Hospitality Fast Facts

Chefs, cooks and other food service professionals were working in more than 3.3 million jobs in 1998, with employment projected to increase 10 to 20 percent over the next seven years. 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. An increase in the number of families and the more affluent , 55-and-older 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.

OCC’s Hospitality Management students experience all aspects of food service management and restaurant operation.

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 in services offered by restaurants. Careers in the hospitality industry extend beyond those available in restaurants. Lodging, for example, is an integral component of the hospitality field. 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.

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