Food service director vs food and beverage manager

The differences between food service directors and food and beverage 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 food service director and a food and beverage manager. Additionally, a food service director has an average salary of $53,939, which is higher than the $53,013 average annual salary of a food and beverage manager.

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

Food service director vs food and beverage manager overview

	Food Service Director	Food And Beverage Manager
Yearly salary	$53,939	$53,013
Hourly rate	$25.93	$25.49
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	136,337	159,775
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Average age	39	39
Years of experience	4	4

What does a food service director do?

A food service director is responsible for managing the foodservice operations, achieving the customers' highest satisfaction by supervising the kitchen personnel, monitoring the food distribution, and responding to the guests' inquiries and concerns. Foodservice directors manage the food inventories, ensuring the adequacy of all the ingredients and materials, and keeping the storage safe and clean all the time by enforcing strict sanitary and hygienic procedures. A food service director must be updated with the current food industry trends to update the menu regularly and meet the guests' demands.

What does a food and beverage manager do?

A food and beverage manager is an individual responsible for ensuring that quality food and drinks are being served at a restaurant or hotel. Food and beverage managers are required to be excellent with customers and should have great management skills to meet the organization's labor and financial goals. They create food and drink menus and guarantee customers that they comply with their food and safety regulations. They are also required to negotiate with suppliers to arrange the delivery of food and beverage products.

Food service director vs food and beverage manager salary

Food service directors and food and beverage managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Food Service Director	Food And Beverage Manager
Average salary	$53,939	$53,013
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $82,000	Between $38,000 And $72,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	California	New York
Best paying company	Baptist Health Care	Google
Best paying industry	Health Care	Government

Differences between food service director and food and beverage manager education

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

	Food Service Director	Food And Beverage Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Most common major	Culinary Arts	Business
Most common college	Cornell University	Cornell University

Food service director vs food and beverage manager demographics

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

	Food Service Director	Food And Beverage Manager
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9%	Male, 59.8% Female, 40.2%
Race ratio	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%	Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 18.5% Asian, 8.4% White, 56.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between food service director and food and beverage manager duties and responsibilities

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.

Food and beverage manager example responsibilities.

Schedule, plan, organize and manage events.- Assist with staff scheduling and bartending service.
Manage a small team of people in the caf /gift shop area to improve sales and minimize costs.
Manage daily operations of restaurant, in-room dining, lounge, pool, cater events and all bar venues.
Manage all FOH positions, including scheduling, developing and coaching employees, motivating the team and continuing to drive sales.
Coordinate weekly schedules and manage payroll processing functions including monitoring meal break compliance, labor productivity and attendance.
Manage subordinate managers and supervisors, manage various personnel functions including payroll, hiring, disciplinary actions, grievances and promotions.

Food service director vs food and beverage manager skills

Common food service director skills

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

Common food and beverage manager skills

Customer Service, 10%
Wine, 6%
POS, 6%
Guest Satisfaction, 5%
Food Service, 4%
Guest Service, 4%

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Food Service Director
Food Service Director vs Food And Beverage Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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