ABSTRACT
Mars, Bryant and Mitchell (1979) have a point. Yet at degree level, educators face any number of dilemmas of which the authors take no account. Most important of these is the vocational expectations of students and employers. It is frequently asserted by educators that operational skills in food and beverage are essential to the career progress of graduates once they enter the hospitality industry. There is some evidence to support this from studies of the career paths of successful general managers (see Wood, 1997 for a review). Equally, however, there are a number of reasons for viewing such assertions with suspicion. For example, it is generally accepted that graduate entrants to the industry accrue few, if any, advantages over non-graduate entrants who 'work their way up' (Riley and Turam, 1988). In other words, it is operational experience 'on the job' that counts and not formal education in terms of career progression. Successful managers, it appears, certainly do require operational food and beverage knowledge - but it is knowledge gained through employment experience that counts rather than formal education. Is it possible, then, for educators to abandon the operational simulation of food and beverage procedures in the educational environment without detriment to students' employment profiles? The answer, probably, is 'yes', but it would be a courageous (even reckless) and perhaps even foolish educator who would advocate complete abandonment of operational training in food and beverage management in support of operational education. This is simply because, irrespective of the realities of career progress in the hospitality industry, employers therein expect graduates in their field to possess some such experience (although employers perhaps look more to the experience of students gained on periods of industrial placement as part of their course rather
than operational simulations that constitute a formal part of such courses).
