By: Keith Kefgen and Rosemary Mahoney

Historically, the food and beverage director was the typical successor to the hotel general manager. The European style of training and apprenticeship at full-service hotels made this succession quite customary. Today, we predominantly see financial, sales and marketing and room executives ascending into the GM position. Has this trend relegated f&b executives to second class citizens As former food and beverage managers ourselves, we say no, only the rules have changed. For career opportunities as a GM, the answer for f&b managers is a formal business education and comprehensive cross-training. For individuals who want to make food and beverage operations a career, the accompanying table suggests that f&b executives still remain some of the highest paid managers at the property level.

Of the top five food and beverage positions, on an average, directors of f&b were paid the most, pastry chefs the least. Executive chefs and catering directors were well compensated at averages of $54, 871.44 and $48,168.78 respectively. Chef's compensations reflects their creative artistry and ability to control costs; catering directors depict their selling skills. We found the wide disparity in compensation level very interesting. The large differentials substantiate our hypothesis that as size and class increase, so does compensation.

Geographics affected compensation as well, but to a lesser degree. When we compared hotels of similar size and class, northeast and westcoast managers had richer compensation packages. Independents and chains also paid their food and beverage executives more.

While the criteria for a hotel general manager may have changed, food and beverage operations remain a critical aspect of hotel profitability. To maintain cash consistency, many hotel owners have turned to leasing their food and beverage operations to outside professionals. the downside to receiving a monthly lease payment is the total relinquishment of operational control. Furthermore, hotel operators are keenly aware that Triple A and Mobil continue to critique a hotel's food and beverage department as part of their overall rating system.

We conclude that the role of food and beverage executives will continue to be an integral part of the industry, but individuals who aspire to general manager positions will need to augment their expertise.

HVS Executive Search is a Mineola, NY based human resources consulting firm. The firm is headed by Keith Kefgen, President, and Rosemary Mahoney, Director. HVS Executive Search provides retained executive search, compensation consulting, employee-opinion surveys and organization development.

For additonal information contact the firm at

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