The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) announced the debut of the Food and Beverage Service Competency Model, a competency model designed expressly for the restaurant and foodservice industry.
The Food and Beverage Service Competency Model, which profiles the employability and technical skills essential to achieving life-long career success in the industry, is now represented as part of U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration's Industry Competency Model Initiative. The interactive model is hosted on the U.S. Department of Labor's CareerOneStop website among 22 other high-growth industry competency models including construction, energy, health care, retail, and advanced manufacturing.
"The restaurant industry trains America's workforce, offering one in three Americans their first job," says Rob Gifford, executive vice president, strategic operations and philanthropy for the National Restaurant Association and the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.
"The skills learned and developed within the restaurant industry range from employability to technical and business leadership skills," Gifford says. "From a workforce development standpoint, the Food and Beverage Service Competency Model establishes an unprecedented guide to help inform the industry's workforce development, training, and certification standards and approaches, as well as those of industry employers, educators, and the public workforce investment system."
Over a five-month period beginning in June 2014, the NRAEF collaborated with members of the National Restaurant Association and State Restaurant Association representatives, alongside allied industry partners and the U.S. Department of Labor, to form a workforce industry advisory panel to devise and validate the competency model. The panel's mission was to ensure the competency model aligned with the skill sets, values, and career pathways within the industry.
The model provides a framework of understanding regarding career opportunities within the industry, and aligns with other industry models to demonstrate common transferable skills and competencies. It is comprised of the following nine tiers:
- Tier 1: Personal Effectiveness Competencies
- Tier 2: Academic Competencies
- Tier 3: Workplace Competencies
- Tier 4: Industry-wide Competencies
- Tier 5: Industry-sector Competencies
- Tiers 6-8: Occupation-specific Requirements
- Tier 9: Management Competencies
The NRAEF recently released Who Works in the U.S. Restaurant Industry, a comprehensive research report about career opportunity in the restaurant and foodservice industry. The research charts the opinions of nearly 5,100 Americans who currently work or formerly worked in the industry, as well as those who own or operate restaurants.
The Food and Beverage Service Competency Model compliments this research by providing incumbent workers, job seekers, and influencers with a clear understanding of how best to enter, advance, and ultimately succeed in the restaurant and foodservice sector.
The creation of the Food and Beverage Service Competency Model was funded through a collaborative partnership between the NRAEF and the ACT Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Joyce Foundation, and Lumina Foundation.
