Many people that are trying to work their way into restaurant management find themselves wondering how much the manager of restaurant operations earns. After all, the managers tend to put in long hours, and they have a lot of responsibilities. Is the reward worth the headache of being a restaurant manager?
The amount you can expect to earn as the manager of a restaurant depends several different factors. Each one plays a part in the big picture. Change any one of the pieces, and the whole picture changes.
Type of Restaurant
One of the first things you need to consider is the type of restaurant you are thinking about managing. Different types of restaurant have different pay structures. Family style restaurants tend to pay more than fast food restaurants. Fine dining restaurants pay more than family style restaurants. While it's not always true, a good rule of thumb is that the higher the level of service is, the higher the pay will be.
Level of Responsibility
It is also a good general rule that the more you are responsible for, the more you can earn. Shift managers earn less than assistant managers, who earn less than general managers. If you are responsible for all of the financial reports you will typically get paid more than the manager that simply reports daily sales.
As a restaurant manager you are being paid for your knowledge. The more responsibilities you have, the more knowledge is required. If you haven't gone to school to learn the management paperwork, you will only get that knowledge through experience. The more you can learn, the more valuable you become to the company.
Restaurant Volume
Another general rule is the more the restaurant you are managing earns, the more the manager earns. If you are the manager of restaurant operations at a restaurant that does over a million dollars a year in sales, you will earn more than a manager of a restaurant with $500,000 in annual sales. The higher the income of the restaurant, the higher the earnings of the restaurant manager.
Before you decide to start flooding the upscale restaurants with your restaurant manager's resume, you need to remember that there is a lot of competition for the higher paying manager jobs. You will most likely have to pay your dues before you can hope to land one of those coveted positions. It takes quite a bit of experience to handle the demands of these jobs, so you are going to have to put in your time and work your way up the experience ladder.
Being the manager manager of restaurant operations can be very rewarding, both financially and personally. Make sure you are ready for the challenge before you jump into one of the top positions.
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