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The differences between restaurant managers and owners 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 an owner takes usually requires More than 10 years. Additionally, an owner has an average salary of $90,334, 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 an owner are customer service, payroll, and financial statements.
| Restaurant Manager | Owner | |
| Yearly salary | $52,202 | $90,334 |
| Hourly rate | $25.10 | $43.43 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 225,340 | 86,486 |
| Job satisfaction | 1 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Average age | 39 | 52 |
| Years of experience | 4 | - |
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.
Owners, in the most basic sense, own the business, company, or organization. They are responsible for building the business. They create business plans and the general vision and mission of the company, set goals, work on these goals, and ensure that the business keeps running. They manage all aspects of their business, from finances to marketing to people, etc. When the business becomes stable, owners eventually hire more employees. As such, owners also become overseers who would ensure that the organization remains afloat.
Restaurant managers and owners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Restaurant Manager | Owner | |
| Average salary | $52,202 | $90,334 |
| Salary range | Between $39,000 And $69,000 | Between $60,000 And $135,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | New Hampshire | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Hillstone Restaurant Group | BP America Inc |
| Best paying industry | Hospitality | - |
There are a few differences between a restaurant manager and an owner in terms of educational background:
| Restaurant Manager | Owner | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Cornell University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between restaurant managers' and owners' demographics:
| Restaurant Manager | Owner | |
| Average age | 39 | 52 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.5% Female, 45.5% | Male, 63.1% Female, 36.9% |
| 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, 3.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 7.6% Asian, 7.5% White, 76.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 12% |