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Culinary manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Charlie Adams Ph.D.,

Dr. Liza Cobos

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical culinary manager skills. We ranked the top skills for culinary managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 24.2% of culinary manager resumes contained culinary as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a culinary manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 culinary manager skills for your resume and career

1. Culinary

Here's how culinary managers use culinary:

Supervised staff and inventory while providing progressive food and culinary expertise within a variety of settings.
Assisted the Senior Culinary Manager with inventory analysis, recipe development and student training.

2. Food Safety

Here's how culinary managers use food safety:

Streamlined operation to maximize efficiency of the kitchen ensuring proper food safety and rotation.
Followed food safety procedures according to company policies and health and sanitation guidelines.

3. Kitchen Operations

Here's how culinary managers use kitchen operations:

Supervised all aspects of kitchen operations.
Managed the overall performance of a food service facility and kitchen operations.

4. Food Preparation

Here's how culinary managers use food preparation:

Managed food preparation and presentation.
Hire, train and cross train all kitchen staff in all phases of food preparation, line cooking and restaurant cleanliness.

5. Kitchen Equipment

Kitchen Equipment refers to all those essential items which are crucial for the task of cooking.

Here's how culinary managers use kitchen equipment:

Maintained and utilized all kitchen equipment.
Provided for the timely repair, maintenance, and upkeep of all kitchen equipment and/or mechanical systems.

6. Cleanliness

Here's how culinary managers use cleanliness:

Supervised the cleanliness, presentation, and operation of food production of the buffet tables.
Based on quality and cleanliness of the restaurant based on independent evaluation by ECOLAB representative.

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7. Safety Standards

Here's how culinary managers use safety standards:

Monitored staff interaction with guests and each other to ensure health and safety standards and alcohol regulations were obeyed.
Assured compliance with all health and safety standards/protocols.

8. Food Handling

Here's how culinary managers use food handling:

Coach and motivate staff on best practices that promote service standards, sales growth and safe food handling.
Ensured high quality food handling and sanitation standards were met through frequent checks and inspections.

9. Labor Costs

Labor cost is the total of all financial expenses incurred during the production of a product or in the services rendered by a company. This includes wages paid to workers directly, benefits, health care, meals, training, and payroll taxes involved in the process. It also include indirect expenses on labor which is why it's divided into direct and indirect wages.

Here's how culinary managers use labor costs:

Reduce labor costs through eliminating overtime, cross training and maximizing employee productivity.
Designed scheduling templates that reduced same-store year-over-year labor costs by four percent.

10. ServSafe

Here's how culinary managers use servsafe:

Implemented and improved systems in kitchen to adhere to Sanitation, ServSafe and HAACP guidelines.
Completed the Red Lobster Training School with a score of 95% on ServSafe Test.

11. Food Cost

Food costs are the ratio of ingredients and the revenue they generate when sold. It is often used to determine the price of a meal at a restaurant.

Here's how culinary managers use food cost:

Analyzed budget projections measuring growth and profitability, streamlining efficient labor and food cost.
Reduced food costs by 30%percent by using DOD seasonal ingredients, setting standards for portion size and minimizing waste.

12. Line Checks

Here's how culinary managers use line checks:

Perform routine line checks to test food for quality, taste and appearance.
Performed line checks twice per shift as well as monthly inventory.

13. Fine Dining

Here's how culinary managers use fine dining:

Provided excellent customer service and consistently exceeded guest expectations in a full-service, fine dining environment.
Exceeded quality control and presentation of restaurant according to industry standards for a fine dining establishment.

14. Inventory Control

Here's how culinary managers use inventory control:

Managed purchasing and inventory control ensuring sufficient levels of high-quality product while minimizing waste.
Assisted management with scheduling and inventory control.

15. Customer Satisfaction

Here's how culinary managers use customer satisfaction:

Implemented policies, procedures and process improvement initiatives to improve sales and increase customer satisfaction.
Streamlined FOH operations increasing delivery speed and customer satisfaction.

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What skills help Culinary Managers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on culinary manager resumes?

Charlie Adams Ph.D.

Associate Professor, RHIM Undergraduate Advisor, Texas Tech University

Specific, measurable skills such as certification for specific activities like bartending or Serve Safe. Demonstrate capabilities through past work experience such as waiting tables, hosting, front desk, housekeeping, etc., that show effort and familiarity with the environment. Also, demonstration of marketing, sales, and/or finance are extremely beneficial. These assessable skills should be found on the resume called out in the job descriptions. Additionally, a person's work experience should reflect their career aspirations and goals. The best measure of future performance is past experience!

What technical skills for a culinary manager stand out to employers?

Dr. Liza Cobos

Assistant Professor, Missouri State University

Employers are looking for transferable skills, skills like critical thinking and technical skills (i.e. excel) are in demand. Having the technical skills to analyze data and critical thinking skills to generate and provide solutions. The industry is always looking for ways to improve sales and pricing strategies to help the bottom line. Being able to demonstrate these skills will with career advancement.

What soft skills should all culinary managers possess?

Amanda Main Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Management, Lynn University

This is a great question because there has actually been an increasing call for colleges and universities to enhance their curriculums because organizations are finding recent graduates lacking in soft skills that are necessary for success. In addition to the skills I mentioned above, The National Association for Colleges and Employers released a list of critical competencies to ensure career readiness, which includes skills such as critical thinking and problem solving, oral and written communication, teamwork and collaboration, leadership, professionalism and work ethic, career management, and global/intercultural fluency.

This should be a bare minimum that graduates are striving for. I would also suggest having a strong focus on increasing emotional intelligence (EQ), which will really help at several career stages including promoting oneself in a job search, negotiating employment offers, advancing and maturing through the arc of one's career, and even exiting from the workforce at retirement.

There are a lot of ways to obtain these skills, and it is important to really give them attention and practice when opportunities arise in the classroom, such as writing papers and giving presentations, to learning from podcasts and reading books and attending open webinars by experts and influencers. These skills are very attainable, but I have found that few graduates take the opportunities to develop them, but by putting forth that extra effort, a graduate can really stand out.

What hard/technical skills are most important for culinary managers?

Daniel Innis Ph.D.

Professor of Marketing and Hospitality Management, University of New Hampshire

I think that an understanding of revenue management is key. I tell my students that in every transaction, every party should feel that they made a "profit." The business gets some money. The customer should get more value than the money that they gave up. If that is the case, then they come back. In addition, the ability to spot opportunities for additional revenue is key. We never charge for parking or internet at our properties as that annoys customers. We did, however, offer beer and wine room service (the front desk staff could handle that) at a great price, and we had a gift shop that was right next to the front desk, again staffed when necessary by the front desk. These two moves did not add expenses to our operation, but they did add revenue and profit. Spotting those easy opportunities to add value for guests is key, and it is great when it also adds to the bottom line.

Do you want to know more?

List of culinary manager skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a culinary manager resume and required skills for a culinary manager to have include:

Culinary
Food Safety
Kitchen Operations
Food Preparation
Kitchen Equipment
Cleanliness
Safety Standards
Food Handling
Labor Costs
ServSafe
Food Cost
Line Checks
Fine Dining
Inventory Control
Customer Satisfaction
Cash Handling

Product Quality
MIT
BOH
Sanitation Standards
Recipe Adherence
Restaurant Operations
HACCP
Food Products
Cost Control
FOH
Cash Control
Beverage Products
Guest Relations
Performance Reviews
Food Inventory
Food Waste

Inventory Management
Food Orders
HOH
Food Quality
Guest Counts
Garnishing
Guest Satisfaction Scores
Dishwashers
Portion Control
Excellent Guest
Truck Orders
Vendor Relations
Loss Statements
Employee Scheduling
AVT
Fresh Fish

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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