How to Evaluate a Restaurant Manager
Restaurant managers who receive high marks on their performance appraisals have cohesive teams,
seamless operations in the kitchen and food preparation areas, and new patrons who become
repeat customers based on the service they receive, as well as the taste and quality of the
restaurant’s dishes. Evaluating restaurant managers requires a look at the restaurant’s operations,
its patrons’ dining experiences and job satisfaction among employees.
1.
Review state and local laws for food service businesses and compare them to the restaurant’s
records to ensure the manager is adhering to safety and health regulations. State and local
government entities oversee food and beverage outlets to ensure they meet regulations for the
safety and health of customers and employees. Restaurant managers must maintain a clean
and safe working environment and sustain consistently acceptable records concerning health
and sanitation.
2.
Check the training records for employees who are permitted to serve alcohol to ensure
employees have up-to-date certifications. Restaurants that serve alcoholic beverages often are
subject to jurisdictional rules that require their servers’ maintain certification for mitigating
the establishment’s risk of liability for incidents related to inebriated patrons.
3.
Survey customers about the service and food quality; measure employee satisfaction related
to their interactions with peers as well as supervisors. Restaurant managers provide servicelevel training to front-of-house waitstaff and back-of-house kitchen staff. Service-level
training teaches employees the restaurant’s expectations for customer service. A restaurant
manager’s success is partially judged by the quality of customer service provided by the
restaurant’s waitstaff to external customers and back-of-house interaction with internal
customers. Fewer complaints lodged against the restaurant from patrons and filed by
employees, probably reflects that the restaurant manager provides effective and adequate
training and supervision.
4.
Measure restaurant traffic, the time it takes waitstaff to turn a table and the timing of food
preparation. Observe indicators of a busy restaurant, such as a crowded parking lot or long
wait time, signs of a popular eating place. These factors can be attributed to quality of food
and customer service. Maintaining a busy restaurant is a restaurant manager’s goal, because
the more patrons in and out, the more money the business makes.
5.
Calculate the restaurant’s turnover. Turnover in the restaurant business can exceed 100
percent for quick-service restaurants, but a good manager can reduce the restaurant’s
turnover. Strengthening the employer-employee relationship is a primary responsibility for
many restaurant managers. It includes giving employees the right tools to perform their job
duties or supporting employees’ goals to develop professionally through cross-training for
other positions in the restaurant. Using turnover measurements to evaluate a restaurant
manager’s performance is a reasonable expectation.
6.
Reconcile budget figures. Successful restaurant managers are evaluated on their abilities to
manage their budgets through effective marketing campaigns that require minimal cash
outlay, control labor costs and reduce unnecessary and costly purchasing. They’re able to
maximize the restaurant revenue through a combination of generating repeat business,
cultivating productive relationships with food vendors and suppliers, and adequate staffing
and workforce planning to decrease the need for excessive overtime.