MajorsMajor
Hospitality management: what you'd study and do
From public data · Every number cited
The short answer
Hospitality management is the study of running places that look after guests: restaurants, hotels, resorts, event spaces and travel businesses. Students learn business basics plus how these operations run day to day, from staffing and service to food safety and budgets. It leads to jobs like restaurant manager and hotel manager, though many people reach those jobs by working their way up instead.
Try the job first
These lessons let you do a real task from the work. Those marked “Asks if you liked it” let you say so afterwards, and your answers collect in one place.
- Who works at a restaurant14 minFreeAsks if you liked it
- You sell a $15 burger. How much do you keep?15 minFree
- How a Friday order gets to the table14 min(members-only)(included in your membership)Asks if you liked it
See what you've answered so far in Your major match.
What you'd study
Every college's program is a little different. These are the kinds of classes most of them have.
Business basics
Every college's program is different, but most include the same business classes: accounting, finance, marketing, management and business law, plus a statistics or math class.
The hospitality classes
Then come the classes about running the place: restaurant and hotel operations, food and drink service, food safety, managing a team, guest service, events, and running a franchise or one unit of a chain. The US government's description of the major lists operations in travel and tourism, hotels and lodging, food service and recreation, plus hospitality marketing, planning, finance, and the industry's rules.
Learning by doing
Many programs ask for work hours or an internship in a real restaurant or hotel, so you've worked a busy night before you graduate.
Jobs it leads to
Median pay means half the people in the job earn more and half earn less. Pay also changes with the place, the employer and experience.
Food service managers
A day at work
You run a restaurant or a food service day to day. You hire, train and schedule the team, order food and supplies, handle guests' complaints, keep the kitchen within the health rules, and watch the budget and payroll. At a full-service restaurant you might be the general manager over a dining room manager and a chef. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) expects about 38,800 openings a year
from 2025 to 2035. - Median pay
- $69,390
/year - Expected job growth
- 6%
The usual start
BLS lists a high school diploma plus some related work experience (less than five years); most managers start in jobs like cooking, serving or supervising a shift. BLS notes that many colleges offer a bachelor's degree in restaurant and hospitality management.
Numbers from bls.gov ·2025
Lodging managers
A day at work
You run a hotel, motel or resort so guests have a good stay and the place makes money. You inspect rooms and grounds, hire and train staff, set budgets and track what each night brings in. Hotels never close, so some managers are on call around the clock. BLS expects about 5,500 openings a year
. - Median pay
- $69,250
/year - Expected job growth
- 4%
The usual start
BLS lists a high school diploma plus some related work experience (less than five years). A degree in hospitality is one way in; work at a front desk or in a hotel's restaurant is another.
Numbers from bls.gov ·2025
Chefs and head cooks
A day at work
You run a kitchen. You plan the menu, create recipes and decide how each plate looks, order food, and lead and train the cooks. A sous chef runs the kitchen when the head chef is away. BLS expects about 25,200 openings a year
. - Median pay
- $62,470
/year - Expected job growth
- 7%
The usual start
BLS lists a high school diploma and 5 years
or more of related work experience, often as a line cook. Culinary programs and apprenticeships are common routes too; a hospitality major is one way into the business side of a kitchen. Numbers from bls.gov ·2025
How to read the growth numbers
BLS expects all US jobs together to grow 3.5%
The pay on each card is the median: half of the workers earn more and half earn less. Pay changes a lot by place, the size of the business and experience.
Pay isn't everything
This is a job of evenings, weekends and holidays: BLS says food service managers' schedules may include early mornings, nights, weekends and holidays, and some work more than a full-time week. Most chefs work full time, including late evenings and weekends.
You're on your feet and with people all day. BLS lists customer service, leadership, communication, organization, problem solving and physical stamina among the qualities that matter for food service managers.
People who tend to enjoy it like a busy room, fixing a problem on the spot, and leading a team through a rush. When it goes well, you see guests leave happy the same night.
After graduating
The College Scorecard, from the US Department of Education, shows what graduates of each college's programs earned a few years later. Read it with its own warnings: it counts only students who got federal grants or loans, it leaves out graduates who didn't work that year or went back to school, and pay soon after college may not show pay later on. Results also vary a lot from college to college.
We don't know of an official national pay figure for hospitality majors alone, so we don't show one. You can look up any college at collegescorecard.ed.gov.
You don't need this major to work here
Plenty of restaurant and hotel managers didn't study hospitality. BLS says most food service managers start in jobs like cooking, serving or supervising, and chefs often work their way up from line cook. The major teaches the business side and usually includes real work hours; it isn't required for these jobs.
Related majors
Also related: Culinary arts, Business administration or management, Event management, Tourism.
Common questions
- Is hospitality management the same as culinary school?
No. Culinary programs teach you to cook. Hospitality management teaches you to run the business: the team, the guests, the money and the rules. Some programs include kitchen classes, and many managers can do both.
- Do I need this major to manage a restaurant?
No. BLS says most food service managers start in jobs like cooking, serving or supervising a shift and work their way up. The major can help you move faster, especially at hotels and larger companies.
- Do I need a license?
Not for the job itself. The FDA's model Food Code asks that a restaurant's person in charge be a certified food protection manager, which means passing a food safety exam, wherever a state or city has adopted that rule. Serving alcohol has its own state rules.
- What do these jobs pay?
BLS's median for food service managers was $69,390
/year bls.gov ·2025 in May 2025, $69,250 /year bls.gov ·2025 for lodging managers and $62,470 /year bls.gov ·2025 for chefs and head cooks. Half earn more and half earn less, and pay changes a lot by place and the size of the business. Pay is one thing to weigh; the hours are another. - Which college is best for hospitality?
We don't rank colleges. Programs differ in their classes and work requirements, and the College Scorecard lets you look up any college.