By Debra Ragland

Hospitality industry serves career
options the way you like them

Arguably, the strongest factor feeding industry growth is the voracious appetite of today’s consumer for prepared meals that can be obtained however and whenever the consumer chooses.

An increase in the number of families and the more affluent , 55-andolder population has led to a growing number of restaurants offering more varied menus – requiring a higher skill level for cooks and chefs, according to findings reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employment of short-order and specialty quick-serve cooks is expected to increase in response to growth of the 16-24 year-old population, and the continuing fast-paced lifestyle of many Americans who are just too busy and don’t want to cook.

Not only is the consumer appetite growing for more tasty sit-down meals at eating establishments, but the consumer need for gourmet-to-go meals has also "steaked" a claim to services offered by restaurants.

Rob Gifford, executive director of the Michigan Restaurant Association (MRA), agrees: "Gourmet-to-go will be the way to go well into the foreseeable future. People have been demanding a broader range of carryout items beyond pizza and Chinese."

People are also eating out more. The National Restaurant Association reported that people in the United States eat out an average of four times a week at the more than 844,000 restaurants in this country. Almost 50 billion meals are eaten in restaurants, and school and work cafeterias each year.

The food service industry is growing so fast that there aren’t enough graduates to fill positions and satisfy area employment needs for qualified employees. MRA’s Gifford predicts that an additional 70,000 jobs will be created in the hospitality industry by 2010.

"There is a tremendous demand for trained and motivated hospitality employees," Gifford says. "And contrary to popular perception, there is a career track in our industry – one that pays good wages anywhere from $15 an hour for a sous chef (assistant chef) position, to $30 an hour for a restaurant general manager.

Careers in the hospitality industry extend beyond those available in restaurants. Lodging, for example, is an integral component of the hospitality industry. If you like marketing, you can work in the sales department. If you like financials, you can work in accounting. If you work with your hands, you can work in a physical plant – all within a lodging property.

And keep in mind that the right skills can land you a job practically anywhere in the world you’d like to go. International growth is a big area right now, industry experts point out. If you learn to run a lodging property or cook well, you can find a job anywhere.

Salaries for hospitality industry workers vary, depending on the employer and the geographic location. A student with an associate degree in hospitality would typically move into an entry-level, or maybe mid-level, management position. For an executive chef position at a typical southeast Michigan restaurant, starting salary could probably range from $35,000 to $40,000. Sous chefs and pastry chefs would start out more in the $25,000-30,000 range, as would food service, banquet and catering managers.

Oakland Community College offers several highly acclaimed associate degree programs in culinary arts, restaurant management and hotel management. The college also offers a certificate program in baking and pastry arts. And OCC programs teach students not only the cooking or baking skills they need; they also learn the business, management, human resource, marketing and financial skills required to succeed and advance in the hospitality industry.

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