Fast food restaurant manager vs food service director

The differences between fast food restaurant managers and food service directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a fast food restaurant manager and a food service director. Additionally, a food service director has an average salary of $53,939, which is higher than the $43,445 average annual salary of a fast food restaurant manager.

The top three skills for a fast food restaurant manager include fast food, food quality and wine. The most important skills for a food service director are customer service, culinary, and servsafe.

Fast food restaurant manager vs food service director overview

	Fast Food Restaurant Manager	Food Service Director
Yearly salary	$43,445	$53,939
Hourly rate	$20.89	$25.93
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	151,639	136,337
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age	39	39
Years of experience	4	4

Fast food restaurant manager vs food service director salary

Fast food restaurant managers and food service directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Fast Food Restaurant Manager	Food Service Director
Average salary	$43,445	$53,939
Salary range	Between $32,000 And $57,000	Between $35,000 And $82,000
Highest paying City	Edison, NJ	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New York	California
Best paying company	CKE Restaurants Holdings	Baptist Health Care
Best paying industry	Hospitality	Health Care

Differences between fast food restaurant manager and food service director education

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

	Fast Food Restaurant Manager	Food Service Director
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common major	Business	Culinary Arts
Most common college	Cornell University	Cornell University

Fast food restaurant manager vs food service director demographics

Here are the differences between fast food restaurant managers' and food service directors' demographics:

	Fast Food Restaurant Manager	Food Service Director
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 55.5% Female, 44.5%	Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 20.6% Asian, 9.1% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 10.8% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 7.3% White, 60.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between fast food restaurant manager and food service director duties and responsibilities

Fast food restaurant manager example responsibilities.

Coordinate, communicate and delegate FOH responsibilities to staff to ensure excellent operations are consistently achieve.
Collaborate with culinary staff in special event menu planning and actively in planning and development of new catering business.
Conduct period inventory; maintaining records to comply with Aramark, government and accrediting agency standards.

Food service director example responsibilities.

Train and manage countless dishwashers, cooks, servers, and other managers to achieve significant improvements in their productivity.
Manage both front of the house (FOH) and back of the house (BOH) operations.
Manage a team of 12 managers and 160 FTE.
Achieve highest level of compliance with CMS and Steritech audits.
Manage departmental budget and payroll for 111 FTE's, service and production of ~ 1200 meals/day.
Manage food services at 142 bed sub-acute rehabilitation and skil nursing facility with a staff of 43 FTE's.

Fast food restaurant manager vs food service director skills

Common fast food restaurant manager skills

Fast Food, 63%
Food Quality, 9%
Wine, 8%
Building Maintenance, 4%
Bank Deposits, 3%
POS, 2%

Common food service director skills

Customer Service, 13%
Culinary, 9%
ServSafe, 8%
Food Preparation, 6%
Good Judgment, 5%
Cost Control, 4%

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Fast Food Restaurant Manager
Fast Food Restaurant Manager vs Food Service Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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