the hospitality industry or restaurant management. Many food service jobs promote good workers up through an organization and many national chains offer paid corporate training or apprentice programs.
Salaries vary depending on where the food establishment is, whether it is a franchise restaurant, casual or fine dining, and how many seats there are. Hotel facilities may depend on the outlet such as restaurants, banquets, bar and grill, or offsite catering events. Restaurant or hospitality industry food service jobs may offer attractive salary plus bonuses and incentives based on food sales, food costs or labor costs.
Restaurant management needs good team leaders who are not afraid of hard work. The same is true of food service jobs in the hospitality industry. If you have held food service jobs in a restaurant, hospitality industry jobs have many job openings for you to consider as well. Many times, it is possible to find restaurant jobs in hotels, since they may contain several a-la-carte restaurants, in addition to food service jobs in the banquet and catering departments.
Some food service employees prefer the pace of hospitality industry jobs, as their customers are there for relaxation or a conference, and are not quite as impatient and harried as consumers that may be on their way to a movie or appointment. Such customers may be better tippers as well.
The best way to find restaurant management, food service, or hospitality industry jobs would be to search the Internet for a job Web site that offers a consolidation of the listings in these industries; then find the job and pay most desirable for your skills. This is a quick, time-saving method to find food service jobs by choosing a comprehensive listing of positions available in one place that has done all the research for you.
The Internet makes it easy for employers to list their available positions in a specialized Web site, because it helps pre-screen the applicants that would be more suited for the food service jobs or restaurant management positions and saves the employer time in finding a qualified candidate.
Since many food service jobs are in the hospitality industry, many of these positions will be listed along with restaurant or other food service jobs, such as cafeterias, stadiums, and hospitals. Using a specialized job search Web site is a great way to find hospitality career opportunities for job seekers.
