Catering or bar manager - career development

Working as a catering or bar manager will see you planning, managing and developing the service of food and drink to customers, alongside managing people and business processes. Read out to find out what working in this sector is like, your career prospects, and what you’ll need to study and do to succeed.

Find out how you'll build skills and experience below.

icon

How will your catering or bar manager career progress?

Growing your career in this field will likely involve working across a range of roles and business areas to broaden your skillset and build experience.

Your first role might be as an employee or as a junior supervisor, which you could use as a stepping-stone up to assistant manager and manager roles. Your experience, professional drive and people skills will help you move up to senior management or director roles, as well as working in more prestigious establishments. This sector has many overseas opportunities. Experienced managers could choose to set up their own businesses and work for themselves.

What opportunities are there for career development?

Other than on the job working, you can develop your skills as a catering or bar manager through training courses that might be offered through your employer. This could include a diploma in hospitality, NVQs or food safety qualifications.

Changing roles or arranging job swaps will help you broaden your experience and build up a wide skillset. You may be interested in getting additional qualifications in areas like business, sales and marketing to boost your employment prospects.

Find your perfect career

Use our Career Matcher to see which industries and roles align best with your interests.