Quick answer: Restaurant and food service management transfers to online delivery better than culinary training itself, because the subject is cost control, staffing and operations rather than knife work. Food service managers earn a median $69,390 per year, or $33.36 per hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The usual credential is associate or bachelor’s in hospitality or restaurant management.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Median annual wage | $69,390 |
| Median hourly wage | $33.36 |
| Employed nationally | 238,430 |
| Bottom 10 percent | $45,960 |
| Top 10 percent | $107,640 |
| Middle half | $56,870 to $86,800 |
| Projected change, 2024-34 | 6.4% |
| Annual openings | about 42,000 |
Wage and employment figures: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Growth and openings: BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
Restaurant and food service management transfers to online delivery better than culinary training itself, because the subject is cost control, staffing and operations rather than knife work. Many programs are built for people already working in kitchens and dining rooms, and some include a supervised practicum at your own workplace.
This degree sits above credentials many readers already hold. The rungs run:
Employment is projected to change by 6.4% between 2024 and 2034, with roughly 42,000 openings a year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Openings come from growth and from replacing people who leave the occupation, which is why the annual figure can look large relative to the percentage.
There is no license to manage a restaurant. Food safety certification is the real regulatory piece - commonly the ServSafe food protection manager credential, with specific requirements set by local health departments rather than nationally. On the academic side, ACPHA accredits hospitality administration programs, though in this field employer recognition and demonstrated operating results carry more weight than programmatic accreditation.
Separately, the institution itself should hold accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor. Credit transfer between institutions is decided by the receiving school and genuinely varies, so get any transfer evaluation in writing before enrolling.
Food service managers run the economics of a kitchen and dining room: food and labor cost, scheduling, vendor negotiation, health and safety compliance, hiring and turnover, and the guest experience. The distinction from a chef role is that the responsibility is the profit and loss statement rather than the menu, and that is the part most cooks have never been taught.
Coursework runs food and beverage cost control, purchasing and inventory, menu engineering and pricing, human resources and scheduling, hospitality law, food safety and sanitation, facilities, and marketing. Cost control and menu engineering are the subjects that most directly change what someone earns, because they are what separate a cook who was promoted from a manager who can hold a margin.
This site does not publish tuition figures, because there is no sourced dataset behind them and the number varies enormously by institution and residency. What can be stated is the wage structure the degree leads into. The middle half of food service managers earn between $56,870 and $86,800, with the bottom 10 percent at $45,960 and the top 10 percent at $107,640 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The gap between the 25th and 75th percentile is the honest range to plan against - not the median alone, and not the top figure.
| State | Median annual wage | Employment |
|---|---|---|
| Washington | $95,190 | 1,180 |
| Massachusetts | $92,240 | 4,310 |
| Hawaii | $87,800 | 1,230 |
| New York | $84,200 | 8,000 |
| Rhode Island | $82,850 | 760 |
Highest-paying states, BLS OEWS, May 2025. Cost of living is not held constant, so a higher median does not automatically mean more disposable income.
| State | Employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| California | 33,180 | $78,260 |
| Texas | 25,990 | $60,770 |
| Florida | 18,500 | $72,790 |
| Illinois | 11,270 | $63,930 |
| Pennsylvania | 10,530 | $64,750 |
Largest employing states, BLS OEWS, May 2025. Employment concentration and pay do not track each other. State and metro pages linked below carry the full distribution.
Two things to weigh honestly. The pay is moderate - a median of $69,390, with the range running from $45,960 to $107,640 (BLS OEWS, May 2025) - and the hours are the hours the industry keeps, which is nights, weekends and holidays. And a degree is not required to manage a restaurant; plenty of managers are promoted without one. What the degree changes is the ceiling: the cost control, staffing and finance content is what moves someone from running a shift to running a group, and the openings figure of about 42,000 per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34) is among the largest on this site.
Ask whether the program teaches against real profit and loss statements or only general business cases, because the specifics of food and labor cost are the point. Ask whether ServSafe manager certification is built into the sequence. If you are already working in a kitchen, ask whether a practicum can be completed at your workplace, and get any credit-transfer evaluation in writing.
The national framework is the constant: associate or bachelor’s in hospitality or restaurant management, then ServSafe food protection manager certification. What sits on top of that is set jurisdiction by jurisdiction, and this site does not hold a sourced dataset of per-state rules, so confirm the specifics with your local health department and state food safety authority before enrolling.
Ask these before an application fee, and get the answers in writing rather than over the phone:
This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by BOC Score with the highest at the top. 10 of them carry a score.
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal about the institution rather than about this subject. Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Source: ACCSC IPEDS College Scorecard
Yes. The subject is operations, cost control and staffing rather than culinary technique, so it transfers to distance delivery well. Many programs are designed for people already working in the industry, and some allow a practicum at your own workplace.
The national median annual wage is $69,390, or $33.36 per hour (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $45,960 or less and the top 10 percent earn $107,640 or more, across 238,430 food service managers nationally.
No, and it is worth being straightforward about that. Many managers are promoted from kitchen or front-of-house roles without one. The degree matters for the step above single-unit management, where finance, multi-site operations and formal cost control work as the job.
ServSafe is a food protection manager certification from the National Restaurant Association, and it is the credential most commonly referenced in food safety requirements. Specific requirements are set by local health departments rather than nationally, so confirm with yours.
Employment is projected to change by 6.4% from 2024 to 2034, with about 42,000 openings per year (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34) - one of the largest annual openings figures of any occupation covered on this site, driven by both growth and high turnover.
It is the standard route. Kitchen experience is the credible base, and what the degree adds is the commercial side - cost of goods, labor modeling, scheduling law and the profit and loss - which is rarely learned on the line.
The careers this degree sits above or beside:
Related reading across the degree silo:
State pay, licensing and metro-level data for this degree. Wage and employment figures on every state page come from BLS OEWS, May 2025.
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About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
