When starting a restaurant, the owner or owners usually focus on things like the location of the restaurant, the menu that will be served, the chef they will hire, and their advertising plans to launch the new establishment. One of the most overlooked ingredients to launching a successful restaurant, as well as one of the biggest reasons so many restaurants fail, is finding the right person to fill the restaurant manager job description. A good manager can be the difference between the restaurant being an overwhelming success or it being a money pit forced to close its doors in its first year of operation.
The best location, great food, and a great advertising campaign are not enough to overcome a poorly run restaurant. The restaurant manager has to be somewhat of a jack of all trades. They need to have all the customer service skills of their wait staff, but they also need to have a business sense and understand where the restaurant is losing money and where it is missing opportunities to bring in more revenue.
The restaurant manager does not need to be a great head chef, but they do need to understand how a good kitchen should operate. It is not required to be a world renowned food critic, but they need to know the difference between using frozen foods that are either over or under cooked, versus using fresh ingredients that are cooked properly.
They also have to keep in communication with the head chef to make sure the restaurant is properly stocked with ingredients. If they let the kitchen get out of control and over order food, it will result in not just a lot of wasted food, but a lot of wasted money for the restaurant. If the kitchen is under stocked with food, diners can find themselves often disappointed when they are informed the dish they desired is not available because the kitchen is out of the necessary ingredients.
Another key ingredient for a good restaurant manager is having the ability to identify and retain talent. The restaurant manager is usually in charge of the hiring and firing of the staff. The manager needs to be able to recognize when an employee just needs a little extra training and help to get better at their job, and when an employee is little more than a cancer in the entire establishment. Bad attitudes can spread, and in an environment like a restaurant where many of the workers spend much of their day in the eye of customers, a few bad attitudes can sink the whole place.
On the flip side of that, when an employee is found to be exceptional at their job, the manager has to find ways to keep them motivated, prevent them from getting bored, and let their positive energy influence the rest of the staff. Sometimes that is by creating rewards and some kind of recognition system. Other times it is by making them a trainer for new staff members or those that need a little extra help. For a waiter, waitress, or bartender, it can also be by giving them extra shifts at peak times, and thus the opportunity to make significantly more money in tips.
There is a lot to juggle, which is why a restaurant manager can have such a big impact on the success or failure of a restaurant. For more information, visit http://managerjobdescription.org/
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