1. Cornell University
Ithaca, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,188
Enrollment
15,105
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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.
There are certain skills that many restaurant 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, customer-service skills and detail oriented.
If you're interested in becoming a restaurant manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 50.4% of restaurant managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 4.0% of restaurant managers have master's degrees. Even though most restaurant managers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Restaurant managers are primarily in charge of ensuring that the restaurant they are assigned to is in top shape and that the overall operations are running smoothly. They manage all aspects of the restaurant such as quality control, food production, human resources, sales and profit, and even marketing.
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a restaurant manager can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as general manager, progress to a title such as director of food and beverage and then eventually end up with the title director of food and beverage.
Restaurant Manager
What Am I Worth?
The role of a restaurant 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 restaurant manager responsibilities:
There are several types of restaurant manager, including:
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.
General managers are pretty important in the workplace. Employees look up to people in these positions for guidance on policies and management of daily operations. A general manager can be useful in almost every industry, that's why this is a great position if you're looking for lots of opportunity.
General Managers are generally found in business settings, but they can also work in industries like the sound recording industry. There's no limit to where you can take this position. The possibilities are truly endless.
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.
Mouse over a state to see the number of active restaurant manager jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where restaurant managers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Ithaca, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$55,188
Enrollment
15,105
Delhi, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,360
Enrollment
3,142
Boston, MA • Private
In-State Tuition
$53,948
Enrollment
17,238
New York, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
Mercedita, PR • Private
In-State Tuition
$5,914
Enrollment
4,155
Akron, OH • Private
In-State Tuition
$11,463
Enrollment
13,676
Morrisville, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,670
Enrollment
2,758
Plattsburgh, NY • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,369
Enrollment
5,229
Anchorage, AK • Private
In-State Tuition
$8,580
Enrollment
10,482
Stanford, CA • Private
In-State Tuition
$51,354
Enrollment
7,083
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, 14.2% of restaurant managers listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as business skills and customer-service skills are important as well.
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Restaurant Manager templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Restaurant Manager resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
1. Introduction to Operations Management
Learn to analyze and improve business processes in services or in manufacturing by learning how to increase productivity and deliver higher quality standards. Key concepts include process analysis, bottlenecks, flows rates, and inventory levels, and more. After successfully completing this course, you can apply these skills to a real-world business challenge as part of the Wharton Business Foundations Specialization...
2. ISO 22000. Food Safety Management System.
Learn about hazard identification and assessment, PRPs, Critical Control Points, and the requirements in ISO 22000:2018...
3. Fun food safety and sanitation course
The food safety course will help prepare you for safely working in a kitchen and food handler tests like Servesafe...
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a restaurant manager. The best states for people in this position are New Hampshire, Alaska, California, and Massachusetts. Restaurant managers make the most in New Hampshire with an average salary of $62,293. Whereas in Alaska and California, they would average $60,870 and $60,726, respectively. While restaurant managers would only make an average of $59,749 in Massachusetts, 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. Oklahoma
$54,160
Avg. Salary
2. Massachusetts
$59,749
Avg. Salary
3. Connecticut
$59,637
Avg. Salary
Sometimes, free food but sometimes cooks are not that good so I'd rather paid for better food
Everything else, of course! What's to be liked when you work shifts, nights, always on holidays and go to the gym at 1am?
Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Darden Restaurants | $59,846 | $28.77 | 370 |
2 | Jack in the Box | $59,829 | $28.76 | 266 |
3 | Buffalo Wild Wings | $59,274 | $28.50 | 213 |
4 | Whataburger | $57,337 | $27.57 | 217 |
5 | Dunkin' Donuts | $56,160 | $27.00 | 259 |
6 | Cracker Barrel | $54,994 | $26.44 | 326 |
7 | Goodwin Recruiting | $54,805 | $26.35 | 406 |
8 | Applebee's Canada | $50,053 | $24.06 | 295 |
9 | Outback Steakhouse | $49,821 | $23.95 | 188 |
10 | Steak 'n Shake | $48,643 | $23.39 | 363 |
It takes about four to six years to become a manager at a restaurant. Restaurant managers usually work in the food industry for several years before being promoted to a managerial position.
General managers of restaurants make about $65,000 a year. On the low end of the pay range for general restaurant managers is a salary of approximately $55,000 annually. Meanwhile, the highest-paid general restaurant managers make $80,000 in a year.
A restaurant manager should be paid according to their education and experience levels. The median pay for restaurant managers is around $52,000 per year.
On the lower end of the pay scale, a person may make just under $50,000 annually. Meanwhile, restaurant managers at the highest pay bracket can expect a salary of around $77,000 in a year.
No, it is not hard to become a restaurant manager. This industry is one of the few careers that offer the most entry-level flexibility to achieve the position. There are many ways to become a restaurant manager, depending on a person's aptitude and natural skill set.
The qualifications you need to become a restaurant manager vary, but the minimum qualification is a high school diploma or equivalent. This, paired with restaurant experience, will position a person to become a restaurant manager.