Every day, restaurant managers are in charge of the kitchen and wait staff, as well as advertising the business and making sure it follows health and safety rules. The restaurant manager coordinates with the chef to plan menus and maintain an inventory of quality ingredients.
The restaurant manager is in charge of both the current staff and hiring new people and firing people who aren’t doing their jobs. In order to show that revenue goals and budgetary needs are being met, they usually report directly to the restaurant or company that owns the business.
Getting hired as a restaurant manager is no easy feat. You’ll need to demonstrate your leadership abilities, problem-solving skills, and passion for the hospitality industry if you want to land the job. That’s why it’s crucial to prepare for the most common restaurant manager interview questions you’re likely to encounter.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover the 30 must-know restaurant manager interview questions along with sample answers to help you craft your own winning responses From managing staff and resolving conflicts to driving profits and ensuring food safety, we’ve got you covered on all the key topics hiring managers will ask about
Let’s dive in!
Interview Questions About Your Background and Experience
Hiring managers will want to understand your background working in restaurants to gauge if you have the necessary skills and experience to succeed in a management role. Be ready to discuss your work history and how it’s prepared you.
1. What is your experience in the restaurant industry, and how has it prepared you for a management role?
For this common opening question you’ll want to summarize your background in the restaurant industry highlighting any previous management experience you have. Discuss specific responsibilities you’ve taken on like training staff, overseeing inventory, and managing day-to-day operations. Emphasize how this hands-on experience has allowed you to develop leadership, problem-solving, and communication skills that make you well-equipped to take on greater managerial duties.
2. Why are you interested in becoming a restaurant manager?
With this question, interviewers want to understand your motivation for pursuing a management role. Focus your answer on your passion for the hospitality industry and desire to take on more responsibility. You can mention how you enjoy interacting with customers and staff, and you’re excited by the challenge of overseeing daily operations, budgets, marketing, and other aspects of running a successful restaurant.
3. What makes you a strong candidate for this restaurant manager position?
This is your chance to sell yourself. Focus on the most relevant skills and experience you have for this particular manager role. You might highlight your proven track record in boosting revenues, resolving customer complaints, controlling costs, or training and motivating staff. Emphasize why you’re uniquely qualified for the job.
Leadership and Management Skills Questions
Restaurant managers must demonstrate strong leadership abilities to manage a team, resolve conflicts, and ensure smooth day-to-day operations. Several interview questions will be asked to assess your competencies in this critical area.
4. How would you describe your management style?
When answering, emphasize that you take a collaborative yet decisive approach. Discuss how you communicate openly with staff to gather input and ideas while still being able to make firm decisions when required. Mention how you aim to boost morale by recognizing achievements and being available to support your team.
5. How do you handle conflicts between team members?
Share how you’d respond calmly by speaking to each person privately first to understand their perspective. Then you’d bring them together to have an open discussion aimed at resolving the issue professionally. Highlight how you’d ensure fair treatment and make them feel heard.
6. How do you motivate and inspire your team to deliver excellent customer service?
Discuss techniques like setting clear expectations, leading by example, offering incentives and recognition, facilitating open communication channels, and fostering camaraderie through team building activities. Convey your commitment to support staff so they feel engaged and motivated to provide high-quality experiences.
7. What is your experience with staff scheduling and ensuring adequate coverage?
Detail your approach to using historical data, projected sales, and staff availability to create schedules that meet projected demand without overstaffing. Share how you build in flexibility to adapt to unexpected needs. Demonstrate how you take both the restaurant’s and employees’ needs into account.
8. How would you handle an underperforming employee?
Emphasize addressing issues promptly and professionally through constructive feedback focused on improvement. Discuss providing mentoring, training, and resources to help struggling employees reach their potential. Convey how you make fair and objective evaluations to determine if termination is truly needed.
Customer Service and Satisfaction Questions
Demonstrating your commitment to delivering superb customer experiences is crucial for any restaurant management role. You’ll need to discuss your approaches to pleasing guests.
9. How do you handle customer complaints or concerns?
Share how you’d listen actively, apologize, validate their feelings, and then work to immediately resolve the issue to their satisfaction. Mention how you’d follow up to ensure they were happy and use feedback to improve. Emphasize customer retention and satisfaction.
10. How do you measure and monitor customer satisfaction?
Discuss utilization of comment cards, online reviews, and customer satisfaction surveys to gather feedback. Highlight how you track key metrics like repeat business and loyalty program engagement. Share how you observe staff interactions and even solicit customers directly at times. Convey your commitment to consistent improvement.
11. How would you respond if a valued long-time customer threatened to no longer dine at your restaurant over a bad experience?
Emphasize your focus on retaining loyal customers by first apologizing sincerely and owning the mistake. Then discuss how you would try to immediately rectify the situation beyond their expectations whether through comps, discounts, etc. Note your commitment to following up and regaining their trust and business through improved future experiences.
12. How do you gather customer feedback and implement improvements based on it?
Share how you’d proactively seek input through surveys, website polls, focus groups with reward incentives, and monitoring online review sites. Then describe how you’d analyze results to identify priority areas for improvement and collaborate with your team to implement relevant process changes, menu adjustments, staff training, etc.
Restaurant Operations Questions
You’ll need to demonstrate your ability to handle the variety of responsibilities related to overseeing day-to-day restaurant operations. Come prepared to discuss your experience and management strategies across these key operational areas.
13. What steps would you take to ensure smooth operations during busy times or special events?
Highlight strategies like analyzing reservations/bookings in advance, collaborating with the kitchen on special menus, having extra staff on duty, implementing timed reservations or seating limits, and focusing on table turnover. Emphasize staying calm, communicating with staff, and monitoring to rapidly address any issues.
14. What systems and processes do you use to manage restaurant inventory?
Discuss utilizing perpetual inventory systems, keeping track of order frequencies and usage rates, and performing regular stock takes. Share how you determine optimal order sizes and implement first in, first out (FIFO) methods to minimize waste. Highlight how you provide ongoing staff training on proper storage and use of stock.
15. How do you manage the restaurant’s budget and control costs effectively?
Mention utilizing historical data, sales forecasts, and performance benchmarks to create a realistic budget with input from other managers. Discuss monitoring labor costs, food costs, and other expenses closely to identify any problem areas that need intervention. Share how you enforce portion controls, evaluate suppliers, and implement efficiency improvements to optimize profits.
16. What steps would you take to arrange repairs or maintenance for the restaurant?
Emphasize preventative actions like having an equipment maintenance schedule and performing walkthrough inspections to spot issues proactively. Discuss how you’d obtain bids from licensed professionals, evaluate options, and schedule work strategically to minimize disruptions. Highlight how you’d oversee the work and follow up to ensure issues are fully resolved.
17. How do you stay current on new restaurant technologies and implement ones that could improve operations?
Share how you regularly research and benchmark competitors to identify beneficial innovations in areas like digital ordering, inventory management, customer relationship management (CRM), and payment processing. Discuss how you’d run small-scale testing, analyze results, and collaborate with your team before rolling out any major new technology.
18. How do you ensure proper sanitation practices are followed in the restaurant?
Detail how you provide extensive staff training on proper techniques and maintain cleanliness standards through leading by example. Discuss performing frequent sanitation audits in the front and back of house. Highlight taking immediate corrective action when any deficiencies are identified and reinforcing good practices through rewards.
Marketing and Sales Questions
Hiring managers will look for restaurant management candidates who can drive business growth through effective marketing and sales initiatives. Be ready to discuss your related experience and ideas.
19. How would you promote the restaurant and market to new customers?
Share creative strategies like running social media promotions, partnering with complementary local businesses, organizing special events, distributing coupons or loyalty rewards, getting featured in media stories, and leveraging influencer endorsements. Discuss cost-effective tactics tailored to your target audience.
20. What practices do you implement to increase customer loyalty and repeat business?
Discuss offering loyalty programs with special perks and personalized interactions, capturing customer data to send special offers and invites to events, soliciting customer reviews and feedback, training staff to engage meaningfully with regulars, executing campaigns to bring back lost customers, and utilizing CRM software to nurture relationships.
21. How would you empower staff to upsell additional items?
Share how you’d educate servers on menu items to make recommendations. Discuss how you’d offer incentives for upselling like sales competitions, points/rewards for team achievement, and recognition for top performers
Salaries for Restaurant Managers range between $34K to $74K, with the median being $55K.
- Degrees (High School, Associates, Bachelors)
- Location
- Size and Type of the establishment
- Structure of Reporting (How Senior the Owner, Senior Manager, or Regional Supervisor You Report To Is)
- Level of performance – Exceeding Expectations, etc.
Be ready for anything with the interview simulator.
Additional Restaurant Manager Interview Questions
- What positions have you held in the restaurant business in the past?
- Tell me about a time when you had to deal with an uncooperative worker.
- What was the worst customer you had to deal with?
- What managerial skills will you bring to this position?
- How would you go about rectifying discrepancies in financial records?
- What do you look for when onboarding new staff?
- How do you handle violations of restaurant policy?
- What methods do you use to keep track of inventory?
- Have you ever planned a menu for someone with a special diet?
- How do you get your employees to work harder after a long day?
- What kinds of advertising do you use most to get the word out about the restaurant?
RESTAURANT MANAGER Interview Questions And Answers (Become A Restaurant Manager)
FAQ
Why should I hire you as a restaurant manager?
What is your greatest strength as a restaurant manager?
What questions do restaurant managers ask?
Most interviews will include questions about your personality, qualifications, experience and how well you would fit the job. In this article, we review examples of various restaurant manager interview questions and sample answers to some of the most common questions. What inspired you to pursue a career in restaurant management?
What should a restaurant manager do in an interview?
The interviewer is trying to gauge how the restaurant manager would handle a difficult customer situation. It is important for the restaurant manager to be able to handle complaints or negative reviews in a professional and calm manner.
How do you answer a restaurant interview question?
This question gives your interviewer a clue about your motivations for choosing their restaurant and your attitude about the job. For example, you might want to advance your career by becoming a manager or develop your skills by learning from their experienced servers. Emphasize why their restaurant can give you the training or experience you want.
Why should you ask a restaurant manager a leadership question?
This question helps them gauge your leadership skills, as well as your ability to create a positive work environment and contribute to the overall success of the restaurant. Example: “As a restaurant manager, I believe in continuous evaluation and feedback to ensure my staff performs at their best.
