地方小吃是國人創業的主要選擇之一，但要在競爭激烈的環境中持續經營，除擁有資金、設備外，更重要的是專業能力的軟性素養。因此，本研究主要目的在探討小吃經營者之專業能力。採文獻探討、半開放訪談以及問卷調查法，以台中小吃經營者為研究對象，以自編之「小吃經營者專業能力問卷」為工具，採便利取樣，面訪調查，共發出470 份問卷，回收有效問卷300 份。主要發現如下：小吃經營者專業能力分為專業知識、專業技術、專業才能(心智能力)、專業態度及動機等四大類，十三個構面，51 項能力。另外，小吃經營者對專業能力的重視度會因年齡、學歷、有無開店經驗、有無餐飲相關工作經驗的不同而有顯著差異，但不會因性別、經營年資的不同而有差異。根據研究結果，對小吃業者及餐飲教育提出實務上建議，並對後續研究提出建言。

The local food has played an important role in tourism, and it was the most possible to have a local food store to start an enterprise in Taiwan. However, it was not easy to maintain sustainable success of their business in such a competitive environment. It was indispensable for the owners to have capitals, facilities, and especially should possess enough professional competencies called as soft power. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to explore the competencies required by the local food entrepreneurs. The research was conducted by literature review, indepth interviews and questionnaire survey, aiming at the local food entrepreneurs. Based on the interviews and literature review, the researcher compiled the questionnaire and conducted pilot test to confirm the validity of the questionnaire. Convenience sampling method was used to collect data. 470 subjects were interviewed with questionnaire, and got 300 effective questionnaires in return. The main results showed that the competencies needed by local food entrepreneurs could be divided into four categories that were composed of 13 dimensions with 51 items competencies, including professional knowledge, professional skills, conceptual abilities, attitude and motivations. Besides, this study found that the importance of the competencies weighted by local food entrepreneurs varied with the owner’s age, educational degree and the hands-on experiences, but their gender and working years in this industry won’t affect their demand for competencies. According to the results, the researcher made some suggestions for the operations, food and beverage education, and further studies.