Food and Beverage Manager - Research Paper Example

?Step The purpose of the report is to assess how feasible a career as a food and beverage manager would be for me. Step 2: I am a business graduate and have studied a lot of management courses during my undergraduate studies. I have the required raw knowledge for this career. More-over, I have interned before at a couple of food companies. I also have a diploma in food management. Step 3: What kind of work will I have to do as a food manager? What kind of experience will I need? What are my growth prospects in this field? What will be monetary benefits? What will the work environment be like? Step 4: Most of the information that I gathered, it was from the Occupational Outlook Hand book on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website. The website had comprehensive information on everything related to a career as a food and beverage manager. I also got some information from an article “FOOD Managers” from a website JOB Futures (www.jobfutures.org). I found this website through the school’s library portal. I only used the part pertaining to the food industry from this article. JOB Futures. “Food Managers”. 24 Sept 2011..< http://mb.jobfutures.org/profiles/profile.cfm?site=graphic&lang=en&noc=0631>. Step 5: What kind of work will I have to do as a food manager? According to the BLS website, I will be asked to plan, co-ordinate and organize activities related to the food company/ food chain I am managing. I will also be expected to strike deals with the suppliers and arrange for raw materials. What kind of experience will I need? For most companies, experience is not a major prerequisite. They expect you to have basic business knowledge and a management background. Trainees are hired who are trained and later on promoted to the post of managers. What are my growth prospects in this field? As per BLS website, the field is growing but is heavily dependent on economic conditions and tourism. It is expected to grow further during 2011-2015. What will be monetary benefits? The starting salary of this field is 26,000 dollars on average. As you get promoted the salary keeps increasing. It can even hike up to 60,000 dollars as reported by the BLS website. Bonuses and other benefits are also offered, transport inclusive. What will the work environment be like? Work environment will vary depending on the kind of company I opt for. In FMCGs it is desk-job while in food chains there is a lot of travelling involved. It completely varies depending on the industry I opt for as a food manager. I feel am better suited for food chains as I cannot associate myself with sitting at a place. Step 6: Feasibility Report: Introduction: I am currently enrolled in a college where I am pursuing my undergraduate studies in management. I plan on pursuing my career as a food and beverage manager. I want to pursue this field because it’s my passion and I have some prior experience. I feel it would be a very convenient full time career for me. I did a lot of research and finally zeroed down this field. I looked into various aspects of this field, what prospects it holds for me and if it would be good for me or not in my research. I have explored this field comprehensively and will be discussing it in my feasibility report. Proposed action: My decision to opt for a career as a food and beverage manager is a gradual transition towards a more specialized field in management. I have already had prior experience and I feel that given my education background and expertise it is time, to narrow down and focus on one particular area which is Food and Beverage Manger. Criteria: This report will examine my decision of disembarking into this career on the following lines: 1. Educational requirements. 2. Experience and expertise needed 3. Job availability 4. Work environment 5. Salary prospects 6. Growth prospects Sources: For my report I made use of 2 sources. One of them was the bureau of labor statistics website which is www.bls.gov. The second source that I used was an article “FOOD Managers” from a website JOB Futures (www.jobfutures.org). I found this website through the school’s library portal. Conclusions: My research from various websites and the U.S Labor of Statistics site unveiled a lot of interesting facts. Based on what I found out, I have come to the following conclusions. Food and Beverage managers are typically asked to plan, organize, control and direct the operations that take place in food and beverage establishments or they are self-employed. This is one field where experience matters more than knowledge itself. This is why most food and beverage managers only need an undergraduate degree to start off in this feel. My college degree in business and management would suffice for this and should qualify me where this requirement is concerned. More-over I also have a diploma in food management which should give an additional edge. Initially, under grad students are hired as trainees in this field and work under a manager for 2 years after which they are promoted. Meanwhile they are also given the opportunity to study and take specialized degrees via hospitality and food-management programs. Where job prospects and the scope of this field is concerned, it should come as no surprise to one that the field continues to grow at an average rate. The website indicated that this industry is expected to witness an employment rise in the period 2011-2015. On the whole the occupation is very vulnerable to economic conditions which directly impact spending and travel. Tourism is another important factor. There are options to work in FMCGS, for restaurants, for bars, and cafes. Given my prior experience, I think should apply more for management positions in restaurants and cafes. I don’t have any working experience in FMCGs so I shouldn’t go for it. Most of the jobs are available in the food and accommodation sector (93%) according to the BLS website. (Bureau) Work conditions for a food and beverage manager are stagnant. In most cases, they are required to work in an office space. However frequent visits to the stores and restaurants are a part of the deal. They cannot be evaded in this career unless one works for an FMCG where it is mostly a desk job and you have to frequently conduct meetings. I am cool with the working environment because I am not too fond of crowded places. I like to have my own peace, my introspecting time and be on my own. However, the working hours in this field will be long. Most food service managers are expected to work 12-15 hours a day and 50 per week. In bars, it is 7 days a week because bars do most of their business during weekends. I do crave for breaks and want my weekends free at least alternately so I have concluded that bars won’t be a good choice for me. I should stick to cafes and restaurants. Also, I love travelling. If it’s a widely spread out food chain, then that would have be substituted with a lot of travelling which again tells me that food chains are the best career choice for me. Food and Beverage managers have a very daunting task at their hands. They are expected to check out food needs, deal with distributors, place orders and schedule delivery of food. They also chalk down the daily activities associated with the food chain they are managing. Other than this they are expected to keep track of equipment and co-ordinate with the concerned people if repairs are needed. They also have a quality assurance team under them with whom they inspect quality of food in most cases. Finally earnings are a very important determinant of anyone’s career. The starting annual salary of this field is $26,000. After a year or so, it is hiked up to 33,000 dollars and can even go beyond 56,000 dollars based on results and performance over the course of these years. There are other perks that come with this job as well. Most food managers are given free meals and free training. They are also given bonuses every year based on the sales that they generate during the period of evaluation. All in all this is a very lucrative career. (Bureau) Final recommendations: Based on my research findings and my own experience, I feel that I should pursue my career as a food manager with a restaurant chain. I don’t think I am well equipped to deal with a career in a bar chain or in an FMCG. I feel that I am better suited for chains. I should be mentally prepared for long working hours but I should expect promising returns, far more promising returns. References: JOB Futures. “Food Managers”. 24 Sept 2011..< http://mb.jobfutures.org/profiles/profile.cfm?site=graphic&lang=en&noc=0631>. U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook. 2004–05 Edition. 24 September 2011. . Read More