r/Restaurant_Managers

I am going to be the General Manager of a breakfast/brunch restaurant opening in the heart of downtown Knoxville. I’ll have about 2.5 months of training with this company when we open my store. I have a General Manager experience, but this is my first time in the fast paced breakfast. What advice/tips do you have to help with a smooth-ish opening and not absolutely bomb at the amount of business we will do? Just really want to do well and make sure my bases are covered!

I have loads of restaurant experience. My parents owned several restaurants, I worked in restaurants for like 3 years in high school then I went into another industry and eventually started my own business that I ran for 2 years before I decided I wanted to go back to school, and I’ve been a server for another 3 years. So I have about 6-7 years of restaurant experience and I have 2 years of leadership experience. The only thing I lack is scheduling, payroll, hiring firing sort of experience since I never needed to hire anyone, and bartending experience. Other than that I feel like my resume is pretty strong. Most of the places I apply to don’t even have a bar anyway.

I’m just not sure if there is something else I need, maybe a certification or something like that but I don’t want to spend 12 months on something I only plan to use for the next 5 years while I get a degree.

Corporate is making the conscious decision to stop providing AC to the BoH. Fucking shortsighted evil bastards. Our sales are down about 5% yoy and that’s been a trend for the last several years. How loud is this alarm bell is my question I guess. We’re a top 10% location in sales and profit.

I’m in the planning stages of opening a pizza restaurant with a 12-room hotel in Alaska. One of my biggest priorities is finding an experienced General Manager to oversee both operations.
The role would include manager housing, and I’m looking for someone with a strong background in restaurant and/or hospitality management who has a proven track record of leading teams and running successful operations.
For those who have hired for similar roles, where have you found the best candidates? Any advice on attracting experienced GMs willing to relocate would be appreciated.

Not that you need a reminder that it’s going to be crazy hot this weekend for most of us. Just a reminder to encourage you to do something for the BOH, it’s going to be extra grueling for them. From the heat of the stoves to the steamy dishes from the humid pit. Places I’ve worked I’ve taken the liberty to get things like popsicles, Gatorade, two-liters of sodas, extra fruit or whatever I thought would bring a smile to their faces and a little relief, and just charge it to the restaurant, sometimes out of pocket. A not dying crew seeing us try helps so much. I hope yall kickass this weekend.

Part time female manager in my 20s here. I work with a few other older male managers in their 40s who are (miserable) career managers. I’m only managing part time, but they manage full time. The rest of the time I bartend or serve. I never wanted to have a leadership position but they needed the help.

Recently there’s been a number of issues (customer caused issues and some minor employee issues as usual). They’ve started to subtly be more disrespectful towards me and blaming me for issues even though they’re the ones there full time and see the rest of the staff way more than I do.
I fear I’ve become the new scapegoat. They seem to rotate between scapegoats when they’re stressed.
Usually, when I stick up for myself they shut up temporarily, but this crap is exhausting.
They’ve been saying I need to go to a new doctor and get on meds because I seem to be emotionally unwell. That shit was humiliating. And then still not taking anything I say seriously until someone else brings up the exact same thing.

Whenever issues arise, I address the issues, unlike them who are avoidant. One of them doesn’t have a spine and the other is someone who tries way too hard to be a tough guy and thinks everyone else is beneath him (customers and staff)

I don’t know what else to do besides complain to the owners which I worry would cause more issues and really I’m just trying to pay my damn bills. They are good people but I just don’t see the point, I’m dealing with too much other stuff to try and cause more drama.

Honestly, I’m on my way out. But in the mean time, how can I stick up for myself in ways I may not be thinking of? When is enough enough? I definitely don’t get paid enough but the job market is absolute garbage in my city and definitely going to transfer to a different field.

I never even wanted to be in restaurant management lol. They are the ones who asked me to help THEM out. But it seems like they don’t appreciate my help anymore. If I just peace out, I wouldn’t have much guilt because clearly they think they can do better without me. But ya know…money.
I’m the only manager that staff feels comfortable talking to about issues that need to be addressed because these other ones don’t take anyone seriously and view issues as an inconvenience even though it’s literally their job. Staff always tells me how much they appreciate me and that I’m doing a good job and I’m the “only good manager they’ve ever had”. I’m thankful for the affirmation because I know I’m doing my best, but at the end of the day my happiness matters.

Again, just looking for advice to deal with this in the meantime before finding a new job.

Thx

I've tried searching everywhere and can't find a clearly respected standard.

For an upscale casual I'm trying to see if there's an industry standard target for drinks per cover, apps per cover, entrees per cover, desserts per cover.

Thanks.

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I was just rewatching Better Call Saul, and it shows the nnumber of openers at a fast food joint as atleast 9 employees on the clock before opening. I'm not sure that I'll ever get back into the realism of the story.

How do you guys support your line workers when the kitchen is 90+? We’ve got a mega heat wave rolling in — popsicles, cold water, bags of ice? Do cooling towels work?
Edit — no AC :(

One of my employees who is our bar lead is also a ‘shift lead.’

They are dating one of the servers.

This server does need coaching. I have been coaching the server and so have the other managers.

The bar lead is struggling to figure out how to go about asking their partner (the server) to do things and give them feedback on shift when they need redirecting. They don’t work together often except once or rarely twice a week.

Has anyone been in this situation before and what have you seen works best?

I’m laughing because it’s never going to happen, yet is expected of me. They don’t answer my phone calls or texts, and we have to buy their product because it’s mandated. Reps barely respond to me (other than orders) because I can’t take in product that’s going to give them a bonus. I can’t “strong arm” distributors because we need to have that product on hand. What do you guys do? I’m at a loss.

Probably only a rant applicable to my fellow chain managers:

Is anyone else so sick and tired of having to be a functional expert in activating dozens of the “Choose your own adventure,” gift cards from one4all, zillonsgifts and all the other dumb companies that offer these?

The instructions are clearly printed on each one. Go to the site, pick where you want to spend your money, receive the gift card.

I try to touch every table that has these and let them know they are supposed to do this themselves. In hopes that next time, they’ll show that initiative.

But 99 out of 100 times I take the time and just do it myself. As long as they scratch off the part that hides the clears number. And are patient while I do this for them.

If we’re on a wait, if I’m in the weeds, whatever the case, I’ll get to it as soon as I can. Especially after a few seniors chose gift cards to the wrong restaurant. And then got mad I couldn’t take them.

Lately I’ve been getting a lot of “is this going to take long?” Or “be quick we’ve got a movie to catch.” And it’s just become too much. I actually had both of these tonight and it just really irked me. I did it with a smile though.

Am I the only one that does this nicety only to get crapped on?

How much of the job involves dealing with customers?

My brother in law works in Mississippi as a restaurant manager for a higher end establishment. He apparently makes touching 100k. He is having twins in a few months. They live nowhere near family who could help. I know nothing of this industry but am trying to find him something closer. He has “golden handcuffs” because “idk where I’d make this much doing this anywhere else.” Is that true? Family who could help him lives in the St. Louis area

"hey boss I can't come in today, I can't find a ride."

ME- "okay where do you live, I can probably give you a ride"

He tells me his address, and I pull it up on the map.

"Dude that's two blocks away, you better get walking"

This is the second company I’ve worked for that’s moved me stores, I feel like I finally just got to know everybody at this store and was building myself up. If you’ve don’t this before to someone or have had it done, what’s a companies purpose for this from upper management perspective? Is it a red flag? Idk

I run a food-led village pub in the UK. We do a great trade through the evening, but the minute the kitchen closes at 9pm, the atmosphere drops. A lot of customers head off, and the younger crowd or heavier drinkers migrate to the late-night bars in town.

I don't want to turn into a rowdy late-night venue, but I need to bridge that 9pm to midnight gap and keep the tables buying drinks.

I am currently looking into running a ticketed live music night (jazz, blues, acoustic) to turn the post-dinner slot into an event, but I would love to hear from other owners who face this.

What specific entertainment or events have successfully kept your dinner crowd from leaving at 9pm?

How do you handle the physical transition of the room (lighting, music, layout) when the kitchen closes?

Has anyone tried "Dinner & Show" ticketing bundles, and how did you handle table turnover for non-diners?

Any advice from fellow publicans would be greatly appreciated.

How do y’all clean your flat tops? Just looking at different options and what people like best