Ready?
Restaurant Manager — your shift
See the whole room. Fix it at the table, and never promise the kitchen something you have not asked them about. Read what this person needs, then tap the place that sorts it out.
Full screen — no distractions
What does a restaurant manager do?
You run a room of strangers eating, a kitchen under pressure and a team who are all tired, and you keep all three of them working together.
Also called: general manager, restaurant GM, floor manager.
A day looks like
- 1You look at the book before anything else — how many, when, and which tables are turning twice.
- 2You brief the team on what is off, what is new and who is in, in about four minutes.
- 3During service you stand where you can see the whole room and you move constantly.
- 4You handle a complaint at the table rather than sending somebody, because the guest can tell the difference.
Hardest part
You are between the kitchen and the guest, and both of them think you are on the other one's side. Holding that line without lying to either is the job.
Best part
A full room that runs like it is easy, when only your team knows what it cost.
How you actually become a restaurant manager
- At schoolWaiting tables. There is no other honest way into this.
- TrainingOn the job, plus licensing and food safety; a hospitality qualification helps for larger groups.
- How longThree to six years from the floor, faster in a small independent.
- Your first jobWaiter, then section head, then supervisor.
Frequently asked questions
- Do restaurant managers cook?
- Usually not. The manager runs the front of house, the team, the bookings and the money, and works with the head chef rather than in the kitchen. In small independents the roles blur.
- Why do they say never promise the kitchen's time?
- Because only the kitchen knows what is actually on and how long it will take. A manager who promises a dish or a time without asking makes the kitchen look bad for something they never agreed to, and it destroys trust between the two halves of the restaurant.
- Is it a well-paid job?
- Reasonable rather than high, and it varies enormously with the venue. Hours are long and mostly evenings and weekends, which is the part people underestimate.
More from Hospitality & Tourism
Chef
You spend the afternoon getting ready for two hours of chaos, and how well you prepared decides whether those two hours are cooking or panic.
Barista
You make drinks that need to be right and fast at the same time, for a queue that can see exactly how long you are taking.
Hotel Housekeeper
You turn fourteen used rooms back into rooms that look like nobody has ever been in them, in an order that has to be exactly right.
Hotel Duty Manager
You are the most senior person in the building at three in the morning, and everything that nobody else can decide comes to you.
Head Housekeeper
You have a hundred rooms, eleven hours and nine people, and you decide in what order the building gets cleaned.
Catering Manager
You feed six hundred people in forty minutes, on a budget, and you are the person who has to know exactly what is in every dish.
Outdoor Instructor
You take other people's children up a hill or onto water, and the whole job is knowing when to turn round.
Cruise Hotel Officer
You run a hotel that cannot call anybody for help, is full of people who cannot leave, and is moving.
Baker
You turn flour and water into bread overnight, and almost everything you do is judged by hand rather than by a timer.
Pastry Chef
You work to the gram and to the degree, in the coldest corner of the kitchen, on the part of the meal people photograph.
Butcher
You break a carcass down into the cuts people recognise, following the animal's own seams rather than sawing through it.
Kitchen Porter
You keep the whole kitchen supplied with clean equipment — and if you stop, service stops about eleven minutes later.
Sommelier
You read a table, find the bottle that suits what they are eating and what they want to spend, and serve it in an order that has a reason behind every step.
Concierge
You know the city well enough to solve a stranger's problem in ten minutes, and you know which promises you can actually keep.
Bartender
You serve drinks fast and accurately to people who are gradually getting less reasonable, and you are legally responsible for when to stop.
Front of House Supervisor
You run a section during service — who goes where, in what order, and which table gets the next thing that comes out of the kitchen.
Events Coordinator
You run a day that happens once, cannot be rehearsed and cannot be repeated, for people who will remember it for the rest of their lives.
Tour Guide
You take a group of strangers somewhere, keep all of them safe and interested at the same time, and tell them the truth about it.