Restaurant Manager
Resume Example

From offering the best customer service to overlooking back office activities, the job of a restaurant manager is all about responsibility. It’s more than checking how delicious a dish is!

Although you have plenty of experience in a similar capacity, you might be confused when it comes to applying for a job. How are you supposed to impress hiring managers?

The answer is your resume of course! It’s the cherry on top of your Restaurant manager job application.

Appetizers first!

Before moving on to the main course of resume writing, you need to understand what exactly the recruiters are looking for. A restaurant manager usually performs a wide range of duties including:

1. Coordinating front and back house operations
2. Delivering the best quality customer service
3. Hiring staff
4. Estimation of kitchen needs
5. Performance appraisal
6. Supervising staff
7. Arranging shifts
8. Monitoring standards and compliance

These duties vary from restaurant to restaurant. Always read the job description to get more insight.

Why is a Restaurant Manager Resume important?

Recall your experience on how customers can be very picky at a restaurant? They can sometimes take so much time looking through the menu. If the menu is not organized well, there is a risk of losing a valuable customer!

Recruiters are the same! They can be VERY picky when it comes to hiring the best candidate as the new restaurant manager. Think of your resume as a menu. If it’s not well organized, then you are in big trouble!

Let’s take a look at how to prepare a delicious Restaurant manager resume in no time!

01. Restaurant Manager Resume header

This section is similar to the headline of a restaurant menu. Simply, it gives an idea on basic details such as restaurant name, location and contact details.

Your restaurant Manager resume header says the same things about YOU. Here’s an example:

Here’s a summary of what needs to be included in your Restaurant manager resume header:

• Name
• Current designation / Job title
• Location
• Most frequently used phone number
• Email address
• LinkedIn URL

02. Restaurant Manager resume summary

Also referred to as the resume objective or the professional profile, this section is like the tagline of a brand new restaurant. The hiring managers are gonna look at this and decide whether your resume is worth the read or NOT.

What to consider when putting all your abilities and achievements in the resume summary?

• Limit this section between 3 to 5 lines.
• Use numbers whenever possible.
• Use action verbs.
• This is where you sum up your whole resume. So, complete the other sections first and come here at last.

Here’s a sample restaurant manager resume summary:

Pro tip: DO NOT write the resume summary in the first person’s view.

03. Showcase your Restaurant Management experience

With the fast growing and busy lifestyles there is no wonder in the drastic growth of the restaurant industry. That means, there is a lot of competition for a single restaurant manager job role!

Want to stand out from your competitors? The experience section is the ultimate life saver!

Follow these guidelines to craft a well seasoned work experience section for your Restaurant Manager resume:

1. List down each job position you’ve held in reverse chronological order.
2. Underneath each position, jot down your achievements in bullet points.
3. Each point should have a task and result in quantifiable terms.
4. Empower your achievements using action verbs.
5. If you have 10+ years of experience, focus only on the latest 5 to 7 years.

This is how to list down a single job position in your Restaurant manager resume:

You may add up to 6 key responsibilities and accomplishments under each job role.

What if you have no managerial experience? Focus on the activities related to management you’ve performed and list them down as follows:

• Monitored freshness of ingredients on a daily basis and reduced spoilage by 20%.
• Tracked and restocked necessary food items and maintained ingredient availability at 100%.
• Maintained kitchen sanitary and safety standards at the fullest and gained 3 stars in the Michelin Guide in 2018.
• Portioned and prepped ingredients beforehand to ensure the order is served within 15 minutes to the customers.

Pro tip: No professional level experience? Consider adding any internships and volunteer work to boost your restaurant manager resume experience section.

04. Add an Education section to your Restaurant Manager resume

Restaurant management is all about practical skills and expertise. Then what’s the place for boring theory and grades?

Theory and grades matter when it comes to almost any job. Restaurant Manager jobs are no exception. Although you have practical exposure, you need to be qualified enough to lead a whole team while practicing restaurant standards.

List down your educational qualifications starting from the most recent and go down the timeline. Include any relevant coursework and significant achievements (e.g: outstanding GPA more than 3.0).

Here’s how to list a degree:

If you are still in the middle of your university degree, list it as follows:

Pro tip: If you took ant minors, list them too. This will impress hiring managers because it means you can multitask and work under pressure.

05. Restaurant Manager resume skills section

Although you are a master restaurant manager with a lot of skills on the table, this time you need to HANDPICK the most relevant skills!

Here’s the recipe to do it yourself:

First Step: Go through the job description once more and make note of duties you ought to perform.

Second Step: List down the most appropriate hard skills and soft skills you have.

Third Step: Pick at most 15 skills making sure there are hard skills as well as soft skills.

To help you through the process, we have a whole list of restaurant manager skills you can consider.

Restaurant Manager hard skills

• Restaurant operations
• Beverages: Wine, liquor etc
• Bar management
• Wine pairing
• Health and safety
• Social media
• Marketing
• Italian cuisine
• French cuisine
• Fast food
• Burgers
• Fine dining
• Haute cuisine
• Seafood
• Nouvelle cuisine
• Fusion cuisine
• Table d’hôte
• Supplies ordering
• Event planning
• Hygiene
• Menus
• Budget planning
• Catering
• FOH operations
• BOH operations

Restaurant manager soft skills

• Communication
• Interpersonal skills
• Leadership
• Multitasking
• Management
• Critical thinking
• Flexible
• Creativity
• Time management
• Working under pressure
• Detail-oriented
• Reliable
• Decision making

Extra sections to spice up your Restaurant Manager resume

All your competitors will obviously have the above sections in their resumes. How to make yours stand out from the rest? Make it an extra special like a dish for a VIP customer by adding some more sections!

01. Certifications to add in your Restaurant Manager resume

A star rating will always make a restaurant stand out! Same goes for a restaurant manager. Certifications will surely add more than stars to your resume.

These are some Restaurant management certifications you can consider adding:

• ServSafe Manager Certification
• Certified Food Protection Professional
• Certified Restaurant Server
• Certificate in Food and Beverage Management
• Restaurant Revenue Management Certificate
• Certified Food Manager

02. Language skills

Restaurants are places for customers from all over the world. In that case, knowing a couple of foreign languages will always be in your favor. Here’s how to list languages on your Restaurant manager resume:

• English: Native
• German: Full Working Professional Proficiency

03. Volunteer work section

This can be added as an extra section if you have plenty of experience in the restaurant industry. As for newbies, volunteer work is always welcome in the work experience section.

Here comes the garnishing!

No matter how delicious a dish is, if it is not presented well, no one’s gonna taste it. That’s why your Restaurant manager resume needs to be organized according to a template.

Don’t forget the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) that will scan your resume before hiring managers do. If you don’t have the keywords in it, your resume is going straight into the trash bin. 

Let the garnishing begin!

Select the best fonts for your Restaurant Manager resume

Resume fonts must be carefully chosen just like choosing the best fonts for an attractive menu. Color and size matter a lot!

For more insight on resume fonts, read the full article here about best resume fonts.

Restaurant Manager resume action verbs

Need to make your resume speak to the hiring managers? Use action verbs in your resume summary, experience section and wherever necessary. We have made a list of Restaurant Manager resume action verbs just for you:

• Catered
• Prepared
• Cooked
• Served
• Monitored
• Sanitized
• Performed
• Led
• Budgeted
• Ensured
• Scheduled
• Bartend
• Oversee
• Recruited
• Performed
• Attended
• Resolved
• Ordered
• Settled
• Managed

Pair your Restaurant Manager resume with a matching cover letter

A meal is never perfect without dessert. A resume is never perfect without a cover letter!

It not only gives a finishing touch to your resume, but also extends the hiring manager’s decision making time. Include your key accomplishments, future vision and end it with a delicious offer that’s worth a taste! 

Read more about how to write an impressive cover letter.

Winding Up!

Bottoms up, you’re almost there! But before serving your resume, do one final check on whether everything is alright. Tick off this checklist just to make sure it’s all good to go on the table:

• Save your resume in PDF format unless they’ve requested for a .docx file.
• Limit the number of pages to 2.
• Double check contact details.
• Get it proofread one more time.

For more ideas, check out our Restaurant Manager resume sample.

Good luck!