The Associate Degree in Restaurant and Food Service Management provides the education, experience and skills needed to begin a successful management career in the hospitality industry. Graduates are well prepared to enter as a supervisor or management candidate in restaurants, hotel food and beverage departments or commercial/contract food service operations including positions such as kitchen managers, dining room managers, banquet managers, purchasing agents, and restaurant/food service managers. Coursework includes an emphasis on management and supervision, menu planning, purchasing, cost control, marketing, entrepreneurship, beverage management, and human resources training. The curriculum also includes skill training, business and management techniques, critical thinking, decision-making, customer service, communication and cultural awareness skills.  In addition to classroom instruction, students get hands-on restaurant management experience in both the kitchen and dining rooms of our student-run restaurant as well as practical industry experience.

Program contact: Learn more

This degree program contains one or more embedded certificates which will be automatically awarded when the certificate requirements are completed. If you do not want to receive the embedded certificate(s), please notify the Office of the Registrar at RegistrarOffice@tri-c.edu.

Learn more about how certificate credits apply to the related degree.

Related Degrees and Certificates

Program Learning Outcomes

This program is designed to prepare students to demonstrate the following learning outcomes:

  1. Obtain an entry-level skill position in the food service industry.
  2. Apply proper sanitation principles to meet industry standards and government regulations, and successfully complete ServSafe Certification Exam.
  3. Utilize the principles of purchasing and inventory control.
  4. Apply standard HR principles in regards to recruiting, retaining, and developing staff.
  5. Demonstrate an understanding of basic culinary competencies.
  6. Utilize time management and decision-making skills and display effective customer service, teamwork and communication in a day-to-day restaurant/foodservice establishment. 
  7. Achieve appropriate management goals in a restaurant/foodservice operation.
  8. Demonstrate understanding of the principles of safe and responsible alcohol service and successfully complete ServSafe Alcohol certification exam.
  9. Demonstrate principles of the production and service of standard alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages for a restaurant/foodservice beverage program. 
  10. Develop an original restaurant/foodservice concept including facilities design, menu development, business plan and pro forma income statements.
  11. Apply standard principles of restaurant/foodservice marketing.

Suggested Semester Sequence

Plan of Study Grid
First SemesterCredit Hours
HOSP-1010 Introduction to the Hospitality Industry 2
HOSP-1020 Sanitation and Safety 2
HOSP-1031 Fundamentals of Culinary Arts 3
HOSP-1040 Customer Service 2
HOSP-1360 Fundamentals of Restaurant/Food Service Management 3
HOSP-1552 Introduction to Baking & Pastries 3
 Credit Hours15
Second Semester
HOSP-1451 Contemporary Cuisine 4
HOSP-1680 Beverage Management 2
HOSP-2400 Hospitality Management and Supervision 3
Select one of the following: 3
College Composition I
Honors College Composition I
Select one of the following: 3
Computer Applications
Honors Computer Applications
 Credit Hours15
Summer Session
HOSP-1950 Restaurant/Food Service Management Field Experience 1
MATH-1240 Contemporary Mathematics (or higher) 3
 Credit Hours4
Third Semester
ACCT-1311 Financial Accounting 3
HOSP-1650 Dining Room Operations 2
HOSP-2350 Restaurant Operations 3
HOSP-2700 Hospitality Purchasing 2
Arts and Humanities Requirements 3
Select one of the following: 3
College Composition II
Honors College Composition II
 Credit Hours16
Fourth Semester
HOSP-2371 Restaurant/Foodservice Entrepreneurship 2
HOSP-2500 Hospitality Cost Control 3
HOSP-2360 Restaurant Marketing 2
HOSP-2871 Food and Beverage Management Experience 2
Social and Behavioral OR Natural and Physical Science Requirement 3
 Credit Hours12
 Total Credit Hours62

MATH-1140, MATH-1141, MATH-1200, MATH-1270, and MATH-1280 can no longer count towards fulfilling the college-level mathematics requirement.  These courses were re-classified as developmental mathematics by the state of Ohio in 2016.  Tri-C established a 5-year transitioning window for students who had completed these courses prior to 2016 to apply them towards meeting graduation requirements, which expired in Summer 2021. It is highly recommended to see a counselor to determine the appropriate math required for your current major.