Service director vs food service director

The differences between service directors and food service directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a service director, becoming a food service director takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a service director has an average salary of $114,981, which is higher than the $53,939 average annual salary of a food service director.

The top three skills for a service director include patients, healthcare and patient care. The most important skills for a food service director are customer service, culinary, and servsafe.

Service director vs food service director overview

	Service Director	Food Service Director
Yearly salary	$114,981	$53,939
Hourly rate	$55.28	$25.93
Growth rate	28%	10%
Number of jobs	64,277	136,337
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age	47	39
Years of experience	6	4

What does a service director do?

A service director is responsible for managing and implementing customer service policies and ensuring that all staff strictly adhere to reach the highest customer satisfaction. Service directors' duties include identifying business opportunities to improve customers' experience, monitoring the performance of the customer service team, developing strategic procedures on service delivery, creating new promotional offers and services, and coaching the team to increase business productivity. A service director must have excellent leadership and communication skills, as well as extensive knowledge of the customer service industry to lead the team and boost company sales.

What does a food service director do?

A food service director is responsible for managing the foodservice operations, achieving the customers' highest satisfaction by supervising the kitchen personnel, monitoring the food distribution, and responding to the guests' inquiries and concerns. Foodservice directors manage the food inventories, ensuring the adequacy of all the ingredients and materials, and keeping the storage safe and clean all the time by enforcing strict sanitary and hygienic procedures. A food service director must be updated with the current food industry trends to update the menu regularly and meet the guests' demands.

Service director vs food service director salary

Service directors and food service directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Service Director	Food Service Director
Average salary	$114,981	$53,939
Salary range	Between $70,000 And $188,000	Between $35,000 And $82,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	Mayo Clinic	Baptist Health Care
Best paying industry	Technology	Health Care

Differences between service director and food service director education

There are a few differences between a service director and a food service director in terms of educational background:

	Service Director	Food Service Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 59%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common major	Business	Culinary Arts
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Cornell University

Service director vs food service director demographics

Here are the differences between service directors' and food service directors' demographics:

	Service Director	Food Service Director
Average age	47	39
Gender ratio	Male, 57.2% Female, 42.8%	Male, 58.1% Female, 41.9%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 7.6% White, 61.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 10.8% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.4% Asian, 7.3% White, 60.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	12%	10%

Differences between service director and food service director duties and responsibilities

Service director example responsibilities.

Lead and manage implementation and customization of SharePoint to replace legacy document approval system and document filing system.
Lead the training program for child psychiatry residents.
Manage social medias (Weibo, Facebook and etc . )
Assist in managing client accounts by managing HVAC alignments and ensuring contractual requirements are meet.
Manage a staff of 280 FTE s and a management team of 6 in a union environment.
Manage all daily operations, both clinical and support, during and after Medicare trials to ensure long-term business viability.

Food service director example responsibilities.

Train and manage countless dishwashers, cooks, servers, and other managers to achieve significant improvements in their productivity.
Manage both front of the house (FOH) and back of the house (BOH) operations.
Manage a team of 12 managers and 160 FTE.
Achieve highest level of compliance with CMS and Steritech audits.
Manage departmental budget and payroll for 111 FTE's, service and production of ~ 1200 meals/day.
Manage food services at 142 bed sub-acute rehabilitation and skil nursing facility with a staff of 43 FTE's.

Service director vs food service director skills

Common service director skills

Patients, 12%
Healthcare, 10%
Patient Care, 10%
Customer Service, 9%
Oversight, 5%
Surgery, 4%

Common food service director skills

Customer Service, 13%
Culinary, 9%
ServSafe, 8%
Food Preparation, 6%
Good Judgment, 5%
Cost Control, 4%

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Service Director
Service Director vs Food Service Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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