Looking for a restaurant manager is tough, You have to find someone with the right personality who you connect well with. But there’s more to it than just personality; think about what this person needs to succeed in the position. You’ll want to think about things like their experience, their communication skills, and their management style. In this article I want to give you some tips and advice on what to look for in a restaurant manager.

What to Look for in a Restaurant Manager? When hiring a restaurant manager you want someone who can keep tabs on the staff, a person who is capable of managing your budget and an individual who can lead from the front and is responsible for various duties, and must be competent to carry them out easily.

Table of Contents

What to Look for in a Restaurant Manager

Good Leadership Qualities

A Restaurant Manager Needs to Be an Effective Leader with the Capacity to Maintain Team Cohesion. High Turnover Is One of the Major Problems Restaurants Confront, Which Can Assist. According to a Gallup Survey, a High Degree of Team Involvement Significantly Lowers the Attrition Rate in High Turnover Businesses.

The Best Restaurant Managers Set a Good Example for Their Personnel, Pay Close Attention to Their Requirements, and Give Clear Directions That Keep Them Motivated and Pleased.

Physical stamina

It is physically and mentally taxing to open a restaurant early in the morning and stay open past closing. Successful restaurant managers may juggle numerous physically demanding responsibilities, from working in the kitchen to bussing tables, while standing for extended periods.

Upbeat attitude

Positivity is among the most crucial qualities for restaurateurs. The manager’s attitude influences diners’ satisfaction and sets the tone for employee behavior. Managing a profitable business won’t be simple if you don’t enjoy what you do or aren’t enthusiastic about cuisine and customer service.

Consistency

Restaurant managers must be great examples of stability because no two days are the same. From within, clear expectations and regular communication promote employee loyalty. The manager’s responsibility is to guarantee dependable client service and superior quality.

Problem-Solving and Conflict Management

Operational snags occasionally occur in the restaurant industry, even with the greatest motives. While dealing with a disgruntled client, a tardy delivery driver, or an inventory deficit, restaurant management involves rapid thinking and quick responses.

Customer service savvy

Customers with various dietary needs, last-minute group bookings, and late-night customers who place their orders 10 minutes before closing are common in restaurants. Qualified leaders handle most business choices with the delight of their customers in mind. Furthermore, they work hard to teach all of their employees these ideals.

Proactive

The key to effective restaurant management is foresight. To prevent last-minute mayhem, organized managers account for inventory, menu modifications, advertising strategies, and personnel demands as far in advance as feasible.

Mastering the Skills of Restaurant Management

Passionate

Your passion for your profession keeps you going when you are approaching the twelfth hour of your shift, and there are still a million things on your to-do list. The best restaurant managers enjoy what they do because they consistently offer 110%. Another benefit is their upbeat attitude will spread and uplift the entire workforce.

Always Prepared

Even though they must always be prepared for the unexpected, restaurant managers must nonetheless approach their jobs proactively rather than reactive.

You want a restaurant manager with the vision to prepare for potential issues that could arise throughout the day so that there will be enough resources and people on hand to tackle whatever occurs.

No matter how adept they are at addressing crises, a reactive manager will ultimately have to deal with an issue the restaurant did not anticipate that could harm the bottom line.

Organized

It’s quite easy to feel overburdened when one has so many obligations. For this reason, the management of a restaurant ought to be naturally structured. A cluttered desk will only exacerbate the daily bustle of running a restaurant.

If you have someone to maintain tabs on your paperwork and payments, you can be certain that no important dates will be forgotten. People have a lot of issues when employees aren’t paid because the manager didn’t submit the payroll on time.

Good with numbers

A good restaurant manager should be proficient in bookkeeping, which includes handling payroll, paying the power bill, and balancing the budget. A company’s finances could be severely damaged by making too many errors. When making any decisions about the restaurant, your manager should constantly have the bottom line in mind. Every choice should be made to raise the bottom line.

A Good Delegator

A capable leader is aware that they cannot accomplish everything on their own. Working as a team is essential. A restaurant manager must be able to assign tasks, motivate the person to work hard, and gain their loyalty. Managers should usually be avoided if they enjoy taking credit for everything.

A Foodie

The management of a restaurant serving food must have a passion for it. You must be passionate about what you are serving to excite your workers and clients. It is also advantageous to have a restaurant manager that enjoys keeping current with new menu items and other restaurant business trends.

Knowing what makes restaurant management effective at work will help you develop those qualities in your restaurant manager, even if you already have one. Your manager, who is second only to the chef in importance to the restaurant, is fully accountable for the ability and skills of your workforce.

Attention to Detail

Restaurant managers must keep track of several tiny but crucial things, such as finances, scheduling, and table settings. No manager can maintain accuracy at all times.

It’s crucial to develop your situational analysis and attention to detail skills. Of course, some programs and apps can keep you organized, including inventory and budgeting software and time-tracking ones. Maintaining organization is crucial to prevent any of those facts from becoming lost.

Flexibility

Imagine that you have to handle all of the tasks mentioned above in one shift, including budgeting, conflict resolution, employee management, and inventory control. Flexibility and multitasking capacity are essential for a restaurant manager’s success.

On-the-Job Training

Many job postings on employment boards do not specify a college degree as a prerequisite for the position or list it as desired rather than necessary. Rather, many restaurants are looking for restaurant managers who have worked in the industry as hosts, servers, bartenders, assistant managers, servers, or a combination of all of these.

They are looking for individuals who, in a sense, have been in the trenches and have demonstrated competence in communicating with consumers and solving problems in a demanding setting.

Formal Education

According to CareerBuilder, business administration, management, culinary arts, accounting, and hospitality administration are the most sought-after degrees among restaurants seeking managers. In addition, you may get a degree in food services administration from any number of universities or culinary arts programs.

There is no need for a certain level of education or experience in the restaurant industry; most employers simply favor candidates with higher levels of education. However, a degree may be required to work in some of the most exclusive or specialty restaurants.

Certificate Programs and MOOCs

You want to better your chances of getting a job, but you don’t have the funds to enroll in a premium university degree program. Online courses and professional certifications may help you get there (MOOCs). A growing number of schools are providing shorter, more concentrated certificate programs in addition to the more traditional bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the field.

Massive open online courses are another option. These courses are offered at no cost by some of the world’s most prestigious universities and colleges. For instance, Coursera, an online education platform, provides free lectures on a wide range of topics, from economics to art history, as well as a course on the management of food and beverages.

Innovative

Restaurant managers must take the initiative while also being open to new ideas and feedback. To stay competitive, great restaurant managers welcome change, whether in the form of introducing new practices (such as utilizing locally sourced products and delivering smaller portions) or new technologies (like online ordering systems).

Versatile

The key to effective restaurant management is forethought. To prevent last-minute mayhem, organized managers account for inventory, menu modifications, advertising initiatives, and personnel demands as far in advance as feasible.

What Exactly Does a Restaurant Manager Do?

Depending on the establishment, a restaurant manager may have a variety of responsibilities. Still, they typically include supervising food preparation, ensuring the caliber and size of servings, purchasing and planning food and drink supplies, maintaining equipment, following safety protocols, ensuring the kitchen and dining areas are cleaned to a certain standard, recording and monitoring data for health inspectors, and resolving staff and client difficulties.

Restaurant Manager Roles and Responsibilities

Restaurant managers shoulder various roles and responsibilities, such as efficiently hiring and managing staff, supervising operations, responding to patron complaints, and producing financial reports. A restaurant manager’s responsibilities include managing inventories and ensuring health and safety standards.

Further regular employment duties consist of:

Hire, Train, and Supervise Staff

According to a survey by Nation’s Restaurant News, the average number of hours worked by a worker in the hotel and food service industry is predicted to change hands at a rate of 155% of the time. As a result, a significant portion of a restaurant manager’s time is spent interviewing and hiring new staff members who mesh well with the establishment’s audience, mission, and culture. Depending on the kind of eatery, it’s feasible that they’ll need to fill positions in both the front and back of the house.

Food Safety Procedure and Creating Safe Work Conditions

These may seem like little tasks, but they are essential to the success of the business. The restaurant manager is responsible for maintaining a clean and safe working environment and ensuring that all food is prepared correctly. They watch over the kitchen to make sure everyone washes their hands, wears protective gear (hats, hair nets, gloves, etc.), and cleans up after themselves so that the next client may be seated.

Follow and Enforce All Other Company Policies

All other staff members are expected to follow the example established by the restaurant manager. Employees should set a positive example by abiding by all attire, demeanor, customer service, presentation of drinks and food, and other rules established by restaurant owners or top management.

Meet Revenue Objectives

Restaurant owners or higher management, if the eatery is a part of a bigger chain, are close collaborators with restaurant managers. Targets for monthly or quarterly revenue are reported, along with whether or not they were achieved.

They also assist in establishing revenue targets and developing strategies to accomplish them, whether by developing new, more expensive dishes, redesigning the menu to increase revenue, or coming up with promotional ideas to draw more customers in.

Audit and Order Supplies

Restaurant owners and managers closely monitor their stock. They also carry out audits for the front of the house (such as tablecloths, paper napkins, stirrers, etc.) and, in the absence of a head chef, the rear of the house. They keep track of what inventory to order and when. They assess how regularly supplies run out, where they may save costs by switching suppliers or items, and where they should keep an eye out for theft.

Can you handle the pressure of becoming a restaurant manager?

A Restaurant Manager does not need to meet any standards. Nevertheless, restaurant managers frequently add some formal training to their on-the-job expertise. Most restaurant managers begin their careers in entry-level roles where they can get real-world experience and training. To be a restaurant manager is a demanding profession. Fast-paced and stressful, it calls for a unique combination of abilities and personality qualities (most essentially, keeping calm under tension)

FAQS

How Do You Evaluate a Restaurant Manager?

The performance of restaurant management is partly determined by the service the servers provide to outside clients and by interactions with existing clients in the back of the house. Fewer staff and client issues against the restaurant suggest that the manager is likely providing excellent and sufficient supervision and training.

What Should a Restaurant Manager Expect?

Often, your duties will range from hiring and supervising workers to brand awareness, overseeing business operations, calculating inventory and financial data, and more. Restaurant managers need to use a variety of abilities, from scheduling to delegation, to succeed.

What Is One of the Most Important Things a Restaurant Manager Should Do?

Restaurant managers definitely must have effective communication skills. Because without that, teamwork will be difficult, and morale will be low among your restaurant workforce. Excellent communicators are adept at solving problems, resolving disputes, and empowering their team members.

What Makes a Good Leader in a Restaurant?

Effective Training and Strategy. It’s important to be patient with new staff and give them time to develop because they might not be familiar with anything, from menu items to the POS system. A good manager knows typical restaurant problems and keeps them in mind while onboarding new employees.

What Are the 5 Traits of a Food Service Manager?

Successful restaurant managers demonstrate a range of managerial abilities. Take note of these five essential attributes/traits if you’re a restaurant owner seeking to hire a new food service manager.

Work ethic.
Client competencies
Leadership qualities
Organizing abilities.
Talent for solving issues

Which of the Following Is a Desirable Personality Trait for a Restaurant Manager?

Extraversion and social responsibility rank among the top personality traits of restaurant managers. Restaurant managers have high extraversion scores, which indicates that they depend on other people or interesting environments for happiness.

How Do You Lead a Restaurant Team?

You want to motivate your team. Money is a major motivator for many of us since we want to be compensated for our work. Obviously, however, not many restaurants have the money to pay their personnel well.

It would be best if you instead searched for additional sources of inspiration that will motivate your staff to put in extra effort and stick with you.

Be a motivating role model and let them know that you value every one of them by providing straightforward rewards like recollecting and honoring birthdays, expressing gratitude, promoting social gatherings and bonding, accepting criticism, and permitting errors to occur.

How Do You Get out of a Restaurant Manager?

Before hanging up your chef’s hat, try working at a different restaurant if you can’t seem to change your existing employment conditions. Suppose you still have a passion for the food sector. In that case, you may also want to consider alternative jobs that complement or run cooperatively.

How Can I Be a Good Manager and Leader in a Restaurant?

You may express to your team that you value their dedication and hard work and that you want them to stay for as long as possible by being a leader who emphasizes helping them advance their professional skills. Nobody desires to work under a restaurant manager who lacks motivation and assistance for their team. As a result, ensure that your waitstaff, cooks, and baristas receive effective training.

What Skills Do You Need to Run a Restaurant?

To run a restaurant, many things are involved, and having some skills is among them. Before we acquire them, we need first to identify them, and below are some of the skills we need to run a restaurant

Social Skills
Leadership Talent
cash flow expertise and understanding
Creative thinking
Meeting deadlines
Business acumen
Polite manner,
Analytical and reporting skills
Patience

So, you need to hire a manager, but where do you begin?

You must inspire, motivate, and encourage the individuals you are in charge of. It would be best if you also convinced others to contribute everything they have to the table. It’s no longer just about you and what you bring. In essence, managing involves more than just having technical skills. It would help if you looked for some qualities that will be needed and they are as follows:

Integrity
Outstanding Communication
Reliability and consistency
Motivation to Set Goals
Taking Actions
Sensitivity and empathy
Reliability

What Is Your Strength As a Restaurant Manager?

Working at a restaurant requires various abilities, but a few that stick out include the capacity to work under pressure, juggle tasks, and communicate effectively with others.

What Makes a Great Manager Stand out?

Being self-assured, accessible, motivated, and committed will aid in your ability to lead a team. Having the ideal combination of a few fundamental abilities will help you stand out from your peers and get that advancement.

What Are the Responsibilities of an Assistant Restaurant Manager?

Employee schedules, employee onboarding, and employee training are under the responsibility of an assistant manager. Depending on the industry, they may also be asked to deal with escalating client complaints since they frequently have customer-facing positions.

What Are the Different Personal Qualities of an Effective Manager, and Why Is It Important in Restaurant Operation?

Effective restaurant managers must possess a leadership mentality, adaptability, and effectiveness. If you want your restaurant to flourish, these attributes must be developed regardless of your level of experience in the industry.

Conclusion

Getting a competent restaurant manager is without a doubt a challenging feat. Nevertheless, you may discover one if you take the time to carefully evaluate the applicants and look for the skills mentioned above. A capable restaurant manager can pave the way for a terrific workplace atmosphere while assisting your restaurant business in thriving in the appropriate route.

Jeff Smith is a Restaurant Consultant with over 20 years of hospitality experience ranging from server to owner and general manager. He focuses on Restaurant POS technology as well as restaurant marketing. Make sure to check out our world famous restaurant resources page for a comprehensive offering of hand picked resources and tools to help your business. You can also check out some of our other restaurant business articles.