What is a Restaurant Manager?

Published
28 Jan 2020

28 Jan 2020

As a restaurant manager, it's your job to ensure that your restaurant operates efficiently and profitably while maintaining its good reputation and ethos. You'll coordinate a variety of activities, whatever the size or type of the outlet, and are responsible for the restaurant's business performance, quality standards and health and safety.

Combining strategic planning and day-to-day management activities, your role as a restaurant manager is both business-like and creative, particularly in terms of marketing and business development.

General Daily Tasks as a Restaurant Manager

  • Directing hiring, training, motivation, and termination of personnel.
  • Managing the inventory of food supplies and equipment and ensuring the appropriate restocking or repairing.
  • Overseeing the quality and sanitary status of supplies and equipment.
  • Ensuring that all sanitary regulations are met and followed by all employees.
  • Providing customers with the appropriate compensation when food or service quality standards are not met.
  • Overseeing and monitoring staff schedules, duties, and responsibilities.
  • Reviewing financial transactions.
  • Building a network of vendors.

Key Skills to have as a Restaurant Manager

Not everyone has what it takes to make a great restaurant manager. As with any career you’re considering, you need to know the skills you’ll need, so you’ll know if the career is for you. It will take a lot of hard work, time, and dedication to become a restaurant manager. It’d be a terrible shame to put the effort in, land the job you’ve been focused on achieving, only to find that when you reach your goals, you struggle to meet your job requirements.

The following will break down the most desirable skills you will need to be a restaurant manager.

  1. To be business minded with commercial awareness-

This is going to be assessed at interview stage, when applying for a position. The reason employers need to know this is that you’re going to be managing the finances of the restaurant. That will involve dealing with suppliers and negotiating the best price possible.

Another reason is to ensure that you understand the nature of the catering business.  You need to know what makes a restaurant a success. Think of the restaurants you’ve visited and consider the experience you had. Was it positive enough for you to return? If this is the case, then ask yourself what their service did that gave you that level of satisfaction.

  1. Strong interpersonal skills-

Your interpersonal skills are really going to carry you through in this line of work. You need to be strong in your communication skills, and be able to multi-task, and also delegate some work to your team, to ensure the restaurant runs smoothly.

This also includes being a great listener. This isn’t something that we’re all naturally good at, however those who are naturally good at listening to others will be able to acknowledge problems, which transfer over into your problem-solving capabilities.

Interpersonal skills are mainly broken down into 3 components:

  1. Communication
  2. Listening
  3. Solving problems

Excel in those skills above, and you’ll do well as a .

  1. Organisational skills-

The ability to organise is an essential part of the ’ job role. As a manager, you’ll have to organise the restaurant to be as functional as possible. Besides the appearance of the restaurant, you’ll also have to be able to organise your staff.

You’ll need enough front of house staff to continually meet, greet, and be exceptional with guests, through professional restaurant etiquette. Part of that will involve the recruitment of suitable candidates at times, so you’ll need to be able to identify the best from the worst, recruiting the people that will help you, organise the staffing requirements to cater to guests. The organisation will also flow into the kitchen. You’ll need to have the right staff on shift, to cater to the needs of the expected number guests. 

  1. Assertiveness without aggressiveness-

Team leading isn’t really a skill you can develop. What you can work on though is how you can use your knowledge and lead a team, by displaying assertiveness. Some people aren’t naturally good leaders and require further training. To lead a team, you’ll have to give instructions, but please take note that instructions aren’t the same as orders. As a , you will need the respect of all your staff, to be able to succeed.

  1. Numeracy Skills-

Being good with numbers is an absolute must to be a . You’re responsible for the figures, the staff numbers, managing overheads, ordering food, machinery repairs etc, all being part of your responsibilities.

What is a Restaurant Manager salary?

Now we’re getting down to the nitty gritty…

As a restaurant manager you could earn between £27,000 and £40,000+. This will depend on the location, the size and the type of restaurant, as well as your experience.

Looking to go further in your career after becoming a Restaurant Manager?

Once you’ve gained experience as a restaurant manager and you are ready to take your career to the next stage, you could look for positions in a larger or more upmarket restaurant, where you will be given more responsibility.

If you are up for even more of a challenge, you could aim to be promoted to area manager. An area manager is in charge of multiple restaurants within an allocated region.