What are the activities of a catering operations manager?

A catering operations manager manages a small to medium-sized catering business. This includes analyzing the market situation and integrating the findings into the portfolio. Guest care, process organization and offer and sales pricing are important. Catering operations managers are able to lead a team and manage the finances of the business. In this role as a manager or managing director of a restaurant, you must be familiar with business management, be able to take responsibility and reflect on your own activities.

The following activities are common in restaurant manager jobs:

• Operational management as a catering manager:
  • Planning of drinks and menu offers
  • Incorporating current nutritional trends into the range
  • Evaluate and continuously adapt offer where necessary
  • Organize and control the entire operational process
  • Goods purchasing and warehousing
  • Providing the products
  • Dealing with feedback from guests
  • Check quality and hygiene standards
  • Implementing legal regulations

• Business management tasks in restaurant manager jobs:
  • Design advertising and communication measures
  • Calculate sales prices
  • Keeping accounts
  • Payroll and social security accounting
  • Correspondence with authorities, suppliers and business partners
  • Monitor productivity
  • Monitor restaurant scene trends
  • Regularly adapt and further develop the operating concept

• Employee management as a catering manager in a restaurant or hotel:
  • Personnel management
  • Promotion of employee development

Target group and skills: Who is the catering manager training course with professional examination suitable for? What qualities and skills are required?

The catering manager training course with subsequent professional examination is aimed at:

• Managers in the catering industry
• Operations managers from system and brand catering
• Managers from the small and medium-sized hotel industry
• Operations manager from the bar and club scene
• Business managers from the event scene and individual gastronomy

The following skills and characteristics are required for a successful job as a catering operations manager:

• Leadership qualities
• Interest in gastronomy and the hotel industry
• Communication skills, customer orientation
• Organizational talent
• Load capacity
• Foreign language skills
• Commercial skills, sense for numbers
• Willingness to work irregular hours
• Decision-making ability, solution orientation
• Flexibility, creativity

Prerequisites for admission to the professional examination for restaurant managers:

The following prerequisites are required for admission to the final examination "Federal Professional Examination for Catering Operations Managers" at the start of the examination:

• a federal certificate of proficiency (EFZ), a qualification at upper secondary level or an equivalent certificate or qualification and
• at least 2 years of professional experience in a managerial position in the hospitality industry

and

• the required module qualifications or certificates of equivalence

The following module qualifications must be demonstrated for admission to the examination and award of the federal certificate as a catering manager:

• Basic modules
  • Hospitality law module
  • Operations management module
  • Accounting module
  • Law module
  • Service/Sales module
  • Kitchen module
• Knowledge building
  • Personality
    • Learning and working techniques
    • Presentation technology
    • Creativity and innovation
    • Business etiquette
  • Guidance
    • Occupational psychology
    • Leadership and communication
    • Intercultural communication
    • Employee concept
  • Company organization
    • Structural and process organization
    • Quality management
    • Environmental management
  • Marketing
    • Trends
    • Marketing concept
    • Marketing mix
  • Finances
    • Financial accounting
    • Cost accounting
    • Budgeting
  • Administration and law
    • Labor law / L-GAV
    • Payroll
    • Personnel administration
    • Correspondence
    • Laws and regulations
• Compulsory elective modules for catering managers
  • In addition, one of the following module qualifications must be available:
    • Gastronomy module, or
    • Accommodation module, or
    • System catering module

The individual modules are completed as compulsory modules or elective modules in the preparatory courses for the professional examination. The module certificates for the basic modules are valid for 7 years, the module certificates for the advanced and compulsory elective modules are valid for 4 years. You will be informed in writing at least three months before the start of the examination whether you meet the requirements for the professional examination for restaurant managers - in the event of rejection, including reasons and information on legal remedies.

Subject matter and content of the catering management training course:

The subject matter of the preparatory courses for the professional examination for the professional certificate as a restaurant manager is based on the specifications of the sponsor of the federal examination, the Swiss Hotel and Restaurant Association (GastroSuisse).

The learning content of the further training to become a restaurant manager is divided into the following topics and areas of competence:

• Basic knowledge
  • Hygiene/hospitality law
  • Operational management
  • Accounting
  • Law
  • Service/Sales
  • Kitchen
• Knowledge building
  • Personality
    • Learning and working techniques
    • Presentation technology
    • Creativity and innovation
    • Business etiquette
  • Guidance
    • Occupational psychology
    • Leadership and communication
    • Intercultural communication
    • Employee concept
  • Company organization
    • Structural and process organization
    • Quality management
    • Environmental management
  • Marketing
    • Trends
    • Web marketing
    • Marketing concept
    • Marketing mix
  • Finances
    • Financial accounting
    • Cost accounting
    • Budgeting
  • Administration and law
    • Labor law / L-GAV
    • Payroll
    • Personnel administration
    • Correspondence (written communication)
    • Laws and regulations (company law, debt enforcement and bankruptcy law)
• Optional knowledge as a catering manager (one of four compulsory, several optional)
  • Gastronomy
    • Culinary / food expertise
    • Foodmoduling
    • Production planning
    • Sales / Events
    • F&B Management and Controlling
  • System catering
    • Basics of the system
    • Systemics, process management
    • Man in the system
    • Systemic leadership
    • Comparison of concepts
  • Hotel industry
    • Front Office
    • Distribution, cooperation
    • Hotel marketing
    • Hotel business
    • Housekeeping
    • Hotel controlling, yield management
  • Event management
    • Event concept
    • Sponsoring
    • Experience staging
    • Event marketing
    • Event management
    • Practical planning
    • Legal basis
    • Safety-relevant aspects

Operations Manager Gastro course - costs and financing:

Depending on the provider and duration, the costs for the catering manager training vary. On average, the following amounts are to be expected for the training costs:

• Course fees:about CHF 5'900.- to CHF 7'930.-
  After taking the exam, you will receive around 50% of this back from the federal government on application (regardless of the result).* Participants from companies that are subject to the L-GAV receive subsidies for training costs (training offensive and support for professional exams) and compensation for loss of working hours for seminar and exam days. Be sure to check these generous financial benefits in detail.
• Examination fees:CHF 1,200 (as of 2023 incl. module examinations)
  The examination fee is set by the body responsible for the professional examination. It shall be paid by the candidate after confirmation of admission to the examination for training as a catering manager.
• Extra costs:At some schools, the costs for enrolment fees, teaching materials, training documents, books, intensive exam training, simulation exams, school diplomas and interim qualifications, for example, are not included in the course fees. Please contact the provider of your choice directly to find out what additional costs you can expect for the course.

*Since 1.1.2018, preparatory courses for federal professional examinations such as the Gastronomy Operations Manager training course have been financially supported by the federal government. Graduates of these courses can therefore be reimbursed up to 50% (max. CHF 9,500) of the course costs paid after taking the federal examination. In cases of hardship, the federal contributions are also pre-financed in exceptional cases.

Duration of study, teaching times and learning effort for the continuing education in catering management:

• The training and further training in catering management is modular in structure (i.e. some of the skills are assessed in module examinations prior to the professional examination and are only tested across modules in the final examination) and lasts one year. The training for the professional examination in catering management comprises around 32 teaching days.
• The teaching times vary depending on the provider of the further training course for restaurant managers. Classroom teaching takes place in compact blocks of 1 to 3 days and an additional 100 hours of self-study and reflection.
• Thanks to the extra-occupational concept of the catering manager training course, you can apply and consolidate the learning material in practice straight away. Nevertheless, you should allow sufficient time for lesson preparation and follow-up as well as for self-study. Depending on your previous knowledge, working style and learning speed, we recommend that you allow the same amount of time for the additional workload as the regular course duration.

Note: Some schools offer so-called "taster lessons", which provide an insight into the lessons and the learning atmosphere. A suitable learning environment is important on the way to successful completion of the further training in catering management.

Degree, diploma and title:

The professional examination "Gastronomy Business Manager with Federal Certificate of Competence" takes place annually, provided that the minimum number of 12 candidates in German, 4 candidates in French and 2 candidates in Italian meet the admission requirements, otherwise every two years.

Candidates for the professional examination for restaurant managers will be notified at least four weeks before the start of the examination. The invitation includes the examination program (with details of the place and time of the examination as well as permitted aids) and the list of experts.

The professional examination for restaurant managers comprises the following four parts:

1. Case study (written, 180 minutes, 4-fold weighting)
   • The aim of this part of the examination is to understand a written practical situation, taking into account the skills acquired in the modules, to derive the resulting action strategies and to answer questions.
   • Professional skills include the ability to organize, structure and adapt to a new situation.
2. Technical discussions (oral, 30 minutes, double weighting)
   • Based on a specific professional situation from practice, a technical discussion is held in accordance with the skills acquired in the modules. In particular, the ability to analyze and solve problems is tested. Candidates present alternative courses of action, justify their approach and answer questions.
   • Professional competencies include the ability to solve problems and link content, the ability to justify and argue, creativity and independence.
3. Learning reflection dossier (written, created during preparation, single weighting)
   • The learning reflection is developed independently during the training period using the documents provided by the QA Commission. The workload is approx. 100 hours.
   • The learning reflection dossier promotes a dialog between the knowledge taught and its concrete application in professional practice throughout the entire training period. The dossier encourages candidates to question their practical work in the workplace, identify improvements and review the implementation of what they have learned. The learning reflection dossier is kept individually and personally and must be submitted to the QA Commission at least 6 weeks before the final examination.
   • The presentation, quantity and quality are assessed according to defined criteria (see guidelines for the learning reflection concept).
4. Examination discussion on the learning reflection (oral, 20 minutes, single weighting)
   • The discussion on learning reflection relates to the area of tension between training and professional practice. The experts start from the contents of the learning reflection dossier. The candidates demonstrate and reflect on their approach during the training period and the examination, their ability to learn, adapt and implement what they have learned and assess their own performance.
   • Self-assessment, reasoning, learning, adaptation and thinking skills are assessed as part of the professional competencies.
      

Diploma and title

Graduates of the professional examination receive a federal certificate and are entitled to use the federally recognized and protected title "Gastronomy Business Manager with Federal Certificate" or "Gastronomy Business Manager with Federal Certificate".

• In French: "Chef d'établissement de l'hôtellerie et de la restauration avec brevet fédéral", "Cheffe d'établissement de l'hôtellerie et de la restauration avec brevet fédéral"
• In Italian: "Esercente albergatore con attestato professionale federale", "Esercente albergatrice con attestato professionale federale"
• In English: "Restaurant and Hotel Manager, Federal Diploma of Professional Education" (Attention: This is only a recommendation/translation and not a protected title)