Looking for a restaurant manager and not having much luck? Worried you’re not finding the right person to lead your team? You already know the truth:
Hiring a manager is not easy.
In our brand-new report, we walk through the hiring process for your restaurant manager step-by-step, laying out all the things you need even before sitting down to interview, including:
- How to write a strong job description
- What to look for in a restaurant manager resume
- Setting your restaurant manager salary
- And more!
Download this free eBook today to get powerful insights into how your hiring process for a restaurant manager can be more effective — and find you the right manager to keep your business running smoothly and profitably.
Excerpt from Chapter 1:
In many ways, finding a new restaurant manager is one of the biggest hiring challenges a restaurant owner can face. After all, restaurant managers take on so many different roles and work with so many different people on your team.
Having a well-composed job description will help you attract high quality candidates who have the experience you need and the right mindset for the job. It’s all about getting your hiring process off on the right foot.
The Title
The job title on your restaurant manager job description should be specific and detailed, but also concise. That might seem like an oxymoron, but it’s more about balancing the two aspects. Depending on the job website, you might have a limitation on characters for your job listing title. Keeping it under 80 characters is usually a best practice in order to keep their attention yet concisely highlight what you expect from the candidate.
People will often search specifically for “restaurant manager,” so having those two words back-to-back in your job title is important. Highly qualified candidates will be scanning these sites for job titles that specifically fit where they are and where they want to go with their careers. You want the title to stand out.
So, if you’re hiring a back-of-house restaurant manager, that’s how you should title it.
Or if you’re hiring for a fine dining restaurant and want a manager specifically with similar experience, using “Restaurant Manager – Fine Dining” works as well.
Avoiding Gender Bias
While you’re describing the ideal candidate, stay away from using he/him pronouns. Using masculine pronouns sends the message that you assume the best applicant will be male, which means you might miss out on excellent female applicants even sending their resume at all.
Instead, stick with they/them pronouns (it’s grammatically correct and unbiased). Also consider working in more second person tense with “you” pronouns, like “you will be managing a team of 20” or “your daily routine will include…” Besides avoiding gendered pronouns, using “you” is a more proactive approach, putting the potential candidate already in the mindset of the role.
Opening Paragraph
The introductory paragraph in your restaurant manager job description should also include an overview of the restaurant. This is your chance to sell the applicants on why they should want to work there.
Discuss the overall brand, the menu, the work culture you’ve developed, and any achievements or connections to your community. If you’re an entirely vegan restaurant, say so. If your team does volunteer work for local organizations, mention it. If you’ve won a prominent culinary award, discuss it up here.
Give the potential manager a sense of who you are so they feel like applying for the job is worth their time. That being said, aim to keep this part to a paragraph only — if you make it any longer, the applicant won’t read it and will just scroll past to get to the job requirements.
Necessary Skills and Traits
Before you get to the official responsibilities in the restaurant manager job description, this bulleted list sets up your own expectations for a great candidate.
Think about the kind of leader you’re looking for in your new manager. Organizational skills, interpersonal skills, detail-oriented, and even just the ability to efficiently delegate tasks are important. Consider asking your employees (especially those who will be working with this person) what they appreciate in a manager. You might just get a sense of the traits the whole team wants in a leader.
You should also mention more specific experience-based traits you’re looking for in your manager. Experience working with food vendors, handling paperwork and financial records, overseeing stock levels, and supervising shifts are all good examples. And if you expect your new restaurant manager to have specific certification (ServSafe, for example), you should mention it here.
Responsibilities
This is the core of the restaurant manager job description, where the applicant gets a good overview of what this job would look like both in terms of their tasks each shift and their larger responsibilities within the business.
There are a few different levels to this section. First you should lay out the big picture responsibilities that come with the position. Next, go over the basic day-to-day tasks you’d expect from the position. Finally, explain how this position fits into the business as a whole, including who they would report to and who will report to them.
The idea is for the applicant to be able to skim this section, not get bogged down by big paragraphs. The responsibilities should be in bulleted lists to make them as easy to read as possible, and try to err on the side of brevity for each item.