Is it worth being a restaurant manager?

Restaurant management is great if you like variety in what you do, you like to work really hard and you enjoy working with people, he says. It's a fairly easy field to enter without investing in an education; however, you can move faster and not start at the bottom if you have an education. Restaurant management can be very satisfying; managers deliver a tangible product and receive immediate feedback, hopefully positive. Restaurant managers have a variety of tasks every day, ample opportunities for promotion, and a job that is rarely boring.

However, as with any job, being a restaurant manager has disadvantages. I have opened new restaurants in two different states and helped struggling restaurants succeed again, and I have worked both for corporate chains with 150 employees and for family establishments with a whopping 12 employees. If a restaurant manager works for a restaurant chain, there may be opportunities to advance within the restaurant chain, but a relocation may be necessary to take advantage of the opportunities. Restaurant managers usually work in the food industry for several years before being promoted to a management position.

The requirements you need to become a restaurant manager vary, but the minimum requirement is a high school diploma or equivalent. The darkest areas on the map show where restaurant managers earn the highest salaries in all 50 states. If you've ever watched a movie or TV show about working in a restaurant, they usually have a stereotypical manager who is a lonely, clumsy, and sometimes perverted guy who sits in the office all day doing the paperwork. Zippia lets you choose between different easy-to-use restaurant management templates and gives you expert advice.

In all aspects of restaurant operations, the restaurant manager is responsible for supervising, managing and directing the activities of kitchen and service staff. The turnover of restaurant managers is also quite high, more than 22 percent, according to the People Report. With restaurant success comes employee success, and it's important not to let them lose sight of it. There are many ways to become a restaurant manager, depending on a person's natural aptitude and skill set.

Long hours combined with multiple responsibilities often cause stress and exhaustion among restaurant managers. We spoke to the manager of a restaurant who has worked for both restaurant chains and small independent establishments to find out how he got to his current job and what his days are like. Many restaurant managers have gone from being regular members of staff, while some enter work directly after graduating with a degree in management or hospitality. Restaurant managers work extremely long hours, sometimes 12 to 15 hours a day, up to seven days a week, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The amount of planning it takes to properly run a restaurant without problems is a bit mind-boggling at first, but it gets easier once you understand it.

Ernest Dargatz
Ernest Dargatz

Freelance food geek. Bacon expert. Certified internet buff. Typical coffee nerd. Avid coffee evangelist.