Restaurant Manager Job Description

Key skills

Responsibilities

• • Forecast covers by service period and build a rota that matches staffing to the expected rush
• • Run pre service briefings so the team knows the specials, the eighty sixed items and the large bookings
• • Hold the pass with the kitchen, managing ticket times and calling adjustments when service backs up
• • Track food and beverage costs, wastage and portion consistency against the agreed targets
• • Keep food safety and temperature records complete and current to the standard that applies locally
• • Handle guest complaints in the moment and follow up on reviews and feedback afterwards
• • Cash up at close, reconcile takings and card settlements, and complete the close down checklist
• • Recruit, induct and train floor staff, and manage service standards through observation and coaching

Requirements

• • Experience running service periods in a restaurant, bar or comparable hospitality venue
• • Ability to forecast covers and build rotas that hold up through weekend and holiday peaks
• • Working knowledge of food and beverage cost control and stock takes
• • Familiarity with the food safety record keeping required by the local regime, with certification confirmed against current local rules
• • Availability for split shifts, late closes and weekend service
• • Composure and clear judgement when service, staffing and a guest complaint collide

Nice to have

• • Experience opening a site or relaunching a menu
• • Cellar management, wine or cocktail knowledge relevant to the venue
• • Exposure to the licensing responsibilities that apply locally to alcohol or late trading
• • Experience running functions, private dining or group bookings
• • Familiarity with the reservation and point of sale platforms already installed

Interview between services, not during a manager's day off

Hospitality candidates are working the same hours you are, so a rigid weekday interview slot filters for availability rather than ability. Offer late morning or mid afternoon windows between services and batch several candidates into one afternoon. Confirm the split shift reality in the first conversation, including which days off the role actually carries, because a manager who expects two consecutive days off in a venue that cannot offer them will leave within a season. Getting that conversation out of the way early saves both sides a wasted process.

Use a trial service rather than a written exercise

A paid trial across one real service tells you what no interview can: whether the candidate reads a room, where they stand when the floor gets busy, how they speak to the kitchen when tickets stack up, and whether the team responds to them. Brief them properly, pay for the shift, and tell your existing staff it is an assessment so nobody is confused about who is in charge. Watch the close as closely as the rush, because the discipline that shows up at eleven at night is the discipline you are actually buying.

Test the numbers as hard as the hospitality

Warm, capable floor managers are common; managers who also control cost are not. Ask what their gross profit target was, how they hit or missed it, and what they changed. Ask how they handle wastage, what a stock take actually involves in their venue, and what they do when the kitchen consistently over portions. If a candidate can only talk about guest experience and team energy, they may be an excellent supervisor who still needs support on the commercial side, which is a training decision rather than a rejection.

Confirm the compliance picture without assuming it

Food safety training requirements, alcohol licensing and late trading rules differ by country and often by state or city, and they change. Ask what certification the candidate currently holds and when it was issued, then verify what your venue actually requires from the current local regulator rather than relying on what a previous employer told either of you. Treat any candidate claim that a particular certificate is required everywhere with caution, and write the confirmed local requirement into the job description before you advertise again.

How an ATS handles high volume hospitality hiring

Restaurant teams turn over faster than most, and the same roles reopen every season, so the process needs to be repeatable rather than heroic. Pitch N Hire's applicant tracking system stores every past applicant, so when a floor manager resigns you can reopen a pipeline that already contains people who applied last time instead of starting from a blank advert. Availability and certification questions can be asked at application, trial shifts can be scheduled in batches, and notes from each trial stay attached to the candidate. Because the whole team can see the pipeline, an assistant manager can keep it moving on a day the general manager is on the floor.