Hospitality Industry Talent Association
Join hospitality employers across Indiana in developing skilled, career-ready talent for your industry.
A Hospitality Talent Pipeline Built by Employers
Indiana hospitality employers face a persistent workforce challenge: attracting people who are ready for the demands of the workplace and giving them reasons to build a career in the industry rather than treating hospitality as a temporary job.
Led by Hospitality Indiana, the Hospitality ITA brings employers together through INCAP to address those challenges collectively. Seventeen employers and organizations are already participating, helping identify priority occupations, define the skills and competencies they require, and shape education and training around the realities of hospitality workplaces.
Employers participate to:
- Build a stronger pipeline of career-ready talent
- Develop shared training standards around the workplace skills employers need
- Help shape occupations and training around real hospitality operations
- Access industry-specific education and training rather than developing it independently
Turning Employer Demand Into Programs
The Hospitality ITA brings employers together to identify shared workforce needs and develop occupations that prepare talent for careers across Indiana’s hospitality industry. Employers help determine which occupations should be prioritized, define the technical and professional competencies participants need, and shape education and workplace training around real industry expectations.
- Hospitality Operations Specialist is the first INCAP Hospitality Apprenticeship Program, with the first cohort planned to begin in August 2027. The ITA is also planning or exploring occupations in culinary and back-of-house restaurant operations, pastry, events, tourism, hotel front desk, hotel housekeeping, and front-of-house restaurant operations.
- Don’t see the occupation your organization needs? The ITA’s work is driven by employer demand. Contact the Hospitality ITA to share your workforce needs and help identify future occupations for development.
98%
Of annual openings come from workers leaving occupations or exiting the workforce — not industry growth
Available in 2027: Hospitality Operations Specialist
The Hospitality Operations Specialist is a two-year Apprenticeship Program that begins in 11th grade and combines industry-designed education and training with paid, hands-on experience across multiple areas of a hospitality-related organization.
The Workforce Need
Hospitality employers face a workforce challenge driven not only by the number of people available to hire, but by retention and workplace readiness. The industry experiences high employee turnover, while employers report difficulty finding candidates with core professional skills such as time management, digital literacy, teamwork, and communication.
At the same time, fewer young people are entering hospitality, and many see guest-facing positions as temporary jobs rather than the beginning of a career. For employers, that means continually recruiting and onboarding new workers while competing for a shrinking pool of people prepared to succeed in the industry.
The Solution
The Hospitality Operations Specialist program prepares apprentices around 17 industry competencies across four areas:
- Guest Services and Communication
- Sales, Marketing, and Guest Experience Design
- Administrative and Business Operations
- Sustainability, Safety, and Quality Standards
Five professional competency areas — Communication, Collaboration, Work Ethic and Responsibility, Technological and Digital Proficiency, and Emotional Intelligence — directly address the workplace-readiness skills employers say are often missing.
Apprentices gain experience across at least three functional areas of their employer’s operation and complete real-world assignments using their employer’s own operations and data.
The Career Pathway
The venue-neutral program is designed to prepare apprentices for careers across hotels, restaurants, event venues, attractions, tourism operations, resorts, and other hospitality settings — while helping them understand how their skills can transfer across the industry.
Every apprentice earns the INCAP Hospitality Operations Specialist Certificate, ServSafe Food Protection Manager, ServSafe Allergens, and AHLEI Guest Service Gold with the Certified Guest Service Professional designation, plus ServSafe Alcohol where the role requires it. Optional credentials include AHLEI Hospitality and Tourism Specialist, ServSuccess Certified Restaurant Professional, and ManageFirst Restaurant Management Professional.
The Hospitality Operations Specialist program prepares participants for positions such as host or hostess, front desk agent, guest services associate, and food and beverage service roles, with opportunities to advance over time into positions such as revenue manager, director of sales, general manager, or owner.
Why Build Your Talent Pipeline Through INCAP?
A Shared Model Makes It Easier to Develop Talent
Developing effective training independently takes time, expertise, and resources. Through the Hospitality ITA, employers share a common framework for developing people around the skills the industry needs while applying that training within their own operations.
Employers can:
- Spend less time developing training from scratch by using a shared competency framework, curriculum, work cases, evaluation tools, and employer training resources
- Help reduce recruiting and onboarding costs by developing employees who already understand hospitality operations, workplace expectations, and industry standards
- Address workplace-readiness gaps directly through ongoing development and assessment of communication, teamwork, work ethic, digital proficiency, and emotional intelligence
- Develop talent without carrying the full training burden because Hospitality Indiana delivers related instruction, administers assessments, and scores apprentice work
- Shape future programs by helping identify workforce needs and participating in the development of additional hospitality occupations
Build Talent With a Future in Hospitality
The Hospitality Operations Specialist program is designed to address one of the industry’s most persistent workforce challenges: retention. Apprentices don’t just learn how to perform today’s tasks. They explore career opportunities across hospitality, map potential career progression, earn industry credentials, and develop skills that transfer across hospitality settings.
For employers, that creates an opportunity to develop people who can see a future with the industry — and with their employer — rather than continually recruiting to replace short-term workers.
Your Role as an Employer Partner
Help Shape Industry Training
Hospitality ITA members help identify priority occupations and participate in working groups that shape future hospitality programs. Continued employer involvement helps ensure occupations, competencies, and training reflect changing industry workforce needs.
Provide the Workplace Experience
Employers hire and pay apprentices from the first day and provide approximately 1,260 hours of workplace learning across the two-year program, averaging about 18 hours per week during the school year.
Each employer identifies a training coordinator and at least one trainer per apprentice to provide supervision, feedback, and verification that the apprentice can apply what they are learning in the workplace.
Invest in Talent Development
Employers interested in participating must become members of the Hospitality ITA. Employer investment includes:
- ITA Membership: Hospitality Indiana anticipates an annual membership commitment, with a founding-member arrangement under discussion for employers that commit before the August 2027 launch
- Per-Apprentice Fee: Host employers will pay a fee for each apprentice; the final structure is currently being developed with founding employer partners
- Apprentice Compensation: Apprentices are employees from their first day and are paid at a rate set by their employer in accordance with state and federal wage requirements
Contact the Hospitality ITA for current costs.
17
Hospitality ITA Members
7+
Additional Occupations Planned or Being Explored
20+
Employers Expected to Host Apprentices in 2027
Questions About Employer Participation
Ready to Strengthen Your Talent Pipeline?
Hospitality Indiana leads the Hospitality Industry Talent Association. Contact the ITA to learn more about membership and hosting Hospitality Operations Specialist apprentices.
Amber Kincaid
INCAP Hospitality Program Manager, Hospitality Indiana