Restaurant managers have a variety of responsibilities, including handling customer complaints, managing inventory and supplies, scheduling staff, and hiring and firing employees. They may work long hours but receive benefits such as free meals and profit-sharing. Managers are often promoted from within the company.
Depending on the size and scope of the operation, restaurant managers wear many different hats throughout the day. Some of these responsibilities may be delegated to assistant managers or trusted team members, but the manager position still has a significant number of duties and obligations.
It is not uncommon for a person in this role at a large commercial restaurant to work at least 60 hours a week or more.
For customers and suppliers alike, a restaurant manager is essentially the “face” of the business. Any complaints related to food quality, customer service or maintenance are usually handled by him. Food suppliers and service providers routinely deal with the manager to confirm receipt of goods and services or to implement any changes to future orders. The manager usually takes inventories of current supplies and calculates upcoming food and supply orders accordingly.
There are also several administrative roles associated with being a restaurant manager. Staff need to be scheduled to ensure the restaurant has enough staff available at peak times. It is also up to that person to schedule breaks and vacations to avoid paying overtime or under-scheduling good employees. Payroll may be handled by an external source, but the manager may still need to inspect employee time cards to ensure their accuracy. He or she may also have to periodically hire new employees or, in some cases, fire employees who violate rules or provide substandard work.
While a restaurant manager may have to dedicate many hours of his or her time to the company, there are some benefits to the job. Meals are usually provided free of charge, as these employees rarely have time to leave the premises during working hours. Managers can also receive decent benefits packages including health insurance, 401k retirement plans, stock options and paid vacation. They can even directly share in the restaurant’s profits, which can be an incentive to work harder and improve the overall operation.
While much of what a restaurant manager does is behind the scenes, he or she may be called upon to fill in for absent or terminated employees. This means that a good manager needs to understand each season of the business and demonstrate a level of competence in all of them. Often, a manager is promoted from within so he or she is already familiar with the kitchen, sanitation, or customer service departments. Sometimes the person is hired from the outside because of their administrative or accounting skills, but more often than not a restaurant owner promotes promising employees out of the trenches and into supervisory positions. The ultimate reward for an employee’s hard work and dedication is usually a promotion to management.
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