Outstanding customer service is the core of any good restaurant, as quality service can ensure the customer will return to the restaurant. Employees spend the majority of their time on the job trying to meet their customers’ every need. Restaurant employees must be able to relate well with the public and handle the stress and pace of juggling many tasks at once.

Although many experienced food and beverage preparation and service workers are promoted to fill managerial jobs, applicants with a bachelor’s or associate degree in restaurant and institutional food service management should have the best job opportunities. Most new jobs will arise in eating and drinking places as the number of establishments increases along with the population, personal incomes, and leisure time. As more restaurant managers are employed by larger companies to run establishments, job opportunities should be better for salaried managers than for self-employed managers.
(Source: U.S. Department of Labor)

Rules no bueno for Mexican favorites
New beef rules formulated because of the mad cow disease scare mean Mexican restaurants can no longer serve such traditional dishes as tripas.

Bad service gets readers writing
Last week’s column on poor restaurant service hit a nerve with a number of readers.

Local chef vies for state ‘title’
Florida’s official soup could come from the kitchen of a tiny restaurant on Pine Street.

1. Go to the career section. Then, explore one or more of the web links related to this job. Make copies of web pages you find interesting and organize them into a reference file or notebook to share with others.

2. Search recent copies of The Daytona Beach News-Journal for evidence of this occupaion. Clip examples from display ads, classified ads, news articles, features, editorials, and the comics.

3. From the pages of The News-Journal, identify people and organizations that can be contacted for more information about this occupation. Investigate one or more and organize your findings into a scrapbook to share with your class. Please feel free to add useful ones to the Resource List for this occupation in the Job Center.

4. Clip words from The Daytona Beach News-Journal that describe, or are used in, this occupation. Define each and then, using Puzzlemaker, create a crossword puzzle to challenge friends or classmates.

5. Visit NewsVoyages.com and search for information about this job in online papers from other parts of the U.S. Print out pages that you find interesting and share them with your class or family.

Food(s) for Thought: Animal? Vegetable? Mineral?
Human beings are omnivorous. What appears weird or exotic to some of us may be an important part of another’s culture. In general, our diets are strongly influenced by our cultural backgrounds. For that and other reasons, it’s important to be tolerant of others’ diets.

Weighing In: Does American Culture Encourage Eating Disorders?
How much responsibility do you think popular culture and the media carry in this controversy? What other influences might contribute to poor self-esteem?

National Restaurant Association
Looking for a great job or successful career? Search our job bank, and find scholarships and training opportunities in the restaurant and hospitality industry.
http://www.restaurant.org/careers/

Food Service Managers
The daily responsibilities of many food service managers can often be as complicated as some of the meals prepared by a fine chef. In addition to the traditional duties of selecting and pricing menu items, using food and other supplies efficiently, and achieving quality in food preparation and service, managers now are responsible for a growing number of administrative and human resource tasks. For example, managers must carefully find and evaluate new ways of recruiting employees in a tight job market. Once hired, managers also must find creative ways to retain experienced workers.
http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos024.htm

National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation
The NRAEF is the premier provider of educational resources, materials, and programs which address attracting, developing and retaining the industry’s workforce.
http://www.nraef.org/

The Florida Restaurant Association
The Florida Restaurant Association represents the restaurant industry, provides food service training and certification.
http://www.flra.com/educationprograms.cfm

Discovery School’s Puzzlemaker
Puzzlemaker is a puzzle generation tool for teachers, students and parents. Create and print customized word search, crossword and math puzzles using your word lists. (www.puzzlemaker.com)

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