Graduate to a Management Level Restaurant or Hospitality Job

Find Culinary Programs

By the time you’re pursuing a Masters degree from a culinary school it’s usually because the culinary career you have in mind now includes management. Maybe you’re fresh out of a Bachelors degree, or perhaps you’ve been a career chef or baker and now wish to answer your calling for a job at the culinary management level. Restaurant and hotel management require extra levels of education and course work beyond that focused on cooking and even kitchen supervision.

Many state and private universities offer one or more graduate level hospitality and/or restaurant management degrees.

Where You’ll Find Masters Degrees in Culinary Arts College

Explore the graduate degree options in culinary arts through universities. These institutions are really prepared to offer the coursework necessary for a masters degree. Career-driven culinary schools usually offer diploma, Associates and Bachelors, but are not prepared to educate professionals beyond cooking and culinary skills and only the most basic management levels.

Be prepared to consider programs offered on-campus in traditional settings, as well as those offered in online programs.

Online Masters Degrees in Culinary Arts and Restaurant/Hotel Management

Most Masters degrees are less skills-oriented and much more theory and academics driven. By the time you reach a Masters degree in a culinary arts college you should already have the necessary industry skills – baking and pastry, general cooking and culinary arts – even business skills if that is your ilk. But Masters degrees are about pulling together the sometime disparate elements and providing direction, short-term and long-term planning and development, financial and growth strategies.

In the food service industry a student in a Masters degree program might learn some or all of the following:

• Nutrition and Food science
• Human Resource Management in a Hospitality Setting
• Cost Control in Hospitality Settings
• Quality Improvement

Jobs for Masters Degreed Culinary Pros

In most locations nationally and internationally the hospitality and restaurant industries continue to grow. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics grads with degrees will be promoted far more quickly than those without and jobs in larger resorts and hotels are solid career bets. Hedge your bets, too, by considering jobs at convention-driven resorts or those that cater to high-dollar patrons, or those relatively unswayed by economic yo-yoing. Restaurant management is always solid—food never goes out of style.

Shop for schools that provide career placement assistance. Do you have the opportunity to engage in paid or unpaid internships or externships? A school’s industry connections, both far and wide, can make the difference when it comes time to recommend grads for entry- and mid-level restaurant management jobs.