Skills
Restaurant Manager Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in restaurant managers, and how to build and show them.
What skills do restaurant managers need?
Restaurant Managers need technical skills such as labor scheduling, cost control, and inventory management, plus people skills like leadership and problem solving. They also use tools such as POS systems such as Toast or Square and Scheduling apps.
Technical (hard) skills
- Labor scheduling
- Cost control
- Inventory management
- Food safety compliance
- POS systems
- Hiring and training
People (soft) skills
- Leadership
- Problem solving
- Customer service
- Calm under pressure
Tools, equipment and technology
- POS systems such as Toast or Square
- Scheduling apps
- Inventory software
- Spreadsheets
- Reservation platforms
- Food safety logs
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how restaurant managers put their skills to work:
- How to build a weekly staff schedule
- How to handle a guest complaint
- How to prepare for a health inspection
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Labor scheduling” and “Cost control.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “leadership,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as ServSafe Food Protection Manager near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our restaurant manager glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Restaurant Manager training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.