Beverage Management

The Food and Beverage Management Industry is the emerging service industry. It promises to offer individuals with specialized training a great and promising career. The food and beverage management program prepares graduates to enter a restaurant, club or food service management as a trainee or assistant manager. Individuals who are considering this field should enjoy a very active environment and a lot of contact with people.

Today many culinary schools in the United States are offering specialized programs in wine and beverages management. Restaurant/food and beverage management is a great career choice for individuals with some food service experience – from burger flippers to hosts and waiters – who want to move into the upper levels of a lucrative and flexible industry. The basic demands of the job are leadership potential, solid food service experience, and the ability to keep cool under pressure when dealing with customers and employees. It’s unique among management career paths for putting a greater value on work experience than formal education. The key feature that makes this program unique and different from others is it is designed and supported by leading wine and beverage experts from some of the industry's finest restaurants and hotels. Best of all, this program is it provides a platform where you can expand your knowledge:

• Viticulture and Viniculture
• Tasting techniques
• Management of beverages for special menus

Restaurant or Hotel Beverage Manager: This is another specialized field that combines the creativity of the kitchen along with the business of running wine and beverage operations. Now, working as a restaurant or hotel beverage manager, your skills may go beyond managing day-to-day beverage operations. A good wine & beverage manager is a good leader and manager of diverse staff, and so your day-to-day work responsibilities may include:

• Recruiting and providing training to staff
• Monitoring the staff performance and further provide the feedback
• Monitoring revenues and expenses
• Negotiating supplier arrangements for wine and beverage products

Casino Wine and Beverage Manager: No other job prospects have gained as popularity in the past ten years as the casino line jobs. Performing the role of casino wine and beverage manager, your responsibilities may revolve around managing different activities of the beverage function. Besides this, at times you may even require to identify or evaluate strategies in order to increase your revenue and guest satisfaction with the department's services

Cruise Line Beverage Manager or Director: Playing the role of a cruise line beverage manager, your responsibilities may generally include:

• Directing, supervising and evaluating the performance of all direct reports.
• Watching the overall operation of all wine and beverage outlets and the galley area.
• Managing the general wine, spirit and beverage budget by reviewing financial transactions and monitoring the budget to ensure an efficient operation.
• Administer the wine and beverage inventory and further ensure that the appropriate inventory controls are in proper place while managing carrying costs effectively.

Adding to this, working as a cruise line beverage manager you would be answerable for all of the Beverage Department's financial matters. MARKET KNOWLEDGE -- Businesses don't operate in a vacuum. A good manager knows his or her market, knows the competition and what they are doing, and responds accordingly.

Being able to manage a bar effectively is not a skill you're born with, or even an ability garnered working as a bartender. Hands-on bartending experience is certainly beneficial, but it teaches you next to nothing about being an effective manager.