With the Canadian Tourism Human Resource Council anticipating growth in the food and beverage services sector to employ 1.95-million people by 2015 and 68 per cent of employees within this sector to be young Canadians, it becomes clear that now is a great time to attend a post-secondary Hospitality Management program.
The undertaking offered at Centennial College and officially known as Hospitality Management – Restaurant and Catering prepares students, in two years, for a challenging and satisfying career in restaurant operations management. Applicants to this Hospitality Management program must possess at minimum an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent, or have mature student status (19 years or older). In addition, they must have finished the English Grade 12 C or U or equivalent, or skills assessment.
The industry preparation in the Hospitality Management program begins with learning essentials such as menu management and design, kitchen management, beverage knowledge, bartending, quantity food preparation, theory of food, supervisory practices for the kitchen manager, cuisines of diverse cultures, marketing strategies and more. This is achieved through lectures and labs at Centennial College’s Progress Campus, which houses facilities such as a hospitality management centre and an operating restaurant called Horizons.
The hands-on practice prepares Hospitality Management program students for two field placements that serve to offer real-world experience prior to graduation. The first of these on-the-job experiences enables learners to better understand the dynamics of the kitchen manager position, increase their knowledge of industry practices and provides a competitive advantage of experience in the job market. Meanwhile, the second Hospitality Management field placement offers students a continued learning experience, this time in the restaurant and catering manager positions. Among the Hospitality Management program’s industry partners are: Canyon Creek, Red Lobster, Milagro Cantina, Jack Astor’s, The Keg, Kelsey’s, Swiss Chalet and more.
The Hospitality Management program results in an Ontario College Diploma and Smart Serve program and the National Sanitation Training certificates. With these accreditations, Hospitality Management program grads may be responsible for tasks such as analyzing and planning restaurant sales levels and profitability; setting budgets and/or agreeing on them with senior management; menu management; managing staff and providing them with feedback; organizing and supervising the shifts of kitchen, waiting and cleaning staff; checking stock levels and ordering supplies; and more.
If, however, these grads should want to further their education, they may do so via the Hospitality Management program’s partnerships, which allow them to apply academic credit towards further study. These Hospitality Management program partnerships include: Athabasca University, International Hotel Management Institute (Switzerland), Vancouver Island University, University of New Brunswick and Royal Roads University (B.C.).
