What does a restaurant manager do?

What a Restaurant Owner Thinks I do:

Yeah, I'm gonna need you to come in on your

one day off.

When dealing with restaurant owners you can generally assume they believe the following statements at all times:

I know you have TB, but THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

What a Restaurant Server thinks I do:





Servers believe Restaurant Managers are sell-outs. They believe that all managers are on power trips when they say things like, "no, you can't call in hungover" and "can you please clean up the broken glass in that bin of ice?" Its as if the purity of waiting tables for five hours and then getting schwasted in someone's mom's garage is morally superior to running a multi-million dollar small business.









Every rule that exists is simply to curb the server's ability to enjoy their life. Restaurant Managers are the ultimate warden, shouting from on high about worthless things like:





- Food Safety

- Stealing

- Showing up to work

- Hygiene (Absolutely no one wants to be served food by Ke$ha. No one.)

- Violence

- Alcohol & Beverage Laws





If you don't believe me, sit down at a bar and call the police to escort you to your car. The moment the police walk in, every member of staff will disappear. Poof! They'll vanish faster than Mack Brown's dreams of winning an NCAA title after Colt McCoy entered the draft.





So to summarize server sentiment on the job of a Restaurant Manager, I'd just imagine a frat party on a Tuesday. Then imagine being the one guy who wants everyone to be quiet because they have a test tomorrow. That's me.

I just want to pass Botany guys, really.

What Guests think I do:



I make the dream of a free lunch a reality. Free chicken dinner. No seriously. I'm the person who gives you free food. I have the codes and the magic wand to make everyone forget about product cost and labor costs and every other operating expense of a small business.





I am also, depending on how happy you are when you walk in the front door, either a power-tripping server or the CEO of Darden. But this is unimportant, because I give out free food.





My best assumption is that restaurant guests assume I sit around flirting with waitresses and stop by tables at random (think New Testament Jesus) to hand out $0 tabs.









You've won the all-you-can-eat shopping

spree! Best yet, I'll thank you at the end for

dining with us!

Seriously, if a suit is in the vicinity of your booth, its time to think hard about what has happened in your dining experience that might be worth a hippie-style sit in, or worse, a shouting/spitting match. Talking to me is like filing a tiny civil lawsuit using your expectations as precedence and my server's performance as cause for a real-time food payout.





Think about every interaction you've had with a Restaurant Manager. Now honestly think about how many times you were complaining about something. What was your goal? Why did you complain? You don't complain at wal-mart or retail stores.





You wanted a free chicken dinner. Why? Because, like sand-blasted Africans in the Sahara, you had to sit, parched and near death for five minutes, waiting on a refill of your free water with no ice.





What I think I do:

I work 60 hours a week, sacrificing every weekend, every night to the bitch-goddess that is My Restaurant. I call it that because I see it that way. I am the primary operator, responsible for making every day-to-day decision. I hire all of the staff, I train all of the staff, I discipline all of the staff and I take pride in how I make those choices.



I select menu options, run studies and surveys, operate the website and the email marketing all with the goal of creating the most profitable and well-crafted restaurant possible. I order the product, I manage the cleanliness of the facility and, if we have a corporate office, I am the primary person with which they communicate.



I am proud of what I do and generally, can't stop talking about the ins and outs of every decision and detail of my job because I find it exciting and fulfilling. When it runs well, I sleep easy. When it runs poorly, I toss and turn all night. I am always on-call. I am always available. If something goes awry and I can't talk someone through it over the phone, I drive to the restaurant to fix the problem.



I am the best goddamn server in the building and if five people quit, I'll be there around the clock to cover all of the shifts until I find the right person to fill their shoes. I am proud of every sales increase and my gut turns to think of months where we end below budget.



I open, operate and close the restaurant as if it were my own. I am the glue that holds the whole chaotic thing together. In trade for my loyalty and dedication, I get a few bucks, all you can eat salads and fired first when the ownership decides they want to save a few dollars on the bottom line.



The moral of the story is... Being a Restaurant Manager is complicated. A friend & colleague once told me that Restaurant Managers are never hired for their skills or experience. He believes that we are always hired for our judgment. The theory goes on to say that 99% of the time our skills are wasted on menial tasks; but during that 1% of the time when the hot water heater breaks, the internet is shut off and the handicapped stall in the women's restroom falls the frack down, owners rest easy knowing we're there utilizing our best judgment skills to solve the situation in the safest, smartest and fastest way possible.



Also, I give away free food.













There are several ways to answer that question. Restaurant owners, servers, guests and actual restaurant managers would all have differing opinions on the matter.If you asked the owners of a restaurant we are the catch-all blame buckets who have no personal lives. We sit in the office playing spider solitaire, eating their product and making personal out-of-state phone calls on the restaurant phone lines. They believe that if sales are up, its because of the weather. If sales are down, the weather is no excuse for poor performance.A. If a bartender quits, its not time to hire a new bartender. It is time for the manager to bar tend.B. If a bartender quits, the manager must have beat them out back with pillowcases full of batteries ( http://stockholm-syndrome.com/AD/warden-batteries.mp3 ) and this will subsequently result in having to pay unemployment (which is bad).C. If a bartender quits, we must have intricately planned their demise (which was clever, good job).Every job posting for a restaurant manager mentions the following three items:1. You must have 2 or more years experience2. You must work at least 55 hours a week3. PERK - you get free food!I firmly believe that restaurant owners actually believe they pay my salary for the first 40 hours I work and the remaining 20 are paid out in free food. Seriously, they think I eat 20 hours worth of free restaurant salads. No lie, I am notfat.There is no such thing as a sick day. No holidays off. You're pretty damn lucky if you get two days off a week, let alone if they are consecutive days.So, I return to my original point - owners believe in the restaurant managertheory. We are the one employee who can do any job but are lazy as(twice!) and if all the positions in the restaurant are filled and working correctly we will just sit in the back and watch telemundo soap operas while eating fois out of a cambro, laughing all the way to the bank.If you've never worked with servers before, consider yourself lucky. Servers are average people who are, generally by faults of their own, one step away from jail. Here is a list of all of the adjectives that come to mind when describing career (10+ years waiting tables) servers: alcoholic. But this particular blog isn't about my views on servers, its about their view of me.