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Food, anyone? Now, we are talking! I mean, what's the best way to pursue your love for foods than working for the food industry? Imagine coming to your workplace every day with the fragrance of burgers and roasted beef, ah! Priceless! That's enough for some kind of motivation, don't you think?


A kitchen manager knows the all the ins and outs of the kitchen, meaning they have long years of experience. Basically, a kitchen manager is a senior position with a strong record of expertise under their belts. Their skills are honed by years of interacting with people and improving the quality of the their establishment. Leadership and managerial skills - those two are always inseparable. At the same time, they help chefs develop new items on the menu, according to the customers' demands and trends. Yay, free tasting!


Being a kitchen manager might sound like a hassle, but really, as people say, you wouldn't get tired of doing something you've always loved. I mean, who would even hate food? But if you think you love it more than anyone does, then why don't you go and kickstart your career?

What Does a Kitchen Manager Do

There are certain skills that many kitchen managers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed business skills, communication skills and customer-service skills.

Learn more about what a Kitchen Manager does

How To Become a Kitchen Manager

If you're interested in becoming a kitchen manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 30.2% of kitchen managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.6% of kitchen managers have master's degrees. Even though some kitchen managers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Kitchen Manager

Career Path For a Kitchen Manager

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of general manager you might progress to a role such as director of food and beverage eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title director of food and beverage.

Kitchen Manager

Average Salary for a Kitchen Manager

Kitchen Managers in America make an average salary of $50,448 per year or $24 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $67,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $37,000 per year.
Average Kitchen Manager Salary
$50,448 Yearly
$24.25 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Kitchen Manager

The role of a kitchen manager includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general kitchen manager responsibilities:

  • Oversee and assist in preparation of food items for the day
  • Expert management of the expo and ticket lines - ensuring timeliness, consistency
  • Must be proactive in developing innovative ideas to facilitate the continual delivery of exceptional quality products

There are several types of kitchen manager, including:

Manager

Role:

Responsible for overseeing the entire operation, the manager has a lot of responsibility on his/her or her shoulders. When we say the entire operation, we mean planning, directing, and leading the organization.


Managers should expect to work a little more than a normal 40-hour week. Since they're in charge, they're expected to be available. That's why managers end up typically working 50 hours a week, sometimes you may get away with only working 45 hours, though.


The education requirements for managers vary depending on who you work for. You might be required to have a bachelor's degree, but you might also get away with an associate degree. Now, there are some management positions that require a master's degree but, again, it really all depends on where you take your management career.

  • Average Salary: $58,651
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Shift Manager

Role:

A shift manager is in charge of making sure everyone shows up to their assigned shift, as well as handing out responsibilities to each worker. A lot of shift managers work in the food industry, but they aren't uncommon in other industries, too.


Shift managers keep everything moving smoothly. They stock the area to set their team up for success and make sure that everyone is completely their tasks on time.


The hours for a shift manager vary from week to week and job to job. Sometimes you'll work an 8-hour day, other times you'll work up to 10 hours. Normally, you won't go over a 40-hour workweek though so that's a nice life-work balance.

  • Average Salary: $32,110
  • Degree: High School Diploma

Restaurant Manager

Role:

Running a restaurant is not easy, which is why it usually takes a lot of skill and experience to become a restaurant manager. In all aspects of restaurant operations, the restaurant manager is responsible for overseeing, managing, and directing the activities of both kitchen and service staff. The typical workweek of a restaurant manager revolves around monitoring inventory, creating work schedules, supervising subordinate staff, generating work reports, and addressing guest concerns when needed. Also, they usually work with an assistant manager who helps them with administrative duties to ensure that the restaurant always runs smoothly.


Like many roles in the foodservice industry, a college degree is not a common requirement for the role of a restaurant manager, although it is a great advantage. Many restaurant managers have worked their way up from being regular staff members, while some enter the job directly after graduating with a management or hospitality degree. On average, the salary of a restaurant manager is around $23 per hour or roughly $48,000 a year. Depending on their employer, they may also make extra income through shared tips.

  • Average Salary: $52,202
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Kitchen Manager Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active kitchen manager jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where kitchen managers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Kitchen Manager Jobs By State

Kitchen Manager Education

Kitchen Manager Majors

21.3 %

Kitchen Manager Degrees

Associate

31.1 %

Bachelors

30.2 %

High School Diploma

27.0 %

Top Colleges for Kitchen Managers

1. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

2. SUNY College of Technology at Delhi

Delhi, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,360

Enrollment

3,142

3. Boston University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,948

Enrollment

17,238

4. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

5. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Ponce

Mercedita, PR • Private

In-State Tuition

$5,914

Enrollment

4,155

6. University of Akron

Akron, OH • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,463

Enrollment

13,676

7. SUNY College of Agriculture & Technology at Morrisville

Morrisville, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,670

Enrollment

2,758

8. SUNY College at Plattsburgh

Plattsburgh, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,369

Enrollment

5,229

9. Drexel University

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,244

Enrollment

15,557

10. University of Alaska Anchorage

Anchorage, AK • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,580

Enrollment

10,482

Top Skills For a Kitchen Manager

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 14.7% of kitchen managers listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as business skills and communication skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Kitchen Manager Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Kitchen Manager templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Kitchen Manager resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Kitchen Manager diversity

Kitchen Manager Gender Distribution

Male
Male
72%
Female
Female
28%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among kitchen managers, 28.0% of them are women, while 72.0% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among kitchen managers is White, which makes up 59.2% of all kitchen managers.

  • The most common foreign language among kitchen managers is Spanish at 71.3%.

Online Courses For Kitchen Manager That You May Like

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Best States For a Kitchen Manager

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a kitchen manager. The best states for people in this position are Rhode Island, Alaska, California, and Delaware. Kitchen managers make the most in Rhode Island with an average salary of $60,985. Whereas in Alaska and California, they would average $60,837 and $57,677, respectively. While kitchen managers would only make an average of $56,700 in Delaware, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Wyoming

Total Kitchen Manager Jobs: 169
Highest 10% Earn:
$74,000
Location Quotient:
1.13

2. Utah

Total Kitchen Manager Jobs: 851
Highest 10% Earn:
$72,000
Location Quotient:
1.07

3. Rhode Island

Total Kitchen Manager Jobs: 217
Highest 10% Earn:
$82,000
Location Quotient:
0.72
Full List Of Best States For Kitchen Managers

How Do Kitchen Managers Rate Their Jobs?

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Top Kitchen Manager Employers

Most Common Employers For Kitchen Manager

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Texas Roadhouse$57,070$27.44210
2Logan's Roadhouse$55,584$26.72113
3The Cheesecake Factory$55,178$26.53250
4Darden Restaurants$54,938$26.41113
5Carrabba's$53,604$25.77110
6Buffalo Wild Wings$52,550$25.26271
7Goodwin Recruiting$51,640$24.83153
8Outback Steakhouse$51,586$24.80487
9Chipotle Mexican Grill$51,482$24.752,398
10Applebee's Canada$50,294$24.18564

Kitchen Manager Videos

Becoming a Kitchen Manager FAQs

How Long Does It Take To Become A Kitchen Manager?

It takes 3 years of professional experience to become a kitchen manager. That is the time it takes to learn specific kitchen manager skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 6 to 8 years years to become a kitchen manager.

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