Restaurant Waiter, Vocational Qualification in Restaurant and Catering Services
Become a customer service and hospitality professional
Vocational Qualification of Restaurant and Catering Services
Competence area: Customer Service
Do you enjoy making people feel welcome? Have you worked in a restaurant before, maybe as a waiter, or are you ready to try it for the first time? At Perho, you can grow your skills, gain hands-on experience, and start building a career in the hospitality world. We’ll guide you every step of the way.
As a student in the Restaurant Waiter programme, you’ll learn how to provide excellent customer service, support sales, and work in different types of hospitality businesses — from cosy cafés to cruise ships, from fine-dining restaurants to vibrant nightclubs.
Your studies will be work-based, either through an apprenticeship contract or a training agreement with your employer. Most students complete their qualification in about 1–1.5 years, combining on-the-job learning with school-based instruction.
Where can this take you?
After graduating, you’ll be ready to work in a variety of roles within the restaurant and catering industry, such as:
- Hotels and lounges
- Cruise ships
- Restaurants of all styles and concepts
- Nightclubs and cocktail bars
- Cafés and catering services
- Tourism companies
- Institutional kitchens
In this programme, you’ll learn how to serve customers in a friendly and professional way, use industry-specific terms confidently, and work in a sales-minded, quality-conscious, and sustainable manner — all while meeting hygiene and safety requirements.
Applying 24 x 7
You can apply for a study place 24 x 7 via the link below. We will contact you by email within two weeks of receiving your application.
To Whom
You can apply if you have at least one year of experience working in restaurant, and your current employer is willing to sign an apprenticeship contract (paid one) or a training agreement (not paid) for you. In addition, you need to live in Finland, and you have sufficient level of English language skills.
Interview
We will invite selected applicants for an interview based on their application and supporting documents including educational certificates current employer’s information and a motivation letter.
In the interview, we pay attention to your employer’s commitment for your studies, to your career plan, motivation, and preconditions in studying the vocational qualification in Restaurant and Catering Services.
Tuition
Tuition fee will not be charged for those starting their studies in May 2026.
Starting 1 August 2026, tuition fees may be charged to students from countries outside the EU/EEA. The obligation to pay the tuition fee is determined on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the applicant’s residence permit status and factors related to compulsory education. If necessary, the assessment may be made in consultation with the Finnish immigration authorities
Professional uniforms/knives cost about 500 euros.
Duration
Your individual studies can begin throughout the year. The study time is also individual depending on your work experience background. Studies last 1–1,5 years on average. You can graduate individually at the end of each month except July.
Studying mainly by working in restaurants
In the work-based study programme you will mainly learn by working in restaurants by an apprenticeship contract or a training agreement with your employer.
You come to school on average twice a month at Töölö Campus, Perhonkatu 11, Helsinki.
Your contact studies include service classes and occasionally some special classes.
You will also study theoretical subjects related to the profession; most of the theory studies can be done independently at iPerho, our digital learning environment. You will be studying in a joint multicultural study group with about twenty restaurant cook students.
Why choose Perho?
In the Vocational Qualification in Restaurant and Catering Services, you will learn versatile skills for food preparation, serving, sales, and customer service tasks. After graduation, you can work in a wide range of restaurant industry jobs – in restaurants, hotels, staff canteens, student and lunch restaurants, on ships, in cafés, as well as in event catering and tourism companies.
The field also offers international opportunities. If you wish, you can work abroad or start your own restaurant. Perho provides you with the skills to build a career path that suits you.
More information
-
Jenni Heikkilä
Study Coordinator +358 40 774 7622 jenni.heikkila@perho.fi