Director of food and beverage vs restaurant manager

The differences between directors of food and beverage and restaurant managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a director of food and beverage and a restaurant manager. Additionally, a director of food and beverage has an average salary of $88,654, which is higher than the $52,202 average annual salary of a restaurant manager.

The top three skills for a director of food and beverage include wine, customer service and culinary. The most important skills for a restaurant manager are customer service, guest satisfaction, and food handling.

Director of food and beverage vs restaurant manager overview

	Director Of Food And Beverage	Restaurant Manager
Yearly salary	$88,654	$52,202
Hourly rate	$42.62	$25.10
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	130,685	225,340
Job satisfaction	-	1
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Average age	39	39
Years of experience	4	4

What does a director of food and beverage do?

A director of food and beverage is responsible for ensuring the quality of foods and services to maintain the guests' overall satisfaction on their dining experience. Food and beverage directors manage menu selections, analyzing current food trends to meet guests' demands. They also handle budget allocation, negotiating with reliable suppliers for high-quality materials and ingredients for minimal costs. A director of food and beverage must have excellent leadership and communication skills, observe strict sanitary standards and hygienic regulations for adherence of all personnel during operations.

What does a restaurant manager do?

A restaurant manager is responsible for handling the overall restaurant operations. These include monitoring revenues and daily restaurant sales, checking inventories and supplies, negotiating with third-party vendors, and managing customers' inquiries and complaints. Other duties include creating promotional offers, developing and improving sales strategies, organizing staff duties, maintaining the highest sanitary standards for everyone's strict compliance, and controlling operational expenses. A restaurant manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills and exceptional knowledge of food industry management.

Director of food and beverage vs restaurant manager salary

Directors of food and beverage and restaurant managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Director Of Food And Beverage	Restaurant Manager
Average salary	$88,654	$52,202
Salary range	Between $63,000 And $124,000	Between $39,000 And $69,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Nevada	New Hampshire
Best paying company	MUFG EMEA	Hillstone Restaurant Group
Best paying industry	Real Estate	Hospitality

Differences between director of food and beverage and restaurant manager education

There are a few differences between a director of food and beverage and a restaurant manager in terms of educational background:

	Director Of Food And Beverage	Restaurant Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 60%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Cornell University	Cornell University

Director of food and beverage vs restaurant manager demographics

Here are the differences between directors of food and beverage' and restaurant managers' demographics:

	Director Of Food And Beverage	Restaurant Manager
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 80.9% Female, 19.1%	Male, 54.5% Female, 45.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.9% Hispanic or Latino, 17.3% Asian, 8.5% White, 57.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.9% Asian, 9.4% White, 55.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between director of food and beverage and restaurant manager duties and responsibilities

Director of food and beverage example responsibilities.

Achieve established individual catering sales goals and assist team in achieving departmental booking goals.
Lead the implementation of a POS system that integrate mission-critical corporate data to achieve improve planning and management.
Lead development of catering programs for Marriott's full service brands.
Create reports, budgets and revenue forecast in Delphi in order to maintain and manage an efficient department.
Used Marriott computer applications to manage and administer events.
Manage and monitor daily operational duties of full service dining room for patients including creating and maintaining department budget.

Restaurant manager example responsibilities.

Manage staff by teaching them the correct procedures along with making sure they are working up to Marriott standards.
Manage associates while bartending and serving in a family-own restaurant.
Coordinate, communicate and delegate FOH responsibilities to staff to ensure excellent operations are consistently achieve.
Maintain corporate accounts on QuickBooks.
Master QuickBooks to track company expenses and revenue.
Supervise and train dining and in-room dining staff.

Director of food and beverage vs restaurant manager skills

Common director of food and beverage skills

Wine, 10%
Customer Service, 7%
Culinary, 5%
BARS, 5%
Beverage Operations, 5%
Guest Service, 4%

Common restaurant manager skills

Customer Service, 14%
Guest Satisfaction, 7%
Food Handling, 7%
Cleanliness, 6%
Restaurant Management, 5%
Guest Service, 5%

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Director Of Food And Beverage
Director Of Food And Beverage vs Restaurant Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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