8 Best Restaurant Management Courses

Managing a restaurant can be a rewarding career. There are thousands of restaurants across the nation, each one with unique food options, themes, and staff choices. For example, restaurants like Hard Rock Cafe are different than Applebee’s, and these are only chain restaurants. That said, managing these restaurants varies based on many factors, so maintaining an education in restaurant management is necessary to remain competitive in the crowded field.

That said, many online courses can help you set up restaurant management systems or help you improve your skills in areas like payroll and human resources (HR). For these reasons, it’s important to take a wide range of courses to ensure everything you know is up to date. The good news is that we’re here to help. Below we’ll take you through everything you need to know about restaurant management.

Orientation

We’ll start with an introduction to the courses and how they help within the industry. We’ll keep it brief and expand on many concepts later in the Extra Credit section. When looking into restaurant management courses, you want to look into the instructor, the skill level, and the topic. By grouping each course into these categories, you can narrow down your search more efficiently.

Instructor

First and foremost, let’s begin with the instructor. The instructor will make or break the course because they’re the individuals conveying information. For this reason, you need to choose your instructor wisely. Below we’ll present you with the name of each instructor and some background information about them. That said, each instructor present in our guide has been vetted — you don’t need to worry.

Some things to look for in an instructor include their background in the field, how long they’ve been teaching, and if there’s one facilitator or more. By considering these factors, you can tell whether an instructor is a good fit or not — in most cases.

Skill Level

Another thing to consider is the skill level of each course. While most courses are suitable for all levels, restaurant management is a wide field. For this reason, you’ll find diverse topics that vary in difficulty. We’ve grouped each course into a difficulty category of beginner, intermediate, and advanced.

Beginner

Courses for beginners are well-rounded and tend to cover many topics. That said, these courses are more general and don’t dig into specifics. For example, a beginner-friendly restaurant management HR course will focus on multiple parts of HR without diving into too much detail for each one.

Intermediate

Intermediate courses tend to cover more specific information. For this reason, intermediate courses should be taken by students who have a background in the field and want to expand their knowledge. While beginners can find value here, it might take more time.

Advanced

Advanced courses are where things get complicated. These focus on setting up restaurant management programs, which require prerequisite knowledge in data programming and data storage.

However, don’t let us stop you from choosing the course you want. Regardless of your skill level, each course offers value. That said, choosing a course that fits your skill level can help you maximize your time and money.

Topic

Restaurant management courses also vary in terms of topics. There are dozens of topics in the field, so each course covers one or more of these. Some common topics include setting up restaurant management programs, focusing on payroll, handling HR, and more. Therefore, it’s important to choose a course that fits your needs.

To get the most out of restaurant management, though, it’s a good idea to consider a few topics. You want to bring more than one skill to the table, especially when managing restaurants. So, don’t be afraid to jump into more than one course!

Price

Finally, make sure you consider the cost of the course. Unfortunately, restaurant management courses vary in price. The factors that impact the cost include the platform hosting the course, the length of the course, and how much value it brings.

Courses featured on platforms like SkillShare and LinkedIn Learning have a fixed price. The price varies based on the platform, but it’s a monthly cost. This is beneficial for students that want to continue their education and focus on more than one topic.

Courses featured on platforms like Udemy are different. These courses have a one-time fee that provides lifetime access. While this is helpful, the courses tend to be more expensive unless you commit to a monthly platform for long-term learning.

Keeping these factors in mind, we’ll take you through the eight best restaurant management courses for 2024.

Course Breakdown

Top 8 Best Restaurant Management Courses 2024


1. Best Overall: Quick Service Restaurant Management Certification

  • 15.5 hours $54.99 Our rating  
  • Course Highlights
  • Instructor: Neelabha Chatterjee
  • Skill Level: Beginner
  • Topic: General

Why we like it

We love this course because it gives you a certificate you can use on your resume. For people who have experience but lack formal education, this is one of our favorite options.

Quick Service Restaurant Management Certification Course is a unique course that focuses on getting students certified for Quick Service Restaurants (fast food restaurants). This makes it a solid course that prepares people to work in some of the most common and abundant restaurant types in the world. The course is taught by someone with decades of franchise experience who knows the business and customer base well.

The course brings value by going over everything you need to know. Covered over 15 hours of content, you'll learn about customer needs, customer expectations, inventory management, sales, team development, and more. Overall, it's one of the most in-depth restaurant management courses you can find online. Plus, it comes with a certification that sets you apart from other people in the industry.

What Sets It Apart

Quick Service Restaurant Management Certification Course is a unique course because of its length, value, and certification. While other courses focus on specifics, this course covers each topic relevant to fast-food restaurants and leaves you with a certificate you can show to employers.

Things to Consider

Quick Service Restaurant Management Certification Course is one of our favorite courses for restaurant management — hands down. That said, it's not perfect. For example, if you're someone that doesn't want to work in Quick Service, you'll be better off with more general courses like Restaurant Management: Human Resources.

There are also other courses like PHP With Laravel that focus more on building operating systems for your restaurant. So, while this course is one of our favorites, it's not for everyone.

Who It's For

If you're interested in working in the fast-food industry, this course is a great choice. The certificate it comes with is enough to set you apart from other applicants. Moreover, with over 15 hours of content, you can learn most of what you need to know to run a restaurant like McDonald's.

Pros

  • Comes with a certification upon completion
  • Comes with over 15 hours of content
  • Perfect for fast-food restaurants
  • Excellent value

Cons

  • Only suitable for fast food restaurants


2. Best for HR: Restaurant Management: Human Resources

  • 2 hours $39.99 Our rating  
  • Course Highlights
  • Instructor: Christopher Wells
  • Skill Level: Beginner
  • Topic: Human Resources

Why we like it

Restaurant Management: Human Resources is one of our favorite choices because it focuses on a topic that doesn’t get much attention in restaurant management. Human resources (HR) is just as important in restaurants as it is elsewhere.

In this course, Christopher Wells takes you through important topics relevant to human resources (HR) and restaurant management. He's worked in the industry for decades and has a lot of experience with hiring employees and maximizing the return on investment (ROI) of each employee hired. For these reasons, the course focuses on hiring employees, maximizing their ROI, how to keep employees, and more.

The course also focuses on common HR topics like motivation and managing employee morale. You'll learn how to keep employees engaged in the workplace and how to ensure employees don't become disgruntled. Overall, it's a comprehensive HR course that can help with the hiring process and employee retention.

What Sets It Apart

Restaurant Management: Human Resources is unique because it focuses on employee satisfaction. While restaurant managers also have to worry about payroll and keeping customers happy, the employees often become an afterthought. With a course like this, restaurant managers learn how to be more empathetic and encouraging to employees.

Things to Consider

Restaurant Management: Human Resources is a solid course, but it's a specific one. In other words, while it teaches you about HR, it doesn't focus on other topics. In fact, even the HR information is limited and focuses more on employees than the office work portion of the field.

If you're looking for a more well-rounded course, Quick Service Restaurant Management Certification Course is a great option. It covers more topics, HR included, and leaves you with a certification you can place on your resume.

Who It's For

If you need to boost your HR skills, Restaurant Management: Human Resources is a great choice. It's not perfect, but it has a lot of great information and will brief you on the field. It's also a great course if you want to make the hiring process more efficient while simultaneously retaining those new hires.

Pros

  • Focuses on employee morale and happiness
  • Teaches you about HR concepts
  • Helps with the hiring process
  • Helps with employee retention

Cons

  • Only covers HR
  • Only focuses on employee-based HR topics


3. Best for Operating Systems: PHP With Laravel

  • 9.5 hours $89.99 Our rating  
  • Course Highlights
  • Instructor: Alex Uanvilay
  • Skill Level: Advanced
  • Topic: PHP, MVC, Laravel Framework

Why we like it

PHP With Laravel is one of our top choices because it teaches you about operating systems from start to finish. The course also has a ton of content, and the instructor works with an online education organization.

PHP With Laravel is a masterclass on creating restaurant management systems. The course is taught by Alex Uanvilay, who has years of experience with computer science and computer programming. He's owned and operated his own e-commerce website and even has his own website called Devtamin. Devtamin is another resource students can learn from to maximize their skills in programming and computer science. That said, if you don't have a background in HTML, you might want to start there.

Moving on, PHP With Laravel will teach you a lot. The instructor goes step by step through Model-View-Controller (MVC) frameworks, graphic design, importing files, Java Script, and the list goes on. Overall, it's one of the most comprehensive courses for programming and creating operating systems for restaurants.

What Sets It Apart

PHP With Laravel is unique because of its instructor and how he approaches the subject. While the course is made for more advanced students, the 9 hours of content is enough to take someone through the process from start to finish. In other words, you can learn the systems and create operating systems after 9 hours. That said, beginner-level students will likely need more time. The good news is that you get lifetime access, so that's not a big issue.

Things to Consider

PHP With Laravel is a great course, but it is a niche area. If you're not a programmer and don't want to be, this course is not for you. Moreover, this course focuses on specific operating systems, which makes it even more of a niche course. For these reasons, if you want to work with something other than Laravel, we recommend looking elsewhere.

Who It's For

If you need to design an operating system for your restaurant, this course is a great choice. It's one of the more basic systems, and it's easy for people of all skill levels to pick up. That said, it's a niche course and designed for restaurant managers that need to create systems from the ground up.

Pros

  • Teaches you about Laravel
  • Focuses on building and operating systems from start to finish
  • Suitable for all skill levels
  • The instructor has a website for continued education opportunities

Cons

  • Expensive
  • Niche course


4. Best for Profits: Restaurant Management: How to Increase Profit

  • 33 minutes $89.99 Our rating  
  • Course Highlights
  • Instructor: Bruno Kodele
  • Skill Level: Beginner
  • Topic: Raising Profit

Why we like it

Restaurant Management: How to Increase Profit is a course we love because it can immediately make an impact. Nothing beats boosting profits, and it makes restaurant managers more valuable.

Restaurant Management: How to Increase Profit is a great course taught by Bruno Kodele. Kodele has a lot of experience with restaurants and brings unique expertise to his course. Namely, he knows how to help restaurants boost profits during the covid-19 pandemic. Restaurants were one of the hardest-hit industries during the pandemic, so this is valuable information.

The course covers many topics over 30 minutes, and each one brings value; the instructor wastes no time here. You'll learn about setting goals that you can achieve to boost confidence, how to engage with your customers to build relationships, and how to motivate your team. While these sound simple, executing on any of these things has been a challenge during the global pandemic.

What Sets It Apart

Restaurant Management: How to Increase Profit is unique because it focuses on the unique struggles of the restaurant industry. The covid-19 pandemic made it hard for smaller restaurants to remain open, but this course can change that. Plus, all these concepts are useful as the world begins to slowly open back up.

Things to Consider

Restaurant Management: How to Increase Profit is a great choice, but it's not the most in-depth. Other courses have more content and even more well-rounded content. Plus, some of the topics found within the course lose their value as the country opens back up.

If you're looking for a similar course that has more content and post-covid value, Restaurant Management: Human Resources is a great choice. While it's a human resources course, it also covers topics like employee morale and motivation.

Who It's For

If you're someone who works in or owns a restaurant that was impacted by the pandemic, this course is one of the best options. It can make a difference in less than an hour and show you how to manage a restaurant that's struggling through a hard time. This is one of the reasons we love the course.

Pros

  • Helps restaurants suffering due to covid-19
  • Helps restaurants boost profits
  • Helps with HR topics and employee morale

Cons

  • Very short course
  • Expensive


5. Best for IT Professionals: ODOO Restaurant Management

  • 2.25 hours N/A Our rating  
  • Course Highlights
  • Instructor: Husen Daudi, Jay Vora
  • Skill Level: Advanced
  • Topic: Operating Systems

Why we like it

We love this course because it helps with the planning parts of restaurant management. It can set you up with floor plans, rewards programs, and more.

ODOO Restaurant Management is a straightforward course that helps you with planning and running restaurant management systems. The course focuses on topics like floor plan creation, managing tables and staff, how to implement rewards systems, and more. This makes the course one of the best options for creating loyal customers: it's more of a strategy-based course for IT professionals who contract with restaurants.

ODOO Restaurant Management is also a well-rounded course. While it's not beginner-friendly, anyone who has a background in IT should be able to make it through this course. It's not perfect, but it's a quick course that can show your IT professional how to manage and create a unique operating system.

What Sets It Apart

This course is unique for a few reasons. First and foremost, it's simpler than other operating system courses. This is because it has less content and only focuses on relevant systems. Moreover, it's not designed for beginners, so there is no fluff for IT professionals who are ready to learn advanced content. Another unique part is that it's taught by two instructors, so you get two perspectives from individuals who have created these systems in the past.

Things to Consider

ODOO Restaurant Management is a great course, but it has a few flaws. Firstly, the course doesn't provide basic concepts for beginners. This means that IT professionals will benefit the most from this course. Therefore, because it covers a niche area, it’s not great for beginners and general restaurant managers. The other downside is that it only offers two hours of content. While this is one of the course's strengths, it's also a weakness.

If you're looking for a more in-depth operating system course, PHP With Laravel is a great option. It comes with over 10 hours of content, focuses on a more in-depth system, and takes you through the process of setting up an operating system step by step.

Who It's For

If you're an IT professional or need to work with one, this is a great course. It will show you everything you need to get a simple operating system with rewards, flood planning, and more up and running. While it's one of the most basic operating system courses, it’s beneficial for restaurant managers with simple operations.

Pros

  • Great for creating simple operating systems
  • Short and to the point
  • Taught by two great instructors
  • Great value

Cons

  • Short course
  • Not as in-depth as other operating system courses


6. Best for Photography: Learning Food and Drink Photography

  • 2 hours $29.99 Our rating  
  • Course Highlights
  • Instructor: Bill Robbins
  • Skill Level: Beginner
  • Topic: Photography

Why we like it

We love this course because it focuses on a forgotten area of restaurant management — food photography. This is an underrated area of the industry because food needs to look good to sell.

This is one of the more interesting courses to make it on a restaurant management course list. We have chosen to include this one because it can help your restaurant stand out and make you a better manager through the use of solid photography. After all, someone has to make the burger look juicy for people to walk through the door!

The course is taught by someone who has combined photographs with sales. Bill Robbins is great at what he does, and he breaks down each part of the process from the angle to the lighting. Some of the specific topics you'll learn in the course include setting up the shot, required gear, and how to make it come together in a restaurant.

What Sets It Apart

Learning Food and Drink Photography is unique because it focuses on a topic that not many restaurant managers are proficient in. Food photography is important to drive sales and customer interest. Some restaurants have pictures of their food items on the menu, so if you want to work in one of those restaurants, taking a course like this is essential.

Things to Consider

Learning Food and Drink Photography is a solid course, but it only focuses on photography. While this is a helpful topic for sales and menu choices, it doesn't cover anything else. Therefore, it won't help you with the general parts of restaurant management, like how to manage and hire employees and how to set up operating systems.

For these reasons, we recommend alternatives like Restaurant Management: Human Resources if you're not already proficient in those areas. Courses like the latter will help you boost your general knowledge and prepare for day-to-day operations.

Who It's For

If you're struggling with food photography, this course is perfect. It's not the best course for general knowledge, but you'll walk away with the skills needed to take a great picture. Moreover, the course is useful for menu creation and as a tool to build on the knowledge you already have. It's not the best if you don't know a thing about restaurant management, but it's a great tool if you do.

Pros

  • Shows everything you need to know about photography
  • Short and easy
  • Taught by someone with years of experience
  • Tells you what equipment you need

Cons

  • Only focuses on photography


7. Best for Marketing: Digital Marketing for Restaurants

  • 2 hours $19.99 Our rating  
  • Course Highlights
  • Instructor: Chris Worfolk
  • Skill Level: Beginner
  • Topic: Marketing

Why we like it

This is one of our favorite courses because of its instant impact. Marketing is a valuable tool for any restaurant.

Digital Marketing for Restaurants is a straightforward marketing course that teaches restaurant managers how to promote the business. Restaurants are businesses, so it makes sense to understand the importance of proper marketing practices. The course is well-rounded and covers most topics about marketing; it's also suitable for all skill levels as anyone can find value here.

Digital Marketing for Restaurants also teaches you about the importance of having a website. Websites are crucial for success in the modern world because they give customers access to things like your menu, photos of the restaurant, and more. The course also shows you how to leverage food photography, video marketing, and other methods to get more people through the door.

What Sets It Apart

Digital Marketing for Restaurants is one of the few courses that focuses on website building and restaurant marketing. While there are courses that focus on creating operating systems and working on customer satisfaction, few courses show you how to market the business and build an interactive brand.

Things to Consider

Digital Marketing for Restaurants is a great course, but it's limited. While it focuses on getting customers through the doors, it comes up short in other areas. For example, it doesn't delve into HR topics or other ones that help keep the company running. For these reasons, it's only good for restaurant managers that already have experience in other areas.

If you're just getting started, it's best to start with a more well-rounded course like Restaurant Management: Human Resources. It covers the basics and the employee side of restaurant management.

Who It's For

Digital marketing for Restaurants is a great choice for people who need help with restaurant marketing and website building. If you're comfortable with the other areas of restaurant management, a course like this can help you elevate your marketing strategy and drive more revenue.

Pros

  • Perfect for marketing
  • Helps with website building
  • Focuses on photography and social media

Cons

  • Only covers marketing
  • Lacks depth


8. Best for Beginners: Build Restaurant Management System | Python & Tkinter

  • 1.5 hours $19.99 Our rating  
  • Course Highlights
  • Instructor: Mahmoud Raouf
  • Skill Level: Advanced
  • Topic: Beginner

Why we like it

We love to Build a Restaurant Management System because it works for beginners and shows you how and where to download everything for free.

Tkinter is a program that's designed to work with Python and can be used to create various programs for businesses. Tkinter and Python have unique advantages for restaurants, which is why many courses like Restaurant Management System | Python & Tkinter leverage the programs. That said, this course is taught by a programmer who has 7 years of experience. Plus, it's made for absolute beginners. While it helps to know the basics of Python, it's not required.

By the end of the course, you'll know how to create a simple operating system and use it for your restaurant. You'll learn about how Tkinter works and how simple the process is to integrate into your business. The course also covers specific topics like how to use the buttons, how price lists work, and how the calculator program functions.

What Sets It Apart

Restaurant Management System | Python & Tkinter is unique because it's one of the best programming courses for beginners. The instructor does a great job of breaking everything down, and you don't need to have a ton of experience with programming to follow along and create a solid operating system.

Things to Consider

Restaurant Management System | Python & Tkinter is a great course, but it's not perfect. Because it's focused on beginners, it doesn't go over more advanced topics and features. If you're an IT programmer and need a more in-depth course, PHP With Laravel is a great alternative.

Who It's For

If you need to create an operating system for your restaurant and have no clue where to start, this course is ideal. You don't need to be an advanced programmer, and by the end of the course, you'll be set and ready to go. Overall, it's one of the best options for simple operating systems.

Pros

  • Beginner-friendly
  • Inexpensive
  • Excellent instructor

Cons

  • Very simple
  • Not suitable for more advanced programmers


FAQ

Restaurant Manager Briefing his staff

To become a restaurant manager, the level of education you need varies based on the type of restaurant and how long you’ve been in the industry. Someone who has decades of restaurant experience can become a restaurant manager with no degree or a two-year associate’s degree. Still, there are four-year degree options that set you apart from the competition.

Restaurant management is a solid career. You can make good money and live a balanced life. The only drawback to the career is the schedule. If you’re not comfortable working during the night, becoming a restaurant manager is not a good choice. Otherwise, it’s rewarding and can come with time off, paid leave, and benefits.

Restaurant managers make between $62,000 and $93,000 on average. The amount you can earn depends on where you live, the type of restaurant you work in, and how long you’ve been working there.



Extra Credit

Man holding a clipboard in front of chefs

Knowing what restaurant management course to take requires careful evaluation. While seeing a list of the best restaurant management courses will help, it’s not the end-all-be-all. Therefore, we’ll take you through some specific needs in the restaurant management field and make recommendations based on those needs. If you’re struggling to narrow down your options, read on.

Getting Started

Getting started in restaurant management can be overwhelming. There are many options, types of restaurants, and thousands of courses. There are even two-year and four-year formal education programs that can give you a boost in restaurant management. That said, there are also certifications and simple courses you can leverage on your resume. These courses work for most restaurant settings and are bound to impress employers.

If you’re looking to get certified, one of the best options is Quick Service Restaurant Management Certification. It’s a quick course, but it leaves you with a certification and a foundation of knowledge to take with you into other courses and your career.

Managing Human Resources

While many people dread the position for how involved it can be, HR is a necessary part of restaurant management (or any type of management). Morale needs to be kept high, people need to be happy, and the workplace needs to be a safe environment for everyone. For these reasons, restaurant managers should have a basic knowledge base for how human resources influences the restaurant environment.

If you’re looking to boost your HR skills, Restaurant Management: Human Resources is a great choice. It teaches you about employee experiences, customer experiences, and how to be a better manager when HR situations arise.

Managing Your Profits

Restaurants need to be profitable. Without profits, you can’t have a restaurant, plain and simple. This is why maximizing profits is one of the most important components of restaurant management. While managing profits efficiently sounds challenging, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how well some courses prepare you.

For example, Restaurant Management: How to Increase Profit is a well-rounded course that shows you how easy it is to maximize profits. The course takes you through most of what you need to know and goes into detail on staffing, hours, and bookkeeping to cut costs.

Marketing

When people think of managing a restaurant, it’s often about the day-to-day operations. While making sure the lights stay on and customers remain happy is a big part of it, you also need to get people through the door. After all, if nobody is sitting down for dinner or a drink, you’ll have nothing to manage.

The good news is that there are marketing courses that can help you get your restaurant noticed online. One of these is Digital Marketing for Restaurants. This course will take you through everything you need to know about handling online marketing so you can get more customers through the door.

Creating Restaurant Management Systems

Restaurant management systems are operating systems you’ll run your restaurant on. When someone creates a restaurant, there needs to be technology and programming. This is necessary to keep track of things like payroll, hiring, bookkeeping, tables, expenses, and more.

In the past, these systems used to be handled by hand, but there are now innovative restaurant management operating systems you can use. These systems make restaurants more efficient and easier to run. For this reason, we’ll show you two great options that can help.

First and foremost, one of the best courses for restaurant management systems is PHP With Laravel. It comes with a ton of content and takes you through the process of creating a basic restaurant management system step by step. The instructor also has his own website to help you with continued education and specific tools.

Another excellent choice for restaurant management systems is ODOO Restaurant Management. This course is better for creating systems that favor table placement, rewards programs, and more. It’s also the better choice if you’re an IT professional or looking to work with one.

Let’s Get Cookin’

Restaurant management allows you to run and manage the restaurant of your dreams. Restaurant management courses are helpful whether you want to own your own restaurant or work for one. While it is a challenging field, if you spend enough time learning the industry, you can make an impact quickly.

Restaurant management is also a complex field, so we always recommend choosing more than one course. If you only participate in one course, there’s a chance you won’t know everything you need to succeed. That said, get learning and get cooking!