Course list

Amid the swirl of activity in food and beverage service, financial management is a function that loses priority sometimes, despite its crucial function.

Understanding and managing your food and beverage operation's income statement (profit and loss statement) can lead to better decision making and can position you to succeed. Learn how to get a hold on your organization's finances and make informed decisions based on profit and performance.

Your menu does much more than inform guests about what you offer. It helps to create and communicate your food and beverage operation's identity, and influences your guests' choices.

This course will enable you to evaluate menus and identify changes that will optimize the value and profitability of your food and beverage operation.

Your operation's brand is like a contract with the customer, and the expectation is that value will be delivered in relative accordance with price and quality of service. But keeping food costs down is no easy task. In fact, it's one of the most detail-oriented, scientific processes that go into running a restaurant and there are many challenges with keeping food costs controlled.

In this course, you'll learn to optimize your operation's profits by effectively managing your selection, procurement, receiving, storage, and inventory management processes.

Loyal repeat customers are key to the success of any food and beverage operation. They represent recurring revenue and are a great source for feedback and gauging customer sentiment. They can also be your greatest evangelists, recommending you to friends and colleagues, even giving favorable online reviews.

Through careful design, meticulous attention to service processes, and a way to gauge customer sentiment, you can play to your team's strengths and identify opportunities for improving the guest experience to grow your business.

Your employees are the heart of every food and beverage operation and your most valuable resource, yet so many operators fail to focus attention on employee satisfaction and engagement.

Understanding your role in managing and leading employees can help you to reduce costly turnover, safety incidents, theft, and absenteeism, and can improve your operation's quality, productivity, guest satisfaction, and profitability.

Symposium sessions feature three days of live, highly interactive virtual Zoom sessions that will explore today’s most pressing topics. The Hospitality Symposium offers you a unique opportunity to engage in real-time conversations with peers and experts from the Cornell community and beyond. Using the context of your own experiences, you will take part in reflections and small-group discussions to build on the skills and knowledge you have gained from your courses.

Join us for the next Symposium, in which we’ll discuss how both day-to-day operations and strategic goal setting in the hospitality sector have rapidly evolved over the past two years, opening up new space for real-time conversations about the future of the industry. You will support your coursework by applying your knowledge and experiences to various areas of the industry, examining the innovations and accommodations you have all had to make throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and strategizing on future directions. By participating in relevant and engaging discussions, you will discover a variety of perspectives and build connections with your fellow participants from across the industry.

Upcoming Symposium: December 3 – 4, 2024 from 11-1pm ET

  • Tuesday, December 3, 2024 11:00AM ET – 1:00PM ET
    • Building Employee Capabilities
  • Wednesday, December 4, 2024 11:00AM ET – 1:00PM ET
    • From Good to Great: Elevating Customer Service

All sessions are held on Zoom.

Future dates are subject to change. You may participate in as many sessions as you wish. Attending Symposium sessions is not required to successfully complete any certificate program. Once enrolled in your courses, you will receive information about upcoming events. Accessibility accommodations will be available upon request.

Whether you are a restaurant, coffee house, even a cocktail bar, your beverage program can have a big impact on your profitability, but it comes with a good deal of risk.

Understanding everything that is involved in offering wine, beer, spirits, and nonalcoholic beverages and applying discipline to your product selection, pricing, list design, and rigorous controls can minimize certain risks and position you for financial success.

In this course, you will explore the challenges and opportunities that come with opening a food and beverage establishment. You will review a case study describing an existing food and beverage operation and explore the steps involved in creating a business plan and then work towards creating a business plan for your own food and beverage operation. You will also examine strategies for determining if your business idea will be successful in the market.
In this course, you will explore how catering and special events are different from other food and beverage businesses and examine recommended strategies for effectively communicating with your clients. Next, you will explore the economics of catering and special events and develop strategies for pricing these events. You will continue with an overview of the complex array of partners you will need to work with and explore how those partners will help you create a successful event. Finally, you will develop best practices for creating a plan (menu, etc.) for your event.

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