The requirements of a professional restaurant manager

The current development of the food & beverage industry has pushed the job of restaurant manager to become attractive, attracting many candidates to pursue because of its high salary, good remuneration and many other benefits. However, to be successful at the position of restaurant manager, there are special factors and skills required. So what are those? Let's find out with Navigos Search through the article below!

1. Expertise & Qualification

Normally, employers recruiting restaurant managers often require candidates to have a university degree or higher in the field of Restaurant Management, Hotel Management, Tourism, Foreign Languages,... and have at least 3 years of working experience in a similar position to ensure that they could perform well in their role.

As the restaurant industry is growing strongly, the customer file also becomes richer. The restaurant manager not only welcomes V.I.P customers, domestic customers but also international customers. Therefore, good foreign language competency will help you communicate more smoothly as well as expand your chances of promotion to a senior management position.

The restaurant manager needs to have expertise and work experience

2. Extensive social knowledge

Working in this field, the head of the department has to welcome and interact with many customers from each region and country with distinct cultural features. Therefore, extensive social and cultural knowledge will help you show your professionalism and create a reputation for the restaurant.

In addition, food hygiene and safety has become a vital factor for any restaurant today. Just one customer on the online community complains, speaks out about the restaurant's dishes are not clean, or even more seriously, the dishes are not hygienic, the customer is poisoned, ... then surely, the restaurant reputation you've been trying to build over the past decade can vanish. Not to mention, after the Covid pandemic, health and safety issues are more important than ever.

Therefore, to manage a restaurant well, the restaurant manager needs to possess comprehensive knowledge of food safety and hygiene and have a pioneering spirit to convey the importance of this issue to the entire team.

3. Communication skills

Hotel management and restaurant management are all customer service professions, so they need communication skills. The restaurant manager is responsible for accurately communicating the task to the staff, or receiving and handling complaints from customers, reporting the working progress to the leadership board,... You can only perform well when you possess the ability to speak fluently and communicate in a friendly, cheerful, enthusiastic manner.

4. Management skills

This is the core skill that makes a professional restaurant manager because your main job is to coordinate, assign tasks to the staff in the department and make sure the work goes smoothly and effectively.

A good manager will know how to make the most of employees' resources to create the best products and services for the restaurant. You need to understand the strengths of each individual in order to assign the right person to the right job to improve work productivity and help create a good reputation for the restaurant.

Management skill is very important for this position

5. Creativity and critical thinking skills

Creative and critical thinking skills allow you to create a fresh, eye-catching restaurant space. You need to direct your staff to arrange tables and chairs or decorate the restaurant on holidays and Tet so that it is attractive but still shows its own style to attract more attention from customers.

A good restaurant manager also has the ability to support the marketing and communication departments to create effective advertising campaigns, helping the restaurant's image to stand out, differentiate and impress everyone.

6. Teamwork skills

In the food & beverage industry, many important tasks require cooperation to be performed well, such as taking orders, closing the menu for the kitchen, providing the bill, etc. Therefore, you need to have a team spirit and good teamwork skills to work smoothly, helping the restaurant operate more smoothly.

7. Problem solving skills

In case the employee cannot handle the customer's complaints, the restaurant manager is responsible for reasonable settlement. You need to clearly analyze the cause of the problem and be flexible, sensitive to the situations of complaints from customers to bring the absolute satisfaction to them but still not be detrimental to the restaurant. Regularly evaluate the satisfaction of diners, build and maintain relationships with regular customers, ... to help the restaurant develop better.

8. Be prudent and highly responsible

From the budget, the restaurant's operating schedule, the staff to the menu, ... all must be understood by the restaurant manager. Even a small problem in these categories can cause a restaurant to malfunction, affecting customer service. Therefore, the manager needs to be careful, always follow up every job to ensure the restaurant always runs smoothly and satisfies every customer. 

The nature of a restaurant manager's job is to cover all activities, from the kitchen, the dispensing area to the customer's dining table and  staff management, .... The amount of pressure is extremely large for a restaurant manager. It is inevitable so you need to be able to withstand high work pressure.

9. Technology proficiency

A good restaurant manager must be a pioneer in using sales support software, reservation platform, online ordering application, etc. to serve daily work and advise restaurant owners, customers and investors in choosing the most optimal solution to boost sales.

10. Constant learning attitude

Cultivating and updating management knowledge is also an important factor to help you stay in the profession. Learning to manage according to new trends will help the restaurant stay fresh and serve the needs of customers to the fullest. Actively participate in courses in business administration, culinary arts,... to become a successful restaurant manager.

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