Food Service & Dining Management

Types of Degrees Food Service & Dining Management Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many food service, waiter/waitress, & dining room management/manager graduations there were in 2021-2022 for each degree level.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Undergraduate Certificate	59
Basic Certificate	21
Associate Degree	2

What Food Service & Dining Management Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to food service, waiter/waitress, and dining room management/manager were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, and Dining Room Management/Manager Majors

Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, and Dining Room Management/Manager majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
• Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills for Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, and Dining Room Management/Manager Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to food service, waiter/waitress, and dining room management/manager:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

Abilities for Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, and Dining Room Management/Manager Majors

As a food service, waiter/waitress, and dining room management/manager major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

What Can You Do With a Food Service & Dining Management Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with food service, waiter/waitress, and dining room management/manager:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers	9.3%	$32,450

Who Is Getting an Associate’s Degree in Food Service & Dining Management?

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of food service, waiter/waitress, and dining room management/manager majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	0
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	0
White	2
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

How Much Do Food Service & Dining Management Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Food Service, Waiter/Waitress, and Dining Room Management/Manager majors often go into careers with median salaries of $36,190. This median refers to all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Food Service & Dining Management

Some degrees associated with food service, waiter/waitress, and dining room management/manager may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to food service, waiter/waitress, and dining room management/manager have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	38.3%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	44.7%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	9.9%
Some College Courses	2.1%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	7.5%

Online Food Service & Dining Management Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	8	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	4	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Food Service & Dining Management Worth It?

The median salary for a food service, waiter/waitress, and dining room management/manager grad is $36,190 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

Trades Related to Food Service & Dining Management

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to food service, waiter/waitress, and dining room management/manager.

Major	Number of Grads
Culinary Arts/Chef Training	10,546
Baking & Pastry Arts/Baker/Pastry Chef	5,029
General Cooking & Related Culinary Arts	3,303
Restaurant, Culinary, & Catering Management/Manager	1,394
Food Preparation/Professional Cooking/Kitchen Assistant	786
Other Culinary Arts & Related Services	335
Institutional Food Workers	204
Culinary Science/Culinology	203
Bartending/Bartender	157
Meat Cutting/Meat Cutter	28
Wine Steward/Sommelier	8

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By U.S. Army Europe Images under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.