Food service supervisor vs food service director

The differences between food service supervisors 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 food service supervisor and a food service director. Additionally, a food service director has an average salary of $53,939, which is higher than the $32,763 average annual salary of a food service supervisor.

The top three skills for a food service supervisor include good judgment, safety practices and food production. The most important skills for a food service director are customer service, culinary, and servsafe.

Food service supervisor vs food service director overview

	Food Service Supervisor	Food Service Director
Yearly salary	$32,763	$53,939
Hourly rate	$15.75	$25.93
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	139,403	136,337
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 36%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age	39	39
Years of experience	4	4

What does a food service supervisor do?

A Food Service Supervisor oversees employees engaged in serving food. They establish quality standards for foods and keep facilities clean in accordance with state and local regulations.

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.

Food service supervisor vs food service director salary

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

	Food Service Supervisor	Food Service Director
Average salary	$32,763	$53,939
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $41,000	Between $35,000 And $82,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Minnesota	California
Best paying company	Ncar - The National Center For Atmospheric Research	Baptist Health Care
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between food service supervisor and food service director education

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

	Food Service Supervisor	Food Service Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 36%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common major	Business	Culinary Arts
Most common college	Cornell University	Cornell University

Food service supervisor vs food service director demographics

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

	Food Service Supervisor	Food Service Director
Average age	39	39
Gender ratio	Male, 43.2% Female, 56.8%	Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.3% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 8.5% White, 57.6% 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 food service supervisor and food service director duties and responsibilities

Food service supervisor example responsibilities.

Manage inventory, ordering and delivery of groceries.
Icomply to all HACCP standards and is ServSafe certify.
Compile staff schedules, prepare money for cash drops, operate register and POS.
Perform culinary decision making as it pertain to food inventory, menus, and production methods.
Facilitate training on production equipment and GMP's travele to multiple sites with employees to complete training.
Monitor and document HACCP sanitation 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.

Food service supervisor vs food service director skills

Common food service supervisor skills

Good Judgment, 15%
Safety Practices, 11%
Food Production, 10%
Customer Service, 8%
Food Handling, 8%
Patients, 7%

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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Food Service Supervisor vs Food Service Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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