Food service director vs swing manager

The differences between food service directors and swing 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 swing manager. Additionally, a food service director has an average salary of $53,939, which is higher than the $38,427 average annual salary of a swing manager.

The top three skills for a food service director include customer service, culinary and servsafe. The most important skills for a swing manager are cleanliness, customer service, and inventory management.

Food service director vs swing manager overview

	Food Service Director	Swing Manager
Yearly salary	$53,939	$38,427
Hourly rate	$25.93	$18.47
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	136,337	203,761
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	High School Diploma, 37%
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 swing manager do?

A swing manager is a person who supervises people and manages restaurants during designated times. Swing managers oversee personnel and the equipment and products to achieve high-quality standards. They are responsible for the sales growth, profit optimization, staff optimization, and total customer satisfaction. The skills they need include motivation, communication, mentoring, delegation, decision-making, and interpersonal skills. Problem-solving, strategic thinking, management skills, and commercial awareness are also necessary.

Food service director vs swing manager salary

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

	Food Service Director	Swing Manager
Average salary	$53,939	$38,427
Salary range	Between $35,000 And $82,000	Between $27,000 And $53,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	-
Highest paying state	California	-
Best paying company	Baptist Health Care	-
Best paying industry	Health Care	-

Differences between food service director and swing manager education

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

	Food Service Director	Swing Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 48%	High School Diploma, 37%
Most common major	Culinary Arts	Business
Most common college	Cornell University	Cornell University

Food service director vs swing manager demographics

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

	Food Service Director	Swing Manager
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9%	Male, 35.6% Female, 64.4%
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, 10.9% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 17.7% Asian, 8.1% White, 57.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between food service director and swing 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.

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Swing manager example responsibilities.

Monitor and manage beverage and wine supplies, completing monthly reconciliations to ensure inventory accuracy.
Excel in building and motivating management and hourly teams by developing many entry-level associates to leadership positions.
Demonstrate proper ServSafe techniques and strict health code practices.
Have acquired ServSafe as a rquirement for t he managerical position
Organize spring and fall clean-ups, weekly mowing list and routine maintenance schedules.
Complete all POS opening and closing procedures, including counting the contents of the cash drawer.

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Food service director vs swing manager skills

Common food service director skills

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

Common swing manager skills

Cleanliness, 34%
Customer Service, 14%
Inventory Management, 12%
Cash Handling, 6%
Leadership, 4%
Customer Complaints, 4%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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