Do You Need A Degree To Run A Restaurant Business?

When you start thinking about the educational requirements you might need to get a job, it’s important to begin by deciding what you want to do in your life. What’s your passion? Is there something you desperately want to achieve? If you’ve clicked on this article, the chances are you are keen to pursue a career in the restaurant industry. Specifically, you want to run your own restaurant business.

That’s fantastic, you’ve found something you’re keen to do! Now, you need to assess whether or not you need a degree to pursue this career. So, will you need to obtain a specific degree to run your own restaurant business?

In short, no, you will not need a degree to open and run your own restaurant. It’s not technically a requirement that everyone must meet in order to do this job.

However, it can be beneficial for you to have certain degrees as they could help you run your business more effectively, meaning you have a chance of making more money.

What degrees will benefit a restaurant owner?

The main reason you choose your career before your degree is that it ensures you pick an area of study that actually benefits your chosen path. For example, if you chose to pursue a degree in journalism then wanted to become a restaurant business owner, how do you think this degree will help you? Sure, you’ve got some nice educational credentials, but they’re totally irrelevant to your career path.

With that in mind, here are a few educational courses and degrees that will benefit a restaurant owner:

Hospitality
Look for any courses that relate to hospitality, particularly hospitality management. Studying this area will help you learn everything there is to know about the hospitality industry. This includes something that’s super important to a restaurant owner: interacting with customers. Hospitality courses will help you learn how to interact with every customer, as well as how you can diffuse any nasty situations that arise in your business. It teaches you things like conflict management and what to say to customers if they’re unhappy about your service.

There is also a possibility that you can specialize in restaurant management at some colleges or universities. As such, you will learn everything you could possibly need to know about running a restaurant. This might include things like restaurant scheduling tips and best practices to know how best to manage your employees. It can even touch on a bit of marketing and accounting - though we’ll talk more about these later in the post. The point is that you can empower yourself with relevant knowledge to help you know how to start and run a successful restaurant business.

Business
Of course, if your aim is to own and run a business, it wouldn’t hurt to have some sort of business degree on your back. The main difference between getting something like an MBA or a hospitality degree is that business courses focus more on general business things. This can include how to set up and incorporate a business, what type of business you should register your restaurant as, how to pay your employees, and so on.

Ultimately, it’s more about the theory behind business ownership. You learn how a business works, and what needs to happen to make any business successful. Again, some topics you’re likely to cover can include people management, business strategizing, business ethics, data reporting, and much more.

Accounting & Finance
We very briefly mentioned accounting when talking about a hospitality course. The stuff you can learn through other courses will be very basic, but a degree in accounting or finance can really help you learn about the financial side of a business. Clearly, this is a crucial element of running a company as you need to know where your money will go, how to deal with taxes, and everything else relating to your budget.

People with finance degrees make excellent business owners because they know how to manage their money perfectly. It means the business can run without worrying about extortionate expenses, making it more likely that it will generate a profit. Pursuing an education in this field can also help you understand all the little tricks and tips that accountants or financial advisors will charge you to know. This is particularly helpful when it comes to filing your tax returns. You will know everything that you can put on your return as a tax-deductible, lowering your annual bill.

Marketing
Likewise, we also mentioned that you can get a bit of marketing training when doing a hospitality degree - and you may experience a topic or two in a business degree. Nevertheless, pursuing a marketing course will give you a detailed look at how to market a company. For a restaurant, this is absolutely crucial. Restaurants can fail because they don’t get enough bums on seats or orders in the kitchen. Why is this the case? Because customers are going to rival restaurants in your area. They don’t know enough about you to trust that you can produce amazing food.

This is where a marketing degree can be so helpful. You learn how to promote your business and draw people’s attention to it. You know how to make it stand out from the crowd and generate a buzz around it when it opens. With a good marketing strategy, you can have queues outside your doors on opening night! Studying marketing will help you know the main concepts involved in promoting a business, giving you a good place to start your strategy from.

Why could it be beneficial to have a degree when running a restaurant business?

Remember, you don’t need a degree to open and run your own restaurant. If you have good food and a good business plan, it’s highly likely you can open a restaurant in no time at all. But, there is another thing you desperately need: money.

How do you get money? In most cases, you take out a bank loan or seek investment - unless you already have enough money to start your business. Consequently, a business plan will need to be drawn up. Already, having a degree in business can help you create a compelling business plan that ensures you get a loan or receive interest from investors.

Furthermore, having a relevant degree can put more faith in your business. A bank might lend you all the money you’re asking for if they see you have a degree that can help you run your business more effectively. Likewise, investors might be more inclined to invest as they have faith that you can run this company really well, thanks to your educational experience. This doesn’t mean that you can’t still get funding without a degree, but having one could make it a lot easier for you to get the money you need.

Similarly, what if you want to run an existing restaurant? Sometimes, restaurant businesses will hire managers to run the restaurant for them. Or, you could seek out a franchise restaurant to become one of the franchise owners. In both cases, having a good educational background with relevant experience will increase the chances of you getting what you want. In the case of applying for restaurant manager jobs, this is where it genuinely might be essential for you to have a degree.

Overall, you don’t technically need a degree to run a restaurant business. However, having a degree in hospitality, business, accounting, or marketing could be a major help. So, it might be worth looking at different courses and gaining some qualifications before you pursue this career.