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What should I know about the business related majors and hospitality?
I'm a junior in highschool and I'm trying to find out my interest and I initially thought of culinary but I do want to explore further into potential careers I may enjoy. I would like to learn more about the foods & service industry and about jobs related to business like accounting or finance.
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Dylan’s Answer
The great thing about a business degree is its flexibility and upside potential.
You can be in both business and culinary!
Successful restaurants need staff and chefs, but they also need people who can run the business "behind the scenes." Successful restaurant chains can generate many millions in sales and it can take a team of well paid people to administer daily operations.
One thing I would recommend is to take advantage of job opportunities at your college. They want to hire students and will work with your class schedule. In your case, you can get experience at a college-run dining hall, cafe, etc. They often will have students in management positions after a couple semesters of experience. You can graduate with a good mix of industry specific skills and general business knowledge to operate in that industry. If it turns out another industry catches your attention instead of culinary down the line, you are still in a great position to pivot with that degree (or switch majors)
There many other work opportunities at most schools. Take advantage of working many types of jobs to understand different industries and give your degree some context.
For context - Iwork for an international restaurant holdings company and get to be involved in culinary experimenting for about 25% of my daily work, the rest is more technical business school skills (data analysis in snowflake, franchisee relationship management, collaborating with marketing and engineering functions). I worked in several restaurant environments to build industry knowledge, but most of the hard skills I use come from classroom settings.
Check student work opportunities
Try a few different jobs
You can be in both business and culinary!
Successful restaurants need staff and chefs, but they also need people who can run the business "behind the scenes." Successful restaurant chains can generate many millions in sales and it can take a team of well paid people to administer daily operations.
One thing I would recommend is to take advantage of job opportunities at your college. They want to hire students and will work with your class schedule. In your case, you can get experience at a college-run dining hall, cafe, etc. They often will have students in management positions after a couple semesters of experience. You can graduate with a good mix of industry specific skills and general business knowledge to operate in that industry. If it turns out another industry catches your attention instead of culinary down the line, you are still in a great position to pivot with that degree (or switch majors)
There many other work opportunities at most schools. Take advantage of working many types of jobs to understand different industries and give your degree some context.
For context - Iwork for an international restaurant holdings company and get to be involved in culinary experimenting for about 25% of my daily work, the rest is more technical business school skills (data analysis in snowflake, franchisee relationship management, collaborating with marketing and engineering functions). I worked in several restaurant environments to build industry knowledge, but most of the hard skills I use come from classroom settings.
Dylan recommends the following next steps:
I will use this advice as I prepare for my career.
Justin
Updated
Alejandra’s Answer
The reality is that you don't need to do just one thing with your life, the blessing of youth and livings is that you can always change trajectory if the initial plan doesn't pan out. When I was a wee gal I though about being a Doctor, later I thought about arts, at some point I considered psychology and ended up in Marketing with a Master in Finance.
Point being, Business is a wide area of study with several different applications, hospitality is basically a form of Customer Service which is part of Business. What I'm trying to say is, you can focus on one and keep the other as part of the personal interests and then use that to continue developing your career and choosing your personal path to sucess!
Point being, Business is a wide area of study with several different applications, hospitality is basically a form of Customer Service which is part of Business. What I'm trying to say is, you can focus on one and keep the other as part of the personal interests and then use that to continue developing your career and choosing your personal path to sucess!
Updated
NATALE’s Answer
Great ideas on finding out more about the industry. I suggest being a food server or working in food service so you know how the back of the house runs and what expectations are of employees and food safety. Getting into health inspection or sanitation is a very interesting part and gives you certifications that can benefit you in the future roles. Look for companies that pay for school so you are not using your own credit to pay for classes.