Restaruant Manager

Restaurant Manager

Some poeple think that the restaurant business is nothing more then eating food and costomer service, but that is quite the contrary. Being in the fast paced world of the food industry is very exciting and challenging. To find out what the job [restaurant manager] entails we have to look at the job itself, the working conditions of the job, the kind of education and training you need, the earnings, and some related occupations that can also be looked into.

Restaurant managers orchestrate the chaos of the restaurant business. They must be simultaneously aware of and deal with a vast number of details, from the cleanliness of spoons to the market price of swordfish (Restaurant). Restaurant managers need to have a wide variety of skills in order to succeed in the restaurant business. Whether running a fast-food restaurant or a five-star establishment at a posh resort, restaurant managers work in a high-pressure environment and work long hours, nights, weekends, and holidays. This is a good job for people who like constant activity, can make quick decisions, and are willing to go out of their way to make customers happy(Restaurant). Making sure that the customer is happy and desires to come back is the main priority in this career. Managers also have to do a variety of many other jobs: estimate the amount of food that will be needed, placing orders with suppliers and schedule delivery, check quality of deliveries of fresh food and baked goods, contact suppliers to order supplies such as tableware, cooking utensils, and cleaning items, arrange for maintenance and repair of equipment and other services, total receipts and make bank deposits, select or create menu items based on many considerations, assign prices based on cost analysis, recruit, hire, and oversee training for staff, schedule work hours for servers and kitchen staff, monitor food preparation and methods, resolve customer complaints about food quality or service, and other jobs that are important to the specific restaurant(Career).

With all this work that you have to do as a manager, it would seem that you would have to like your surrounding. If you don't like the condition you work in then, no matter what you do, you won't like the job. Food service managers are among the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave at night. Long hours--12 to 15 per day, 50 or more per week, and sometimes 7 days a week--are common. Managers of institutional food service facilities, such as school, factory, or office cafeterias, work more regular hours because the operating hours of these establishments usually conform to the operating hours of the business or facility they serve. However, hours for many managers are unpredictable(Bureau). Dean O'Conner, the General Manager of J.B. Dawson's in Langhorne said, "I work very long hours, sometimes real late night, and especially on the weekends (O'Conner)." The job can be hectic, and dealing with irate customers or uncooperative employees can be stressful (Bureau). This would be where having a great personality can really help someone interested in the field. Customers that are mad at the restaurant for some reason, can still be brought back, if you can talk to them right.

Being highly educated is a very important quality in most jobs, and being a restaurant manager is no different. Most food service management companies and national or regional restaurant chains recruit management trainees from 2- and 4-year college hospitality management programs. Restaurant chains prefer to hire people with degrees in restaurant and institutional food service management, but they often hire graduates with degrees in other fields who have demonstrated interest and aptitude(Bureau). Some places go promote by experience. O'Conner said "I had only graduated high school, and have done four semesters of college and did not graduate. I started as a chef and worked my way up to kitchen manager. There was a shortage of people in the company, so they promoted me to GM (O'Conner)." So, in this case, experience and some kind of education are beneficial in the food service industry.

There are many different ways to gain experience, and one being on the job training. Most restaurant chains and food service management companies have rigorous training programs for management positions. Through a combination of classroom and on-the-job training, trainees receive instruction and gain work experience in all aspects of the operation of a restaurant or institutional food service facility (Bureau). Since, most restaurants do offer on-the-job