restaurant manager Career Center

Career as a Restaurant Manager

If you are torn between your love for working in the food service industry and your love of business management, a career as a restaurant manager may be the answer for you. Managers in this field are required to be jacks-of-all-trades. Requiring a combination of customer service, overseeing food preparation and ensuring the business is running optimally, restaurant manager careers can be challenging, as well as extremely rewarding. However, there are many factors to consider when it comes to the working conditions in this career.

Here are a few things to expect as a restaurant manager.

• Plan to be pulled in many directions – Because your job will be to oversee all operations of the business, your attention will have to be in multiple departments at the same time. One minute you may be overseeing the cleanliness in the kitchen and safety standards being utilized during food preparation, and the next minute you may be addressing a customer concern about the wait time. You need to be ready to take on a variety of situations while keeping your cool and staying professional.
• Anticipate long hours – A manager’s job is one that never seems to end. In fact, managers are typically the first ones to arrive in the morning and the last ones to leave at night. Working hours average 12 to 15 each day, and many managers stay on call once they leave work in case of an emergency. While this is not ideal for some people, others thrive in this setting because they are passionate about their work and want to ensure the customers, employees and chefs are happy and well taken care of.
• Expect the unexpected – As in any industry, employees come and go. In food service, this has been seen to be more frequent than in other industries, so many managers face frequent employment openings in their business. This can mean that you will need to be prepared to pay some employees overtime during shortages of this nature, or you yourself will need to have the skills to step in and take over when needed in various departments.
• Be a firm decision maker – Managers of restaurants are typically called upon to choose new menu items and decide on new offerings for customers. Because the manager is in front of the customers, he or she may hear many customer requests. It is then the manager’s job to take these requests into account and determine if they are the best business decision or if the cost of implementing the changes is too high. Having the ability to make decisions that are mutually beneficial for the customer and business is an important attribute in a restaurant manager.

Restaurant managers have a unique career in that they manage all aspects of the business, from food preparation to customer service.