Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Hospitality Management Certificate of Achievement

This certificate program is designed to prepare students in Hospitality Management to engage in the world of entrepreneurship. The program’s interdisciplinary approach to entrepreneurship equips students with relevant tools in exploring various pathways to entrepreneurship such as full-time business ownership, sub-contracting (freelancing), consulting, corporate intrapreneurship or mission-driven social entrepreneurship.

The interdisciplinary focus provides basic culinary and service skills training for business startups. While generally designed for those interested in attaining a certificate in hospitality field, this skillset allows students to participate in today’s gig economy as a freelance chef, a food blogger, or a content creator in the hospitality industry.

The projected number of annual completers for the Certificate of Achievement – Entrepreneurship degree is 3 - 7 students.  This estimate is solely based on course enrollment data for two semesters since the program started in Fall 2018.  Projections made was based on the macro and microeconomic environment surrounding the program.

The goals of the Certificate of Achievement – Entrepreneurship prepares Hospitality Management students for the world of entrepreneurship. The program equips students with the foundational tools necessary for every startup. The program helps develop students not only for-profit ventures but also for social enterprises that yield positive social impact. It will also enrich student skillsets for corporate intrapreneurship as they enter the workforce.

Upon completion of this program, students will be able to:

• Apply an entrepreneurial mindset that breeds creativity and innovation in hospitality management.
• Use terms and concepts related to functional areas of entrepreneurship necessary for startups.
• Analyze the marketing environment to identify entrepreneurial opportunities and areas for growth and development.
• Develop an agile and lean business plan for a startup project or enterprise that is ready for pitching.
• Compare different entrepreneurship pathways that are available for people venturing into food and beverage industry.

The program starts with the introduction of basic entrepreneurial skills needed to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and help the student come up with an idea to bring to market. It also helps students decide what type of entrepreneurial venture they can pursue. The interdisciplinary nature of the curriculum leverages on other areas of excellence from other disciplines to complete the entrepreneurial tool kit required from idea to market.  Hospitality Management is one of these tracks. 

The certificate requires foundational and specialization courses. The 9 units foundational courses prepare students to acquire intrapreneurial skills that are highly sought by employers today. ENTR 101 Introduction to Entrepreneurship, ENTR 102 Applied Design Thinking and MRKT 140 Introduction to Marketing all address the foundational base of entrepreneurship.

The program allows students to choose 9 units from CAHS courses to gain the knowledge and skills in this area of specialization. For those who are already registered in this program, the Certificate in Entrepreneurship can be stacked over the one they are currently taking.  

Required courses                                                  Units    Sequence

ENTR 101     Introduction to 

                      Entrepreneurship                              3.00           S1, Y1

ENTR 102     Applied Design Thinking 

                      in Entrepreneurship                           1.50           S2, Y1

DSGN 105    Design Thinking                                  1.50           S1, Y1

MRKT 140     Marketing Principles                          3.00           S2, Y1      

Choose a minimum of 9 units from the following courses:

CAHS 32       Hospitality Marketing (spring only)    3.00           S2, Y1                                                          

CAHS 34       Hospitality Law (Spring only)              3.00           S2, Y1

CAHS 42       Fundamentals of Hospitality 

                      Financial Report                                  3.00           S1, Y1

CAHS 100     Introduction to Hospitality                3.00           S1, Y1

CAHS 205     Introduction to Wine (Fall only)         3.00           S1, Y1

CAHS 208     Intro to Event and Meeting 

                      Planning (Spring only)                         4.00           S2, Y1

CAHS 209     Food Business Entrepreneurship 

                       (Fall only)                                             3.00            S1, Y1

CAHS 222    Beverage Management (Spring only)  3.00           S2, Y1

BIO 130       Nutrition and Culinary Arts (Fall only)  2.00           S1, Y1

BIO 121       Sanitation Principles and Practices      2.00           S2, Y1                                                                                                Total     9.00 each semester                                                                                    Certificate Total   18.00                 

The Certificate of Achievement in Entrepreneurship is relatively new and is continuously evolving. This curriculum is designed to only provide the foundational knowledge for a startup and advises students to take further courses in finance, marketing, or general business to dive deeper to other functional areas of business. There are no other departments in the college offering similar curriculum.

There are 13 community colleges in the Bay Region issuing 52 awards on average annually (last 3 years) on TOP 0506.40 - Small Business and Entrepreneurship. There are three colleges in the Mid-Peninsula Sub-Region issuing 6 awards on average annually (last 3 years) on this TOP code. There are twelve 4-year universities or colleges offering undergraduate and/or graduate degrees in Entrepreneurship, or BS in Business with concentration in Entrepreneurship (University of California Berkeley, Stanford, UC Santa Cruz, CSU East Bay, Dominican University, Menlo College, Saint Mary’s College, San Francisco State, San Jose State, Santa Clara University, Sonoma State and University of San Francisco).