Pros and Cons of Working as a Restaurant Manager

You think about becoming a restaurant manager but want to get additional information on job prospects, working hours, salaries, educational requirements, job satisfaction and much more?

Great! This article is exactly for you since I will show you all the pros and cons of being a restaurant manager in the following chapters.

Restaurant Manager Job Profile

Advantages of Being a Restaurant Manager

1. Restaurant managers can make many guests happy
2. You can lead many people
3. You can hand over your knowledge to the next generation
4. Restaurant managers have lots of freedom regarding how to do their job
5. Restaurant managers can work indoors
6. Restaurant managers can make good money
7. You can learn a lot for cooking at home
8. Good restaurant managers are in high demand
9. You can work with your hands
10. You will not be replaced by intelligent machines anytime soon
11. You don’t have to travel as a restaurant manager
12. You learn many skills that also benefit you in your private life

Restaurant managers can make many guests happy

One advantage of being a restaurant manager is that you can make many guests happy and can make sure that they have a great time.

In turn, you can get a feeling that you do something important and that your work is appreciated by many people so that you can stay motivated with what you are doing in the long run.

You can lead many people

As a restaurant manager, it is also on you to lead your employees and this gives you the opportunity to really get things done the way you want them to be since you will not just be a normal employee but will have some power to really make an impact on the success or failure of the restaurant you are responsible for.

You can hand over your knowledge to the next generation

Since you will learn quite a lot during your career as a restaurant manager and also have many people below you, you will also have the chance to hand over your knowledge to the next generation and don’t have to worry that your expertise will be lost after you retire.

Restaurant managers have lots of freedom regarding how to do their job

Another upside to working as a restaurant manager is that you also have high levels of freedom regarding how to structure your workday.

In fact, as long as you run the restaurant you are responsible for in a profitable manner, you will have lots of discretion and freedom in this regard.

Restaurant managers can work indoors

As a restaurant manager, you also have the privilege of working indoors while scaffolders and many other people have to work outdoors during times of bad weather and you can therefore enjoy your workday much more in a rather convenient environment as a restaurant manager.

Restaurant managers can make good money

Another benefit of becoming a restaurant manager is that you can also make really good money from what you are doing.

In fact, if you lead a restaurant that makes significant turnover, you will often also get a fraction of the profit as a bonus and this can add up to significant amounts of money.

You can learn a lot for cooking at home

Since you will have to invent many dishes together with your chefs, you will also get many creative ideas regarding what to cook at home and this can really expand your own culinary knowledge in the long run.

Good restaurant managers are in high demand

Good restaurant managers are also in pretty high demand right now and you therefore don’t have to worry about losing your job since even in case this happens, you will have many other restaurants where you can find a new job pretty soon.

You can work with your hands

While compliance officers and many other people often just work with a computer all day long, you as a restaurant manager can work with your hands and can really see the progress of your work every day.

You will not be replaced by intelligent machines anytime soon

As a restaurant manager, you also don’t have to worry about getting replaced by intelligent machines anytime soon while many other people in management may lose their jobs due to that in the near future.

You don’t have to travel as a restaurant manager

Another reason to become a restaurant manager is that you don’t have to travel a lot and will therefore be at home so that you can spend time with your family while professional athletes and many other people just don’t have this luxury.

You learn many skills that also benefit you in your private life

Since you will learn many organizational skills, working as a restaurant manager can also be great for your private life since you will have a rather easy time organizing your life while many other people really struggle in this regard.

As you can see, there are many advantages of becoming a restaurant manager.

However, it is still not all sunshine and we also have to talk about all the drawbacks of becoming a restaurant manager so that you can better decide whether you still want to work in this field or rather want to go for a different job instead.

Disadvantages of Working as a Restaurant Manager

1. Restaurant managers often have to work on weekends
2. You often have to work in the evening
3. Poor work-life balance for restaurant managers
4. Being a restaurant manager can be stressful
5. You may be at significant risk of burnout
6. You may have to deal with annoying guests
7. Leading employees is not easy
8. You can’t work from home as a restaurant manager
9. You are pretty specialized
10. You have a high level of responsibility as a restaurant manager
11. You have to find new staff on a regular basis
12. Hard to make a big positive impact on society as a restaurant manager
13. Many tasks are pretty repetitive
14. You may get bored with your restaurant manager career in the long run

Restaurant managers often have to work on weekends

One disadvantage of being a restaurant manager is that you often have to work on weekends and while many of your friends will be able to spend those days with their loved ones, you will be in your restaurant and may not be able to make many nice weekend trips or other nice things with your family.

You often have to work in the evening

You should also know that you will often have to work in the evening or even during nighttime as a restaurant manager while secretaries and most other people are just able to relax or sleep during those unpleasant hours.

Poor work-life balance for restaurant managers

Since you will have to work on weekends and holidays and sometimes also have to work in the late evening, you will have pretty poor work-life balance as a restaurant manager and may secretly wish to change places with your friends working regular 9 to 5 jobs.

Being a restaurant manager can be stressful

Another problem with being a restaurant manager is that it can be pretty stressful since you will have to manage many things at the same time and if you forget something important, this could have a big adverse impact on your success as a restaurant manager.

You may be at significant risk of burnout

Since you will have many things to do all day long and are also the last line of defense, you are at significant risk of burnout as a restaurant manager and may also suffer from serious mental problems sooner or later if you don’t know how to deal with stress in a healthy manner.

You may have to deal with annoying guests

While many of your guests will be friendly and polite, some of them will just be annoying and insulting and if you don’t have thick skin, people may bring you down pretty soon and you may not get happy with your restaurant manager career in the long run.

Leading employees is not easy

You should also know that it is pretty hard to lead employees in a successful manner and that it also takes lots of time and nerves.

Hence, if you are not good at dealing with people and are also not a true leader, chances are that you will not be successful as a restaurant manager.

You can’t work from home as a restaurant manager

Another downside to working as a restaurant manager is that you will have to be present at your workplace in person and can’t work from home which makes it harder for you to manage your professional and private life at the same time compared to programmers or other people who can just work from home on a regular basis and are much more flexible in this regard.

You are pretty specialized

You should also know that you are pretty specialized as a restaurant manager and in case you don’t want to work in this industry anymore, you may have a hard time finding a job in a different field since you will often just lack the skills necessary to do so.

You have a high level of responsibility as a restaurant manager

Since you will be responsible for the success of a restaurant and will also be responsible for the well-being of your employees, it will be on you to work long hours to assure that processes run smoothly and that you do everything that is needed to make your restaurant a success in the long run.

You have to find new staff on a regular basis

Many of your staff members will also quit rather soon and it will therefore be on you to find new employees which can be really annoying and exhausting in the long run, especially if you lose good employees whom you really liked and who may be hard to replace.

Hard to make a big positive impact on society as a restaurant manager

While you can make many guests happy with your food, you will still have a hard time making a really big positive impact on the lives of many people and if you really want to make the world a better place, you should rather become a teacher or work in another profession where you can alter the thought process of many people on a daily basis.

Many tasks are pretty repetitive

You should also know that many things you do as a restaurant manager are pretty repetitive and you may therefore not be able to experience many new things in the long run.

You may get bored with your restaurant manager career in the long run

Due to the repetitive nature of the game, you may also get bored as a restaurant manager sooner or later and may lose motivation for what you are doing in the long run.

Being a Restaurant Manager Pros & Cons – Summary List

Should You Become A Restaurant Manager?

While restaurant managers can make decent money and you can also outsource many unpleasant tasks to your employees, restaurant managers also have to work on weekends and your overall work-life balance will often be rather poor.

In the end, it is on you to evaluate all the pros and cons of being a restaurant manager so that you can better decide whether you still want to work as a restaurant manager or rather want to work in a different field.

If you come to the conclusion that a restaurant manager career is not for you, you may also want to check out the following articles:

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a brewer

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a stewardess

Advantages and disadvantages of becoming a chef

Sources

https://www.statista.com/statistics/203365/projected-restaurant-industry-employment-in-the-us/

Own research and interviews.

About the author

My name is Andreas and my mission is to educate people about the different career paths that are possible in our current state of the world.

In my opinion, people often make the mistake to choose their profession solely based on how much money they can earn from it instead of doing what makes them really happy.

This is quite sad and I just want to give people a more objective picture of what a fulfilling career could look like.

I did the same when I started working in consulting after finishing my Master’s degree in Economics.

However, I’ve quit pretty soon after that since I haven’t found true meaning in my job.

Now I can do what I really love to do and I want to enable as many other people as well to go this exciting path towards happiness instead of money.

I conducted various interviews with employees to give you a good impression of what working in different fields will look like and that you can make the best possible decision regarding your future career choice.

Wanna support my blog? Share it!