Restaurant Service and Management Schools and Programs in Spain

Restaurant Service and Management Studies in Spain

In Spanish hospitality, restauración means the restaurant and food service trade: restaurants, bars, cafés, banqueting and catering, covering the kitchen, front-of-house service, wine service (sommellerie) and running the business. In Spain you can study it through vocational training (FP), through university degrees in gastronomy and hospitality management, and at schools offering their own master's programmes and courses. If you are looking for the restoration of works of art and heritage, see the last section.

How the training is organised

The most direct route is FP in the Hostelería y Turismo (hospitality and tourism) professional family. According to TodoFP, the Ministry of Education's vocational training portal, the cycles most closely linked to restaurant work are:

• Técnico en Servicios en Restauración (intermediate level, 2,000 hours): bar and café service, restaurant service and special events, wine and its service, food offers and customer service
• Técnico en Cocina y Gastronomía (intermediate level, 2,000 hours)
• Técnico Superior en Dirección de Servicios de Restauración (higher level, 2,000 hours): sommellerie, planning and managing services and events, quality management and food safety and hygiene
• Técnico Superior en Dirección de Cocina (higher level, 2,000 hours)

These cycles include a period of training in a company. At university, Royal Decree 822/2021 sets bachelor's degrees at 240 ECTS credits (four years) and master's degrees at 60, 90 or 120 credits. RUCT, the Ministry's register of official degrees, lists degrees such as the Grado en Ciencias Culinarias y Gastronómicas and the Grado en Dirección y Gestión Gastronómica at the Universitat de Barcelona, and the Grado en Dirección de Empresas Hoteleras y Gastronómicas at the Universitat de Girona. Many private schools also offer master's programmes, advanced programmes and courses in restaurant management; these are the schools' own qualifications, not official degrees.

Where to study restaurant service and management in Spain

Barcelona and its surroundings have most of the schools on this page, with further options in Madrid, Zaragoza, Almería, Vigo and Valladolid, plus online training. Examples:

• CETT (Barcelona) offers FP cycles, university degrees awarded by the Universitat de Barcelona and master's programmes, and has the Hotel Universitario Alimara on its campus
• St. POL Hospitality & Culinary Business School (Sant Pol de Mar) is run as a hotel school and offers, among others, an intermediate cycle it calls Técnico en Gastronomía y Restauración, the official degree in Gestión Hotelera y Turística and an online Diploma in Food & Beverage and Restaurant Management
• Joviat (Manresa) teaches the intermediate cycles in Cooking and in Restaurant and Bar Service, which students can take together in three years to obtain both qualifications, and the higher-level cycle in Kitchen Management
• ESAH is an online hospitality school that, according to the school, has trained professionals since 2007; its programmes include a Máster en Dirección de Restaurantes, awarded by the Escuela de Hostelería de Sevilla and UTAMED
• CESAE (Madrid) teaches online programmes such as an MBA in hotel and restaurant management and a Programa Superior en Dirección y Gestión en Restauración

Admission requirements

Intermediate cycles are open to holders of the Spanish secondary school certificate (Graduado en ESO) or equivalent, or through an access test, for which candidates must be at least 17 in the year of the test. Higher cycles require the Bachillerato, an intermediate FP qualification (Técnico) or an access test. Students with foreign school qualifications must first apply for homologation of non-university foreign qualifications (homologación de títulos y estudios extranjeros no universitarios) to the Ministry. For a university degree, the usual route is UNEDasiss, which assesses international students' records for access to Spanish bachelor's degrees.

Recognition and careers

FP qualifications and the degrees listed in RUCT are official throughout Spain. After a higher-level FP cycle you can continue to a university degree, with the possibility of having FP modules recognised. According to TodoFP, the intermediate cycle in Servicios en Restauración prepares for work as a bar, café or restaurant waiter, chef de rang, barman or assistant sommelier. The higher cycle in Dirección de Servicios de Restauración leads to jobs such as maître, head waiter, sommelier, banqueting manager and catering operations manager.

Restoration of cultural heritage

The conservation and restoration of works of art, documents, archaeological objects and other heritage is a different field, taught as an official university degree. RUCT lists, for example, the Grado en Conservación-Restauración de Bienes Culturales at the Universitat de Barcelona and similar degrees at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, the Universidad de Granada, the Universidad de Sevilla and the Universitat Politècnica de València.

Frequently asked questions

Which FP course should I take to work in restaurants?

The Hostelería y Turismo cycles: Servicios en Restauración and Cocina y Gastronomía at intermediate level, and Dirección de Servicios de Restauración and Dirección de Cocina at higher level.

How long does an FP cycle in restaurant service take?

The cycles in Servicios en Restauración, Cocina y Gastronomía, Dirección de Servicios de Restauración and Dirección de Cocina each have 2,000 hours, including training in a company.

Are there university degrees related to restaurant management?

Yes. RUCT lists official degrees in gastronomy, such as those of the Universitat de Barcelona, and in hotel and gastronomy business management, such as the one at the Universitat de Girona.

Can I study hospitality FP in Spain with qualifications from another country?

Yes, but you first need homologation of your foreign non-university qualifications from the Ministry of Education, or you can pass an access test.