Restaurant Manager Resume Guide + Tips + Example
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Make your next career move with a professional restaurant manager resume. With our guide, you can create an effective restaurant manager resume to showcase you as a desirable candidate with relevant skills and experience.
Start by editing this restaurant manager resume sample template, or explore our library of resume templates to find the best one for you.
Restaurant manager resume example (text version)
GARY MCKENZIE
Chicago, IL 60018
(555) 555-5555
example@example.com
Experienced restaurant manager bringing more than 11 years of food service and progressive leadership experience. Maintains budget controls and coverage needs to achieve business targets and provide high-quality operations support. Strong ability to build relationships with patrons and employees by applying interpersonal communication skills.
Work History
June 2015 – Current
Bavette’s Bar & Boeuf – Chicago, IL
Restaurant Manager
- Manage a team of 17 consisting of cooks, servers, hosts and back-of-house staff for a high-end steak restaurant.
- Ensure accurate records and sufficient supplies by conducting weekly inventories of food, beverages, glassware and other materials.
- Reduce restaurant’s annual food and labor costs by 12% through proper budgeting, scheduling and management of inventory.
February 2012 – May 2015
Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab – Chicago, IL
Assistant Restaurant Manager
- Recruited and hired five new employees offering talent, charisma and experience to the restaurant team.
- Kept the restaurant compliant with all federal, state and local hygiene and food safety regulations passing all six inspections.
- Managed employees throughout the preparation and service of 300 meals per day.
July 2009 – January 2012
Blackbird Restaurant – Chicago, IL
Restaurant Shift Manager
- Accurately completed end-of-day financial tasks worth over $12,000 of cash and card transactions daily.
- Cut spending by 8% through effective inventory management and supply sourcing.
- Continuously evaluated business operations to effectively align workflows for optimal area coverage and customer satisfaction.
Skills
- Food preparation and safety
- Food plating and presentation
- Passion for customer satisfaction
- Mad Mobile Restaurant POS
- Staff management
- Cost controls
- Business operations
- Kitchen equipment operation and maintenance
Education
Johnson & Wales University Providence, RI
Bachelor of Science Restaurant, Food & Beverage Management
Certifications
Certified Restaurant Manager (CRM) – (2022)
5 essentials of a top restaurant manager resume
Contact details
Your restaurant manager resume will have all the information needed to reach you for an interview in the contact details. Include your full name, city, state and ZIP code, followed by phone number and email address. Finally, add a professional website, LinkedIn profile or any other professional networking profile.
Personal statement
Also called a professional summary, this section is your introduction to a potential employer as a restaurant manager. Use this section to showcase your best skills and relevant work experience to perform as a salesperson.
In no more than five sentences, let the hiring manager know: your years of experience, one or two job-relevant professional accomplishments and your job-related skills. Pick your best to grab the hiring manager’s attention.
Skills
The restaurant manager resume’s skills section highlights your competencies. Match your skills to those in the job description. Create a bulleted list with hard skills, like your financial acumen, customer service and human resource management, and soft skills, like relationship building, collaboration and leadership.
If this is your first job, include transferable skills from other employment.
Work history
Use a reverse-chronological order format to list your previous employment. Include the company names, locations and dates of employment, and under every job, include a bulleted list of three measurable accomplishments. For example, decreased staff turnover, increasing the amount of daily guests through implementation of new daily specials and the amount of supervised staff.
If this is your first job, you can include other relevant work experience, like volunteer experiences, community services, professional projects and more.
Education
Use bullet points to create your restaurant manager resume education section. Include the educational institution’s name, the degree conferred and graduation year. You can skip the graduation date if it has been over 10 years.
If you did not attend college, list your high school and any other post-high school courses you’ve completed.
See why MyPerfectResume is a 5-star resume builder
Action words for a stand-out restaurant manager resume
Action words can help you add confidence and strengthen your achievements as a restaurant manager. Combine action words with your quantifiable accomplishments to build a great resume.
Here’s a short list of action words for a restaurant manager resume:
- Managed
- Supervised
- Improved
- Serviced
- Decreased
- Innovated
- Created
- Developed
- Adapted
- Enhanced
- Eliminated
- Budgeted
- Balanced
- Projected
- Coordinated
- Oversaw
- Overhauled
Building a professional restaurant manager resume is quick and easy with our Resume Builder. It has all the tools you need, from editing to step-by-step guidance. Consider the editable content suggestions and download the product once you’re satisfied with it. We have 800+ resume examples to help you create the perfect restaurant manager resume.
Top skills for a restaurant manager resume
The restaurant manager resume skills section should show a balance between soft and hard skills. Carefully review the restaurant manager job description and match the required skills that fit you. This will help showcase you as a desirable candidate.
These are a few management skills you could include in your restaurant manager resume:
- Customer service
- Product knowledge
- Schedule-making
- Collaboration
- Teamwork
- Motivation
- Adaptability
- Marketing
- Toast POS
- Mad Mobile Restaurant POS
- Upserve
- LINGA POS System
Remember to always match your resume’s skills section to the skills required by the employer.
Certifications for restaurant manager resume
Strengthen your restaurant manager resume with certifications. While not necessarily needed to apply for a position, certifications can add value to your expertise and set you apart from the candidate pool.
These are a few certifications to consider for your restaurant manager resume:
- Certified Restaurant Operations Manager (CROM)
- Certified Restaurant Manager (CRM)
- Certified ServSafe Manager
- Certified Manager (CM)
- Food Safety Manager Certification
- Foodservice Management Professional (FMP)
Pair your resume with a matching cover letter
Restaurant manager resume FAQ
How do I write a restaurant manager resume?
The first step to write a restaurant manager resume is to save the job description. It will give you the information to tailor the resume to specific jobs. Then, follow our tips from this guide to build your resume for a restaurant manager. Take your time with the five primary sections, which are:
- Contact information
- Personal statement or professional summary
- Skills
- Work history
- Education
If there is still information you’d like to include, you can add optional sections, like:
- Professional memberships or associations
- Certifications and licenses
- Volunteer experience
Always keep the job description in mind when creating and updating your resume to match their requirements. This will help you catch a hiring manager’s attention by presenting yourself as the candidate they need. If you need more guidance, use the restaurant manager resume sample to start and move on to our Resume Builder for a fast, easy and professional resume.
What to write in summary for a restaurant manager resume?
A restaurant manager resume summary is your introduction. This is the first section read by recruiters and you should write it as if it were the only one read. Keep it between three and five sentences. Include your strongest qualifications and years in the industry
Certified restaurant manager with seven years of experience in high-scale restaurants. Improved sales by 18% through partnerships with local institutions and reduced staff turnover by 65% in two years. Experience in large-scale dining. CROM and certified ServSafe Manager.
How to make a restaurant manager resume with no managerial experience?
When it comes to how to write a resume with no experience, think outside the box. You may lack formal experience, yet your skills, training and other types of experience can help you stand out as a potential manager.
- Focus on your skills — Create a specific skills section with soft and hard skills relevant to the position and matching those skills in the job description.
- Use relevant experiences for your work history — internships, volunteer work and personal projects.
- Highlight your education — include your formal education as well as any relevant courses and training.
Using tools like our Resume Builder to build your resume is perfectly acceptable. Our Builder can provide guidance and content suggestions according to your industry and experience. All the information is editable and the Builder will automatically lay it out on your chosen template.
Do’s and don’ts for building a restaurant manager resume
- Use measurable achievements to describe your abilities and experience as a restaurant manager.
- Use action words to make an impact on your restaurant manager resume.
- Tailor your resume to your target restaurant manager job.
- Use keywords from the job description throughout your restaurant manager resume.
- Format your restaurant manager resume so that it is easy to read by ATS software and human eyes.
- Lie about your restaurant manager experience and skills.
- Boast that you’re the “best restaurant manager.”
- Include irrelevant personal information, such as your ethnicity and age.
- Add skills and experience not pertaining to a restaurant manager resume.
- Forget to proofread. A restaurant manager resume with errors is unprofessional.
Top 4 tips for acing a restaurant manager interview
Research the restaurant.
Learn about the restaurant’s history, goals, values and people before your supply chain manager interview. Being able to show that you have in-depth knowledge about a potential employer shows interest, dedication and commitment — traits that make a desirable candidate.
Practice at home.
Start by reviewing the most common interview questions, such as:
- What Goals Have You Established for Yourself?
- What Was the Toughest Challenge You’ve Ever Faced?
- How Have You Motivated Others? Give Me an Example.
Ask a trusted person to perform a mock interview. Search for possible interview questions, write down answers and practice with your interview partner. Once you’re done, ask them for feedback and work with them to improve. Being prepared will help you have a smoother interview experience.
Practice in front of a mirror. Look at your facial expressions and body language, which hiring managers will notice.
Be proactive and ask questions.
Prepare three to five questions for your interview. Hiring managers will expect questions as it shows your enthusiasm and interest in the restaurant manager role. Your questions can even improve their impression of you. This is also your opportunity to interview a potential employer and learn if they’re the right fit for your next career move.
Here are a few examples of questions to get you started:
- What are the expectations for this role?
- Why did you choose this restaurant?
- What are your current challenges and how are you facing them?
- How is the culture between the BOH and the FOH staff?
- What tools do you provide for the success of your managers?
Ask open-ended questions to obtain more information and give the interviewer time to answer.
Gather your references.
Contact former managers and colleagues to be potential references. They should be able to vouch for your work ethic and skills as a restaurant manager. Explain to them where you are in the process and when they could expect to be reached. Don’t forget to ask for two letters of recommendation.
If this is your first job in management, you can request a reference from a mentor, former professor or community leader that can vouch for your skills.
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Restaurant Manager Resume Example
Kellie is a Certified Professional Resume Writer with extensive experience in digital media. She is passionate about helping job seekers navigate their careers. She earned a B.A. in English and writing from Temple University.
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