What Does it Take to Be a Food Service Manager?
Food Service Manager Job Description Plan, direct, or coordinate activities of an organization or department that serves food and beverages.
What Do Food Service Managers Do On a Daily Basis?
- Greet guests, escort them to their seats, and present them with menus and wine lists.
- Coordinate assignments of cooking personnel to ensure economical use of food and timely preparation.
- Monitor budgets and payroll records, and review financial transactions to ensure that expenditures are authorized and budgeted.
- Investigate and resolve complaints regarding food quality, service, or accommodations.
- Review menus and analyze recipes to determine labor and overhead costs, and assign prices to menu items.
- Take dining reservations.
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What Skills Do You Need to Work as a Food Service Manager?
These are the skills Food Service Managers say are the most useful in their careers:
Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Types of Food Service Manager
- Restauranteur
- Liquor Establishment Manager
- General Manager
- Catering Director
- Banquet Director
Is There Going to be Demand for Food Service Managers?
In the United States, there were 308,700 jobs for Food Service Manager in 2016. New jobs are being produced at a rate of 9% which is above the national average. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 27,700 new jobs for Food Service Manager by 2026. There will be an estimated 36,800 positions for Food Service Manager per year.

The states with the most job growth for Food Service Manager are Utah, Washington, and Arizona. Watch out if you plan on working in Vermont, Maine, or West Virginia. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.
What is the Average Salary of a Food Service Manager
The salary for Food Service Managers ranges between about $31,580 and $92,410 a year.

Food Service Managers who work in New Jersey, New York, or Washington, make the highest salaries.
Below is a list of the median annual salaries for Food Service Managers in different U.S. states.
State | Annual Mean Salary |
---|---|
Alabama | $58,590 |
Alaska | $68,390 |
Arizona | $58,640 |
Arkansas | $48,760 |
California | $57,920 |
Connecticut | $75,130 |
Delaware | $76,040 |
District of Columbia | $70,980 |
Florida | $61,160 |
Georgia | $52,660 |
Hawaii | $66,130 |
Idaho | $47,000 |
Illinois | $51,440 |
Indiana | $52,280 |
Iowa | $46,620 |
Kansas | $54,870 |
Kentucky | $51,160 |
Louisiana | $64,530 |
Maine | $63,410 |
Maryland | $72,870 |
Massachusetts | $68,770 |
Michigan | $61,800 |
Minnesota | $58,900 |
Mississippi | $48,570 |
Missouri | $53,390 |
Montana | $57,200 |
Nebraska | $46,220 |
Nevada | $69,220 |
New Hampshire | $64,360 |
New Jersey | $82,340 |
New Mexico | $55,530 |
New York | $77,760 |
North Carolina | $59,340 |
North Dakota | $54,700 |
Ohio | $53,810 |
Oklahoma | $50,650 |
Oregon | $52,110 |
Pennsylvania | $66,680 |
Rhode Island | $66,870 |
South Carolina | $61,110 |
South Dakota | $52,880 |
Tennessee | $47,240 |
Texas | $61,610 |
Utah | $46,030 |
Vermont | $58,320 |
Virginia | $65,800 |
Washington | $77,970 |
West Virginia | $47,230 |
Wisconsin | $50,880 |
Wyoming | $52,070 |
What Tools & Technology do Food Service Managers Use?
Although they’re not necessarily needed for all jobs, the following technologies are used by many Food Service Managers:
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Office
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Outlook
- Word processing software
- Microsoft Project
- Database software
- Microsoft Dynamics
- Google Docs
- Intuit QuickBooks
- Google Drive
- Adobe Systems Adobe Flash
- Delphi Technology
- IBM Domino
- Oracle Taleo
- Apache Groovy
- Inventory management software
- Culinary Software Services ChefTec
Becoming a Food Service Manager
Are there Food Service Managers education requirements?

How Long Does it Take to Become a Food Service Manager?

Who Employs Food Service Managers?

The table below shows the approximate number of Food Service Managers employed by various industries.

Related Careers
Those interested in being a Food Service Manager may also be interested in:
Are you already one of the many Food Service Manager in the United States? If you’re thinking about changing careers, these fields are worth exploring:
References:
Image Credit: Bblackpsu via Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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