Fast food restaurant manager: Job description

A fast food restaurant manager is essentially a commercial business manager, with ultimate responsibility for safeguarding the financial success of a specific outlet and maintaining the reputation of the company.

The role has a strong hospitality element, ensuring that the restaurant delivers high-quality food and drink and good customer service. However, it also includes activities common to business managers within any sector, including overseeing marketing, sales, operations, finance and human resources.

In some organisations, management is on a relatively large scale, as some restaurants have a turnover of more than £1million and more than 50 staff.

Typical work activities

The concept of fast food no longer conjures up images of burgers and pizza. Coffee houses, sandwich shops and even sushi bars are now considered to be fast food outlets. The managers of all these establishments, regardless of their end product, face similar responsibilities, including:

• operational management: organising stock and equipment, ordering supplies and overseeing building maintenance, cleanliness and security;
• financial management: planning and working to budgets, maximising profits and achieving sales targets set by head office, controlling takings in the restaurant, administering payrolls, etc;
• people management: recruiting new staff, training and developing existing staff, motivating and encouraging staff to achieve targets, coordinating staff scheduling and rotas;
• working to ensure standards of hygiene are maintained and that the restaurant complies with health and safety regulations;
• ensuring high standards of customer service are maintained;
• implementing, and instilling in their teams, company policies, procedures, ethics, etc;
• handling customer complaints and queries;
• devising and marketing promotional campaigns;
• preparing reports and other performance analysis documentation;
• reporting to and attending regular meetings with area managers or head office representatives;
• establishing relationships with the local community and undertaking activities that comply with the company's corporate social responsibility programmes.