Restaurant Manager job description
A Restaurant Manager runs the daily service, team and costs of a restaurant. The role keeps guests happy, kitchen and floor working together, and the outlet's numbers on track.
Why the role exists
In an Indian restaurant, the manager is on the floor through lunch and dinner, handling guests, staff and suppliers at once. The Restaurant Manager joins the owner's plans with daily service. They schedule shifts, control food and beverage costs, protect standards and report to the owner or area head.
What the person does
- Open and close the outlet and brief the team before each service on bookings, specials and shortages.
- Prepare weekly duty rosters for kitchen, floor and bar staff and cover absences quickly.
- Greet guests, handle complaints on the floor and follow up on reviews on Google and Zomato.
- Check food quality, portions, presentation and kitchen hygiene with the head chef every shift.
- Monitor stock, wastage and purchases, and compare food cost with the recipe costing.
- Reconcile the day's sales in the POS with cash, card and UPI collections.
- Train waiters and captains on menu knowledge, upselling and guest etiquette.
- Report weekly on sales, covers, costs, staff issues and maintenance needs to the owner.
Skills and tools
- Floor management during peak service
- POS billing systems such as Petpooja or similar
- Food and beverage costing and stock control
- Rostering and managing a team of mixed experience
- Guest handling and complaint recovery
- Working with delivery platforms and managing order accuracy
- Food safety and hygiene practices
- Clear reporting in Excel or sheets
Education and experience
Preferred, never a bar: equivalent experience counts.
- Diploma or degree in hotel management or hospitality is preferred, or equivalent experience in restaurants.
- Preferred experience of three or more years in restaurant or cafe operations, including some supervisory time.
- Food safety training or licences needed for the outlet depend on the employer and state, and should be confirmed with its own adviser.
- Comfort with POS and basic spreadsheet work is preferred, or equivalent experience.
How the work is judged
- Guest feedback and online review quality over time
- Food and beverage cost against the recipe plan
- Smooth service during peak hours with fewer errors and delays
- Staff attendance, retention and training completion
- Accuracy of daily sales reconciliation and stock records
Where the role can lead
- Multi-outlet or area manager for a restaurant group
- Operations head or food and beverage manager
- Own restaurant or franchise outlet after building costing and supplier skills
Interview questions to ask
Ask every candidate the same questions in the same order and score them against written anchors, so the decision rests on the work and not the impression.
- A table complains about a delayed order during a full house. Walk us through your response.
- How do you reduce wastage in the kitchen without hurting quality?
- Tell us how you build a weekly roster that covers weekend rush and still keeps staff rested.
- A key captain quits without notice on a Friday. What do you do?
- What numbers do you check every day to know how the outlet is doing?
- How do you manage the relationship between the kitchen and the floor when they disagree?
Hiring tips for this role
- Ask for a day-in-the-life walk-through. Strong managers describe prep, briefing, peak service and closing in plain detail.
- Test costing. Give a menu item with ingredients and see whether the candidate can reason about portion cost and wastage.
- Check how they led teams. Ask how many staff they hired, trained and replaced, and what went wrong.
- Take a trial shift where possible. Watching a candidate on the floor shows more than an interview does.
Questions about hiring a restaurant manager
The titles overlap. A restaurant manager usually focuses on floor and guest service. An outlet manager may also own sales and costs for the whole unit. Write your expectations clearly in the job description.
Not always. Many good managers rise from captain or supervisor roles. A hospitality diploma helps with structure, but real floor experience, costing sense and leadership matter more.
Give a sample menu item and ask them to estimate food cost, wastage and where they would check stock. Ask what they changed in a past outlet to bring costs down.
GullyHR offers permanent talent acquisition. We agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates with restaurant operations experience, and support the offer. Trial shifts are best run at your own outlet.
Hiring a restaurant manager?
GullyHR runs talent acquisition for permanent roles. We agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates against it, and support the offer through to joining. We recruit permanent employees. We do not supply contract or temporary staff.