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The differences between restaurant managers and general managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a restaurant manager, becoming a general manager takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a general manager has an average salary of $71,581, which is higher than the $52,202 average annual salary of a restaurant manager.
The top three skills for a restaurant manager include customer service, guest satisfaction and food handling. The most important skills for a general manager are customer service, cleanliness, and food safety.
| Restaurant Manager | General Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $52,202 | $71,581 |
| Hourly rate | $25.10 | $34.41 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 225,340 | 442,690 |
| Job satisfaction | 1 | 4.25 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 56% |
| Average age | 39 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A restaurant manager is responsible for handling the overall restaurant operations. These include monitoring revenues and daily restaurant sales, checking inventories and supplies, negotiating with third-party vendors, and managing customers' inquiries and complaints. Other duties include creating promotional offers, developing and improving sales strategies, organizing staff duties, maintaining the highest sanitary standards for everyone's strict compliance, and controlling operational expenses. A restaurant manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills and exceptional knowledge of food industry management.
A general manager is responsible for handling the overall operations in the business. General managers manage the staff tasks efficiently, monitor the productivity and efficiency of the work environment, implement new strategies to improve the business performance, recognize the team's best efforts, and effective allocation of budget resources. A general manager must have excellent communication, decision-making, and critical-thinking skills to identify areas of improvement in handling customer complaints, connecting with vendors and other lines of businesses that will direct the company towards its successful objectives.
Restaurant managers and general managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Restaurant Manager | General Manager | |
| Average salary | $52,202 | $71,581 |
| Salary range | Between $39,000 And $69,000 | Between $40,000 And $126,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Hampshire | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Hillstone Restaurant Group | NVIDIA |
| Best paying industry | Hospitality | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a restaurant manager and a general manager in terms of educational background:
| Restaurant Manager | General Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 56% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Cornell University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between restaurant managers' and general managers' demographics:
| Restaurant Manager | General Manager | |
| Average age | 39 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.5% Female, 45.5% | Male, 70.7% Female, 29.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.9% Asian, 9.4% White, 55.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 6.4% White, 67.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |