If you want to become a restaurant manager, you will need to have hospitality and cooking skills. Look for schools that offer training in both of these areas. The program should also prepare you to perform administrative functions such as accounts payable, payroll accounting, and scheduling. Check to see whether human resources classes are also part of the curriculum. If you know people who are already working in this field, you might want to ask them where they received their education and what their experience with their school was.
Visit as many restaurant management schools as you can in person. Tour the campus to see what the classrooms are like. Find out if they have kitchens on site where you will learn to prepare large meals. If so, check out the equipment and size of the facility to make sure it is similar to the kitchen in an actual restaurant.
Find out how much of your time will be spent in a classroom setting versus performing hands-on training. Restaurant management schools should offer ample time for you to work with kitchen equipment and perform food preparation. You should ideally spend at least a quarter to a third of your time doing actual restaurant work so you can get an idea of how long it takes to perform certain tasks.
While you are talking to various restaurant management schools, find out if any of them cater special events. If so, this can give you good practical experience in preparing special foods, presentation skills, and hospitality. This experience could be especially useful if you would like to manage a catering service or hotel restaurant.
Talk to some of the instructors at the restaurant management schools you are considering. Find out what real-life experience they have and what they consider important things to learn. If you would like to learn to prepare certain types of cuisine, find out if they also give private lessons.
Recent graduates of hotel management schools can be a good source of information. Talk to people you know who are already well established in a hospitality career. If possible, find a worker who is managing the type of restaurant you would like to be in charge of after graduation. Ask about the training he received and how it helped him in the position he currently has.
The cost of one school may be significantly higher than another. Find out what your payment options are and whether the college has scholarship opportunities or offers financial aid. After you complete your course of study, you will be on your way to a promising career in the hospitality industry.
