The role of a restaurant manager isn’t uniform across all restaurants, which makes it hard to fill. However, there are some responsibilities that you’ll need to be prepared to take on if you’re working in, or interested in, this role.
We’ve created this comprehensive guide on restaurant management responsibilities that you may find helpful. A restaurant manager who can comfortably manage the below duties will have what it takes to run a tight ship!
What Is A Restaurant Manager?
Restaurant managers are the jacks of all trades within the hospitality industry. They work closely with restaurant owners, suppliers, staff, and customers to ensure an efficient and high-quality dining experience.
They are responsible for much of the day-to-day FOH (front-of-house) and BOH (back-of-house) restaurant management, as well as finance, inventory management, and customer relations. They are also responsible for implementing and supervising health and safety regulations and hiring new talent.
There is no real limit to what a restaurant manager must know. They need to constantly learn and adapt to trends to effectively manage all aspects of their restaurant.
Restaurant manager education requirements vary across the restaurant industry. Most small establishments or fast food franchises require restaurant managers to have at least a high school diploma.
Upscale restaurants or hotel restaurants require a manager to hold a business or hospitality management degree or certificate.
All in all, a restaurant manager is an integral part of the dining experience. A good restaurant manager can elevate a restaurant and drive it toward success.
11 Essential Restaurant Manager Responsibilities and Duties
Restaurant managers have a lot of duties and responsibilities. When hiring an assistant restaurant manager, make sure they possess most of, if not all of, the following skills.
Leadership Skills
The importance of leadership in a managerial position cannot be overstated. Managers with leadership skills command the respect of those working under them and effectively direct teams.
In a restaurant manager, leadership is essential. They are responsible for leading the restaurant operations, and they need to do this without constant supervision from the owner. A restaurant manager also needs leadership skills to lead stressed staff on busy nights without it affecting clientele or the food quality.
Hard and soft leadership skills will direct a restaurant manager’s approach to certain issues. They need to know when to motivate and when to be stern with staff.
Excellent Customer Service Skills
Ensuring customer satisfaction is a non-negotiable part of hospitality management. Consistent customer satisfaction will improve customer retention and foster a good online and offline reputation for your restaurant.
A restaurant manager must have the following customer service skills:
- Provide Friendly Customer Service: Restaurant managers are constantly in contact with customers. They need to provide excellent customer service that maintains the restaurant's integrity and reputation. This friendly customer service should also extend to vendors, suppliers, and other business partners.
- Manage Customer Complaints: A restaurant manager is always going to deal with customer complaints. They must resolve customers' issues politely, even if the customer is being unreasonable.
- Enforce Staff Customer Service Standards: One of the most important restaurant manager duties is managing how the staff treats customers. The restaurant manager needs to enforce company customer service standards and lead as an example.
Communication skills
Communication can take many forms, and nowhere is this more true than for a restaurant manager.
- Restaurant managers must know how to communicate with their team, vendors, and customers.
- A restaurant manager must have a good grasp of language and nonverbal communication cues.
- They need to resolve team conflict quickly and completely, to avoid resentment among staff members.
- A restaurant manager must understand when to be stern versus empathetic.
Time, Scheduling, and Employee Management
A good restaurant manager knows how to manage their time effectively. Because their job requires them to be almost everywhere at once, they need to manage their duties and responsibilities quickly without impacting their work quality.
Time management also extends to their employees. One of the biggest restaurant manager responsibilities includes crafting employee schedules, managing time off requests, and arranging your teams in a way that takes advantage of their strengths and covers their weaknesses.
Commercial Awareness
Commercial awareness refers to an awareness of business trends, needs, and goals. As you can imagine, this is a key duty for any competent restaurant manager.
First, the restaurant manager must know how to implement and improve online marketing tactics. This means partnering with the right digital marketing agencies, hiring experienced social media managers, taking advantage of promotions and analytics, and using technology to track and predict trends for future marketing.
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Next, they need to manage offline marketing. This includes communicating with local businesses and networking to build partnerships. They also need to know how to manage events, research local trends, and scout industry competition.
Finally, commercial awareness also means having a good grasp on basic business concepts, and key concepts that relate to your restaurant. A restaurant manager’s duties require them to grow the restaurant, and they can only do this if they are market and money savvy.
Financial Literacy
Financial literacy ties into the above point. To drive profit, your restaurant manager needs to be financially literate. They should understand the restaurant's financial performance, where it needs to improve, and how to improve it without straining existing budgets.
They also need to manage financial reports and create budgets. Their financial literacy will give them the unique ability to collect data and optimize operations with this data.
Vendor and Inventory Management
BOH restaurant management includes both vendor and inventory management. A restaurant manager needs to manage these duties and ensure that the restaurant is always stocked up and ready to go.
For vendor management, the restaurant manager's responsibilities include effective and friendly communication. They need to know how to work out discounts with wholesalers or how to find other wholesalers if one isn’t working.
They also need to maintain food quality and do credit and credibility checks. Building a good relationship with suppliers will also always work in your favor.
For inventory management, they need to know how to use restaurant management software and inventory management tactics to track food and expenses and order new inventory.
Hiring and Training
Restaurant manager responsibilities included interviewing and onboarding new employees. Managers need to have a clear grasp of FOH and BOH operations, what they need, and how to train employees to function well in these sectors.
The manager also needs to clearly outline expectations, responsibilities, and other key points to new employees.
Enforcing Policies
As a restaurant, your business is subject to a lot of regulations. These include food hygiene regulations as well as health and safety regulations for employees and customers.
Your restaurant manager needs to enforce these regulations, preferably quickly and without having to resort to warnings. They need to communicate clearly why their regulations are important and be consistent in their expectations.
They also need to enforce other restaurant policies, including those on discrimination, workplace harassment, etc. They need to be well-versed in these issues and actively look out for them to prevent them from becoming a common occurrence.
Local and state employee worker regulations also need to be followed to a T. If restaurant managers need to be versed in labor law compliance, they need to learn about it and be willing to commit themselves to continued education.
Planning Menu and Managing Pricing
Restaurant managers are in charge of creating the restaurant menu. For the best menu, your manager needs to work with your chefs to see what you have, what you can make, and what to expect. The manager also needs to use restaurant analytics to track trends in the market to create a menu that suits current market demands.
The menu planning also includes managing food pricing. Managers need to use restaurant food cost software, and outside research to plan and optimize expenses to bring in profit while remaining competitive.
Restaurant Equipment and Software Comprehension
Software and technology have completely changed how restaurants run. Modern restaurants can now create fully integrated restaurant management ecosystems that allow managers to control almost every aspect of the managing process.
If your restaurant is highly advanced, or you hope you integrate more software into your restaurant operations, find a manager with a good grasp of technology in restaurants.
Conclusion
Restaurant managers are the backbones of restaurants, and a good restaurant manager can be the difference between success and failure.
To find or be the best manager, seek out or learn these key restaurant manager duties and responsibilities. Use the above list as a guide and check for these essential skills
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