Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between restaurant managers and head chefs 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 head chef takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a restaurant manager has an average salary of $52,202, which is higher than the $45,470 average annual salary of a head chef.
The top three skills for a restaurant manager include customer service, guest satisfaction and food handling. The most important skills for a head chef are kitchen operations, culinary, and dinner service.
| Restaurant Manager | Head Chef | |
| Yearly salary | $52,202 | $45,470 |
| Hourly rate | $25.10 | $21.86 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 15% |
| Number of jobs | 225,340 | 27,331 |
| Job satisfaction | 1 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Associate Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 39 | 42 |
| 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 head chef is responsible for the overall culinary satisfaction and dining experience of the guests. Head chefs manage the food production, starting from the preparation to the final presentation. They regularly research the current food trends to adapt to their innovative expertise, creating different cuisines to meet the guests' preferences. They also manage the kitchen staff, delegate tasks, and ensure the adequacy of food ingredients and supplies. A head chef must have excellent communication and organizational skills, adhering to the highest sanitation procedures, and responding to the guests' inquiries and concerns.
Restaurant managers and head chefs have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Restaurant Manager | Head Chef | |
| Average salary | $52,202 | $45,470 |
| Salary range | Between $39,000 And $69,000 | Between $28,000 And $71,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Wellesley, MA |
| Highest paying state | New Hampshire | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Hillstone Restaurant Group | Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics |
| Best paying industry | Hospitality | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a restaurant manager and a head chef in terms of educational background:
| Restaurant Manager | Head Chef | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Associate Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Business | Culinary Arts |
| Most common college | Cornell University | Drexel University |
Here are the differences between restaurant managers' and head chefs' demographics:
| Restaurant Manager | Head Chef | |
| Average age | 39 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.5% Female, 45.5% | Male, 79.8% Female, 20.2% |
| 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, 9.8% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 11.2% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 9% |