An investigation was done to ascertain the effectiveness of individualized instructional methods as compared with traditional instructional methods in vocational food service programs at the community college level. Subjects, forty-three hotel/motel restaurant management students, were divided into subgroups: students who transferred from another postsecondary institution and those who entered the community college directly after high school. An individualized instruction model was developed and used with the subjects. A questionnaire was administered to compare significant differences between individualized and traditional instruction for eight variables: academic challenge, motivation to learn more about a concept, appropriateness of learning level, preference for peer contact, amount of instructor contact preferred, satisfaction of individual interests, identification of learning concepts to learners, and sense of achievement. In the total population's responses three variables indicating a preference for individualized instruction were found: satisfaction of individual interests, identification of learning concepts to the learner, and sense of achievement. (Appendixes contain sample letters to the student's instructor, the survey instrument, pretest and posttest, and the individualized unit of instruction.) (CSS)