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A restaurant general manager oversees the food service and dining experience in a locale that meets customers’ expectations. Their resume must display versatile qualities and professionalism akin to the role. We handpicked these job-friendly templates and paired them with a detailed writing guide, and free restaurant general manager resumes to guide you through your job search.
Download one of our free resume templates or use our job-specific resume examples to write your next resume with high-quality professionalism.
Restaurant General Manager Resume
Bertha Chandler’s resume example reveals the main sections a general manager should include to capture a recruiter’s attention. Use Bertha’s example to get a rough idea of the essential elements in your resume.
The following information should always be found in all resumes:
Breezy
Cosmopolitan
Writing a resume requires preparation, just like managing any restaurant. You need to compile the information you will be including while also knowing what to highlight from prior work experiences. This list should help you prepare before writing your resume:
Identifying the best resume format is crucial before you start writing. Your resume format emphasizes your professional skills, career trajectory and qualifications. Choosing a suitable format is determined by your experience level, the nature of the position you’re applying for and your career scenario.
Chronological, functional and combination are the three most utilized formats.
You can turn to our resume formats guide if you need further clarity on narrowing down the ideal one for you.
Chronological
Functional
Combination
Follow this step-by-step guide filled with tips and examples to help you write a professional resume to land you a role as a restaurant general manager.
1. Introduce yourself.
Start your resume with a header section displaying your full name, email address, LinkedIn profile, phone number and city and state of residence. Make sure all your information is accurate, as this will be how employers will know where to reach back to contact you.
2. Open with a strong statement.
Your opening statement informs the employer about either your career aspiration or your professional skills and caliber concerning your role. You can utilize either the summary or objective statements based on your level of experience.
We believe a summary statement is ideal for a restaurant general manager as it highlights your management abilities through your professional skills and accomplishments.
On the other hand, the career objective establishes your aspirations for the employer's role. An objective statement is helpful for recently graduated individuals seeking a position as a general manager, students looking for a part-time or internship in management, or any other entry-level position.
Here is an example of a summary statement in action:
Summary statement
“Experienced general manager boasting six years of expertise in the food and beverage industry. A passionate leader with the knowledge to develop a positive working environment and improve employee retention. Excellent customer service and conflict resolution skills.”
This statement asserts the professional skills refined through years of professional service, selling the candidate’s worth to the employer.
Career objective statement
“Well-educated general manager with a degree in business management, looking for a full-time position in your restaurant. Picked up service management and marketing abilities to enhance the customers' dining experience through two years as an assistant manager.”
On the other hand, this objective statement expresses the career aspirations by backing it up with the candidate’s qualifications and skills through two years of assistant manager’s experience.
Here are some additional tips to keep in mind when writing a summary statement:
3. Categorize your skillset
Skills are critical in demonstrating your caliber and restaurant management abilities. Your skills section should highlight your wide-ranging professional skills (six to eight) gained through training and education.
Depending on the resume format you choose, the spotlight on your skill section shifts:
Here are a few examples of different skills sections in resumes:
Chronological/combination format
Skills
A functional resume will also feature this listed skills section, but it replaces a detailed work history section with a “Summary of Qualifications,” wherein you add three major skills and descriptions of achievements or moments you’ve employed them.
Functional format example:
Summary of Qualifications
Order Delivery Practices
As you can see, your descriptions can include quantifiable metrics such as the number of customers you served to better show your talents in the field.
Regardless of the format you follow, it's beneficial to display a varied collection of your soft, hard and technical skills exposing your role’s depth as a restaurant manager. To help you get started, we have accumulated a few skills to aid your resume:
Soft skills
Emphasize your ability to communicate with your staff, customers and the chef effectively. A restaurant general manager taps into the following soft skills:
Hard skills
Display the specific skills gained through training and education to carry out the day-to-day operations. A restaurant general manager requires these hard skills:
Technical skills
Highlight your ability to perform a general manager's complex and technologically reliant duties. These technical skills can bolster your restaurant manager resume:
Check out our Resume Builder for more role-relevant skills for a restaurant manager.
Your work history details your professional accomplishments and skills accumulated throughout your career history and trajectory to the recruiter.
All work history sections should include the following information:
The composition of your work history section can vary with the format. These general manager resume examples demonstrate how a chronological or combination resume features your extensive work summary:
Chronological/combination format example
Work History
Follow these tips to write an equally formidable work history section.
We mentioned how functional resumes showcase an informative “Summary of Qualifications.” That detailed section reduces a work history to a simple timeline format that covers your past job titles, employers and dates of employment. This example shows how the work summary in the functional format lists the different jobs you have held in bullet form.
Work History
You only need a high school diploma and relevant experience to start your restaurant manager’s career. However, your educational background can be beneficial if you lack the required experience. The role and your employer’s preference determine what qualifications you need for the general manager’s position.
For instance, some employers prefer candidates with a degree in business management or operations management, while others lean towards your experience level rather than formal education.
Here are some valuable suggestions for documenting your qualifications under the education section:
Bachelor of Arts: Restaurant Management
Luzerne County Community College
Nanticoke, PA
06/2024
You can create additional sections for your certifications, license or awards to accentuate your versatile capabilities to the employer. Here are some good certifications to keep in mind when writing your resume:
Certificate in Restaurant Revenue Management
This certification from Cornell can pivot your abilities to manage restaurant revenues by focusing on different revenue-generating aspects of a restaurant.
Certificate in Food Safety Management
Given that you work for an eating establishment, this certification can assure your future employers of your food safety knowledge.
Certificate in Restaurant Management
This certificate can help you showcase your ability to manage a restaurant efficiently.
Certificate in Planning and Inventory Management
This certificate can prove your eligibility in inventory and supply chain management.
You can also specialize in these fields to support your restaurant manager’s career:
These free templates are available to download and customize with your information on your word processing software of preference.
The must-have skills of a restaurant general manager depend on the nature of the eating establishment, your professional experience and the role’s requirements. For instance, multilinguist skills may be a requisite for a restaurant manager in international hotels, whereas a cafe manager requires a basic knowledge of coffee art.
Regardless of your workplace scenario or role expectations, these three skills are deemed essential for a general manager:
The versatility in your skills enables you to handle any unexpected restaurant scenarios with ease. Your resume needs to display your professional strengths and specialized abilities, diversifying you from others. For instance, a risk management certification in your resume reveals how calmly you handle potential risks. This way, customize your restaurant general manager resume and quantify how your strategies or innovative organizational methods benefited the workplace to sell your candidature.
A good summary statement for a restaurant general manager provides an impactful overview of what you’re bringing to the table to benefit your employer. If you’re applying for an experienced position, your summary statement can read:
“Energetic restaurant general manager with 13 years of experience offering quality food services. Team leader focused on coaching staff and solving kitchen efficiency, inventory, and customer satisfaction problems. Saved 55% in the last year through exceptional budget management.”
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