Become a Food and Beverage Service Manager.

Food and beverage service managers supervise the daily operations of a dining establishment or bar. In addition to overseeing wait staff and kitchen workers, managers order supplies, ensure customer satisfaction, create schedules, and train new employees. Food and beverage service managers also handle administrative duties, including payroll, employee records, and customer complaints. Food and beverage service managers work at upscale restaurants, fast food chains, or even school cafeterias. The job often requires long hours, and many establishments are busiest on evenings and weekends. Managers also have to deal with customer problems.

No specific educational requirements exist to become a food and beverage service manager; however, obtaining a postsecondary certificate or degree helps with career opportunities and is preferred by employers. Experience in a restaurant or bar is necessary, and, while not required, certification is available.

Career Requirements

Education Required	High school diploma
Certification	Voluntary; the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation offers the Foodservice Management Professional (FMP) designation
Experience	2-4 years of experience working in a restaurant or bar setting is typically required
Key Skills	Food and beverage service managers must have strong customer service skills, be very detail oriented, have the ability to solve problems, and work well with others
Salary (2014)	$48,560 per year (Median salary for all food service managers)

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS); Monster.com job listings (October 2012).

Step 1: Earn a High School Diploma

While experience is often valued as much as education, employers prefer to hire managers with at least a high school diploma. Courses at the high school level will not cover topics related to food and beverage management; however, math and business classes help students with the administrative tasks they will have as managers.

Success Tip:

• Work part time in a restaurant or cafe. Experience in the field can begin while in high school, and part-time jobs for teenagers are available, such as dishwasher or host.

Step 2: Gain Food Service Experience

Food and beverage service managers have specific work or educational experience in the food and beverage industry. According to the BLS, it's common for individuals to have positions as waiters, cooks, or hosts before being promoted to managerial positions in restaurants, bakeries, hotels, bars, and other food service establishments.

Success Tip:

• Look into a postsecondary program. Food and beverage certificate and degree programs are offered through colleges and universities. Pursuing a degree while working in a restaurant or bar is an option for prospective managers. Coursework covers sanitation, food production, personnel management, and nutrition. Applicants with a postsecondary credential are looked upon more favorably in the job market.

Step 3: Pursue Managerial Positions for Career Advancement

While earning a promotion within a restaurant or bar is one way to earn a managerial position, applying for jobs with other establishments is another option. An applicant with a completed postsecondary program and work experience in a restaurant can begin applying for managerial positions.

Success Tip:

Earn certification. The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation offers the Foodservice Management Professional (FMP) designation. This is a voluntary credential demonstrating professional competence in the field.

How to Grow Strawberries

Soil preparation: Prepare a weed-free site that gets 8 to 10 hours of strong sunlight a day. Well-

drained soil with a pH around 6.0 to 6.2 is ideal. To avoid verticillium wilt, don't plant in sites where strawberries, or solanaceous plants (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc.) have grown before.

Planting: Early spring planting is customary in most areas. For warm winter regions (California, Florida, and the southeast), fall planting is recommended.

Spacing: Space June bearers on raised beds with 18 to 24 inches between plants, in rows 3 to 4 feet apart. Hills 10 to 18 inches apart, planted with single plants, are best for everbearers, day neutrals, and June bearers in hot, humid climates.

Watering: Provide 1 inch per week at the root zone.

Fertilizing: Renovate rows after harvest by reducing their width to 12 inches and covering plants with 2 inches of compost. Apply a soluble organic fertilizer, such as a seaweed-fish blend, after renovation. Early spring fertilizer makes berries soft.

Special hint: Alpine strawberries (F. vesca) are one of the parent species of the garden strawberry. They produce small, aromatic berries from early summer through frost. Alpines are grown from seed or divisions and produce no runners. They are care-free and make good ornamentals.

Pest Watch
Tarnished plant bug is the main fruit-feeding nemesis of strawberries. Strawberry sap beetle can infest overripe fruit. Plant decline can also be caused by root-feeding white grubs (beetle larvae) and nematodes. Viruses, which can be spread by aphids, often affect plants that are weakened by unfavorable growing conditions.

Disease Alert: Gray mold (botrytis) is disease enemy number 1 on strawberry fruit around the country. Anthracnose can devastate plantings in hot, humid areas. Leather rot, which causes an insipid berry taste you won't forget, is a sporadic problem on susceptible varieties when fruit comes in contact with damp soil. Red stele, a soilborne fungus, can be avoided by choosing resistant varieties.

Harvesting: Ripe berries appear about 30 days after bloom. Once the berry is fully red, let your taste buds be your final guide on when to harvest. Pick every two to three days, or daily in very hot weather. Keep green caps attached. To preserve flavor and shelf life, pick into a shallow, paper towel lined container, no more than three or four layers of berries deep. Refrigerate immediately after picking. Hull and wash just before serving.

What Are Cartoonist Qualifications?

There’s no set career path for becoming a cartoonist, and the requirements vary just as much as the venues in which cartoonists work. Editorial cartoonists, for example, work for magazines and newspapers, using their comics to comment on current events. Cartoonists also create greeting cards, illustrating everything from birthday to get-well cards. They work for publishers, creating comic books and graphic novels as well as occasional book illustrations.

Skills

Cartoonists must have artistic and technical skills, including a talent for drawing and an understanding of the tools and mediums involved in cartooning. These tools include not only paper and pencil, but also computers and animation software. Cartoonists must also be adept at communicating with wit and humor, because in addition to being entertainment, cartoons often comment on current events, especially in the case of editorial cartoons, which often address politics, religion, economics or other potentially controversial topics. Writing talent is equally important, because cartoonists not only draw, but frequently write dialogue and titles. Cartoonist Hilary Price cites communication skills as even more crucial than artistic technique, saying there’s “an unspoken rule of newspaper comics” that “you can’t have bad writing and good art.”

Education

No specific training is required to become a cartoonist. In fact, you can teach yourself cartooning through books, DVDs and other educational materials, but to help develop professional-level skills, enroll in one of the many cartooning programs offered by colleges, universities, art institutes and other postsecondary institutions. Though not essential for finding employment, these programs guide you in every aspect of working as a cartoonist and offer you a way to create a portfolio, exhibit your work and find internships or employment after graduation. The Center for Cartoon Studies offers one- and two-year certificate programs, a two-year master of fine arts degree and summer workshops. Through the program, students learn the technical side of cartooning as well as completing an internship and compiling the all-important portfolio needed to demonstrate their skills to potential employers.

Portfolio

Employers value extensive training and experience when hiring cartoonists, but they place even more importance on the artist’s work. A sterling resume won’t get you hired unless it’s accompanied by a thorough and diverse portfolio of work that demonstrates to publishers that your cartooning style meshes with their editorial style. You can create a portfolio by freelancing, by creating pieces for private clients or by attending art classes or enrolling in a degree program. If you don’t have those options, you can assemble a portfolio of sample drawings and sketches.

Experience

You don’t need extensive experience as a cartoonist to secure employment. A strong body of sample work may be sufficient to prove your skills to employers. However, previous experience shows employers you’re consistent enough to produce a cartoon on deadline, and may help you build a following for your work. This following may encourage publishers to hire you, and is a must if you want to syndicate your work, which an estimated 250 cartoonists in the United States do, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Syndication companies compete with each other for newspaper space, and need cartoonists who can attract more subscribers. Cartoonists with industry experience and a strong following are more competitive.