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How to write a perfect restaurant manager resume?

It is not an easy task to become the manager of a reputed restaurant. Unlike most industries, you do not need an MBA or an equal degree to become a general manager but an ability to put sweat, tears, and blood.

It takes time and years of work experience to meet the necessary skills. Even after that, there is a slim chance to get hired at a popular restaurant.

The struggle is real!

If you struggle to find jobs despite having the right experience and talent, then you are in the right place.

In this guide, we will address the most tricky issue that job aspirants face: the restaurant manager resume.

Also, we will explain in detail the solution to this problem.

By the end of the article, you will have a fair idea of how:

• What are the responsibilities of restaurant manager?
• How should a restaurant manager sound good on a resume?
• How can you draft an intruiging restaurant manager resume summary?
• How do you describe a restaurant manager on a resume?
• Should you include your managerial skills in your resume?

What is a Restaurant Manager Resume?

A restaurant manager is the face of a restaurant. They run and maintain operations in the restaurant, from entry-level chores such as taking reservations to high-end tasks like marketing.

They take care of all aspects of managing, be it interior decoration, customer service, sanitation, or kitchen handling. By being reliable leads, they have the ability to motivate people and manage restaurant operations.

Through their passion for the food industry, they maintain the success of restaurants.

Restaurant Manager Resume Categories

There are several categories of managers in the restaurant industry. Each category requires a specific set of skills.

Some of the popular categories are:

General Manager

A general restaurant manager handles the operations of a restaurant. They are responsible for human and material resources along with employment.

They look after different departments, i.e., kitchen, bar, cafe, and food.
It takes 7, 8 years of experience to gain cross-functional expertise, and they earn 60k to 70k yearly in the U.S.

A restaurant general manager resume should highlight all the necessary skills required in order to land high-paying jobs.

Bar Manager

A Bar Manager manages the operations in a restaurant bar by ensuring harmony and maximum customer satisfaction.

Becoming a bar manager is not all games and fun. The competition to become a bar manager is aggressive. There are millions of worthy bar and nightlife enthusiasts willing to showcase their expertise.

A bar manager resume with relevant experience and skills can catch a recruiter's attention.

Food and Beverage Manager

A food manager supervises food operations in a restaurant along with training and administering the kitchen staff. They manage order supplies and facilitate customer satisfaction.

If you want to become a food manager, you should have all the mentioned skills and qualifications. Some employers may also prefer a hospitality management degree or certification from a culinary school.

In case you do not have a degree, do not fret. Make a professional resume using the guidelines mentioned in the guide, and there is a promising chance to get an interview line-up.

Kitchen Manager

A kitchen manager oversees kitchen operations and determines the demand for supplies while ordering the same. They train and supervise kitchen staff while directing food preparation.

They are usually thorough with safety regulations in the kitchen and take care of inventory assessment and cost reports.

If you are adept at performing all these functions, you can pursue your dream of becoming a kitchen manager.

Make sure to make an impressive kitchen manager resume to stand out amidst the competition.

Cafe Manager

A café manager is responsible for overseeing operations in a café. They plan menus, maintain budgets, collaborate with vendors, and manage all other aspects of running a café.

A café manager resume should highlight all the diversified skills required to spearhead a premium café.

Hotel Manager

A Hotel Manager ensures that the day-to-day running of hotel premises is smooth and effective. They superintend the entire staff across different departments in a hotel while managing budget and revenue.

They guide everyone from the front desk to the kitchen. With relevant experience and a notable resume, you can land a hotel manager job at a reputed chain.

Do you see yourself thriving in any of the categories? If yes, then this is the time to take the first step towards your dream job.

Your restaurant manager resume will state all the necessary skills and achievements to separate you from a flux of aspirants.

Why Do You Need a Restaurant Manager Resume?

The best way to showcase your skills and experience in conjunction with industry standards is through a restaurant manager resume. If you want to get jobs, float your candidacy through networks, or even track your success, a restaurant manager resume is a way to go.

Many employers use a software called Automated Tracking System to eliminate resumes in the first round of the interview.

Most of the time, your resume does not even reach the human recruiter, it gets rejected by the software. Since ATS plays an important role in shortlisting resumes, it is necessary to understand how it works.

The recruiter inputs the keywords in the ATS algorithm matching the job description. For instance, some of the keywords for the restaurant manager resume are restaurant POS software, restaurant marketing, accounting & budget, customer service, reservations, complaints & inquiries.

Make sure to research about restaurant manager job description and profile as much as possible and inculcate the relevant keywords in your resume.

How Popular is the Restaurant Industry?

• There are 1 million locations in the U.S. alone for restaurants
• They employ 14.7 million people
• Restaurant workforce accounts for 10% of the U.S. workforce
• Roughly 200 million customers visit a restaurant every year
• 9 out of 10 managers start at entry-level jobs at a restaurant

The crux is that the restaurant industry is growing exponentially. Anyone aspiring to be a manager, whether a food chain or a bar needs to toil for years.

Most employers prefer to hire from within their networks. Even professionals with the required qualifications struggle to grasp an opportunity.

There is a zero to slim chance to get placed after college and internships.
First, you need relevant experience and an impeccable restaurant manager resume that represents that experience the best.

Since the competition is brutal and the hiring process is mostly within circles, a restaurant manager resume is a key to making a respectable career.

How to Write a Restaurant Manager Resume?

In order to create a good resume, one must take particular notice to avoid stuffing it with irrelevant information and categorize it into appropriate sections. There are several tips you can follow to achieve this:

Choose a Suitable Restaurant Manager Resume Format

There are three types of resume formats for restaurant managers:

Reverse Chronological Order Format

Under reverse chronological format resume, you start with your current or latest work experience and then move on to past work experiences.

Also read: Is the reverse-chronological format suitable for your career?

Functional Format Resume

This restaurant manager resume format focuses on skills rather than work experience. Generally, the candidates who have gaps in employment opt for a functional format resume.

Under this type of format, you can segregate the skills you gained working for different organizations and list the projects under each skill.

Also read: How to maximize the advantages of a functional resume format?

Combination Resume

As the name suggests, this resume format is a hybrid of reverse chronological and functional resume format. It comprises two pages, wherein the first page entails the functional resume format. The second page of the resume consists of reverse-chronological professional experience.

Also read: Create a recruiter-friendly resume with combination resume format

Divide Your Restaurant Manager Resume into Sections

After you decide which format you will use for your restaurant manager resume, you can move on to creating distinct resume sections. Here is a basic outline of what you can include in your resume:

• Headline
• Personal Information
• Title
• Summary/Objective
• Key Skills
• Technical Skills
• Professional Experience
• Internship
• Education
• Certifications
• Awards & Recognition

Also read: How many extra resume sections can you include to match your unique candidacy?

Add a Restaurant Manager Resume Header

It is the first thing that a recruiter looks at in a resume.

The header for the restaurant manager resume contains your name with a font size of 14 to 16 points. Space your resume header, and be sure to include your full name.

Refer to the restaurant manager resume sample for header section:

Include Personal Information in Your Restaurant Manager Resume

Personal information of the candidate appears first on the resume.

Most people make the mistake of listing all kinds of details under this section. They go about writing their entire address from street lane to floor number. They list their spouse's name, passport availability, and so on.

Though there is no hard and fast rule for this, however, it is advisable to keep this field as limited as possible.

You do not have to mention your entire address, but just the city and country codes are sufficient. Also, avoid mentioning labels such as Contact Details, Address, or Email.

The information you include under this section is:

• Phone Number (without the label)
• Email Address (without any label)
• City Code and Country Code

It does not take up much space and appears professional on your resume for a restaurant manager.

Here is a restaurant manager resume sample for personal information section:

Also read: What should you strictly avoid when it comes to adding contact information?

Create a Restaurant Manager Resume Summary or Career Objective

The resume summary should be to-the-point and present your work experience in the best manner. Though there is no defined rule for this, try limiting your summary to 3 to 4 lines.

A recruiter should have a clear idea about what you are capable of doing. The closer your summary matches the job description, the higher your chances to get an interview line-up.

In conclusion, this is what you need to do while writing a career summary section:

• Career objectives are for entry-level applicants. For a managerial position like a restaurant manager, write a crisp summary not exceeding more than 3-4 lines.
• Draft the summary as per the job description of a restaurant resume for a manager. This will sway the decision of the recruiter to shortlist you.
• Add a summary after the personal information section. This will help the recruiter understand the career without going through the entire resume.

Refer to the restaurant manager resume sample for summary:

Also read: What information should you ideally include in a resume summary?

Draft a Work Experience Section in Your Restaurant Manager Resume

This is the core of your resume for a restaurant manager. Once you end up at the interview table, most of the questions will pertain to the professional experience part.

The recruiters scan this section thoroughly and look for inconsistencies. If you craft this section prudently, there is a good chance to make an everlasting impression on the recruiter.

STAR Format for Restaurant Manager Resume

Simply listing your responsibilities might not be as impactful as establishing a cause-effect methodology. For each project or responsibility, you have to mention:

• The situation you faced at a workplace.
• The task you took or were assigned to assuage that situation.
• What action you did find a resolution
• And the results from this task

Doing so will enable you to clearly portray how you helped the company and what you are capable of. It gives a clear context to your candidacy.

Power Verbs for Restaurant Manager Resume

Make sure that every sentence begins with a Power Verb. A few examples of power verbs are: strategize, maintain, hire, manage, facilitate, and so on.

Here is how you can make your resume more impactful by beginning every sentence with an action verb and power verb.

Generic Verb

Improving customer satisfaction and retaining customers
Increasing staff functionality by training them

• Power verb

Expedited customer retention rate by 15%
Furthered staff functionality by conducting training sessions

Highlighting Words in Restaurant Manager Resume

Given that a recruiter needs to go through hundreds of resumes, highlighting important words goes a long way.

Here is a restaurant manager resume sample with plain text:

• Built a team of 60+members and trained them on the latest restaurant POS tech

• Consolidated workforce cost by 50% by inducing a cloud-based POS

• Facilitated the kitchen staff to complete ServSafe Certification and enhanced safety standards

Here is a restaurant manager resume sample in bold:

• Built a team of 60+members and trained them on latest restaurant POS tech

• Consolidated workforce cost by 50% by introducing a cloud-based POS

• Facilitated the kitchen staff to complete ServSafe Certification and enhanced safety standards

It will draw a recruiter’s attention to your expertise.

Thus, make sure that you highlight the important words to make your resume stand out.

Quantify Important Details

• Facilitated an increase in revenue
• Furthered staff functionality
• Consolidated cost of a project

These are some of the examples of non-quantified work experience. These samples constitute a majority of the restaurant manager resumes that people make.

When you do not quantify your resume, it appears to be untrue, let alone vague. Therefore, it is better to quantify details. Have a look at a sample with quantified work experience.

• Facilitated a 25% increase in gross revenue by incorporating online ordering

• Accelerated weekly orders by 30% by assimilating cloud telephony technology

• Expedited by introducing a comprehensive customer loyalty program customer retention rate by 15%

It gives an idea to the recruiter that you are effective at your role and have clarity about results.

Refer to the restaurant manager sample for professional experience in reverse chronological order:

Also read: Beginner's guide to drafting a recruiter-friendly work experience section

Add Key Skills to Your Restaurant Manager Resume

A competent restaurant manager has a plethora of skills. The same reflects in their resume.

You can divide the skill section in the restaurant manager resume into two parts: soft skills and technical skills.

An adept restaurant manager has skills like communication, customer service, public relations, automation, leadership, and budgeting.

Refer to the restaurant manager resume for a key skills section:

They are proficient at leveraging restaurant industry tools such as Zomato Base and Square POS System.

You can mention all these tools under the technical skills section.

Most recruiters run a keyword search for the candidates abled at using these tools. It is your chance to get noticed during an automated search.

Make sure that you are honest and list the technical skills you possess. Mentioning more than you know gives out a negative impression during the interview.

Refer to the restaurant manager sample for technical skills sections:

Also read: How can you make the most of your skills?

Include Educational Details in Restaurant Manager Resume

Ideally, a candidate pursuing a management career in the restaurant industry should have a degree in hospitality and management.

For the education section of the restaurant resume, start with the highest degree and then proceed in reverse chronological order.

For instance, if you have a Master’s degree, mention it first, followed by a Bachelor’s degree.

List the name of your degree and college on the left and dates and locations on the right.

Refer to the image given below:

The date should be in mm/yy format for both joining and leaving the institute. The idea is to make a restaurant general restaurant manager resume readable.

Most recruiters are more interested in your professional experience and training, rather than educational qualifications. Therefore, do not mention projects or course modules if you are an experienced professional.

At most, you can mention CGPA for each degree.

In general, mention the following under the education section in a resume for a restaurant manager.

• Degrees in reverse-chronological order.
• University/college names in left alignment, dates, and location in the right alignment.

Include Certifications and Internships in Your Restaurant Manager Resume

Certification and internships can add weight to your candidature while applying for a restaurant manager job.

As a manager, you supervise and oversee different departments. You hire and train cross-functional staff. There are certification courses for various departments of a restaurant to manage each section effectively, namely, hotel, bar, kitchen, food, and service.

Thus, mention this section separately to present your cross-functional knowledge and expertise. If you have multiple certifications, make sure you list them in reverse-chronological order.

You can follow this format to list your certifications:

Certifications | Certifying Authority | Completion Date

Also read: How many certifications should you include in a resume?

Restaurant Manager Resume Sample

Here is a restaurant manager resume sample template for you to refer to while creating yours:

Key Pointers

If you have no prior experience, making a restaurant manager resume can be tricky. It is challenging to stay on top of industry standards and create one effectively.

• Make the restaurant manager resume in reverse-chronological resume format.
• Write a career summary section instead of a restaurant manager resume career objective if you are experienced. Target the job description while crafting it.
• Use power verbs, quantify your achievements, and highlight important terms in the work experience section.
• Key skills are necessary to highlight your abilities and clear ATS shortlisting.
• Mention certifications separately. Include all the dates in mm/yy format for when you completed them.

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