A restaurant manager is a demanding, yet rewarding, role, that requires
an individual to have excellent interpersonal skills, great time
management and a deep understanding of catering.

It is the
responsibility of the restaurant manager to ensure that the restaurant
operates efficiently, serving up good food and, perhaps most
importantly, satisfying customers.

A Manager will have to ensure all staff are eligible to work in the UK and that
the establishment is meeting health and safety requirements.

How
much creativity a manager can exert will depend on the nature of the
establishment. Marketing campaigns at a franchise for example, may be
centralised while at an independent restaurant a manager may be given
free rein.

The manager may also have front of house duties, such
as coordinating the operation of the restaurant, providing staff with
feedback, meeting guests, dealing with customer complaints and
recruiting staff.

To qualify for this position, a candidate will
normally be employed to degree or diploma level in a subject such as
hotel and catering, hospitality management or business and management.

However,
in such a practical industry experience is valued just as much as
academic expertise and it is vital that candidates have a range of work
experience on their CV.

This can be in the form of evening or
weekend work or shadowing a manager as part of a structured internship.
It will serve to show employers how enthusiastic the candidate is about
the industry and that they have a working knowledge of the role.

Some
employers do recruit graduates with little experience, so they can
"mould them in their image".

Key skills that employers will be
looking for include excellent interpersonal skills, good oral
communication, the ability to cope under pressure, business acumen, team
leading skills and problem solving abilities.

Candidates may be
able to gain further training opportunities by joining a professional
body, such as the Institute of Hospitality.

A restaurant manager
can expect to start on a salary of between £16,000 and £20,000, with
these figures tending to be slightly higher in London and the
south-west.

After five to ten years, candidates should be earning
between £30,000 and £40,000, although this figure can vary vastly
depending on what sort of establishment a candidate is employed in.

One
thing which candidates can be sure of is that the hours will be long,
the pace sometimes unrelenting, and the times they will be required to
work are often unsociable.

However, it is a rewarding job that
offers candidates the chance to work in a tight-knit team and run an
establishment they can take pride in.