As a restaurant operations manager, articulating your ability to efficiently manage high-volume dining services while ensuring customer satisfaction can be a daunting resume challenge. Our guide offers tailored strategies that will help you effectively showcase these skills, ensuring your resume stands out to potential employers.
- Format your restaurant operations manager resume to ensure that it balances professionalism with creativity, and follows the best practices.
- Match the restaurant operations manager job requirements by including industry keywords on your resume.
- Use various resume sections to showcase your skills and achievements to answer why you're the best candidate for the restaurant operations manager role.
Take inspiration from leading restaurant operations manager resume examples to learn how to tailor your experience.
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Formatting the layout of your restaurant operations manager resume: design, length, and more
When it comes to the format of your restaurant operations manager resume , you've plenty of opportunities to get creative. But, as a general rule of thumb, there are four simple steps you could integrate into your resume layout.
- If you have plenty of experience, you'd like to showcase, invest in the reverse-chronological resume format . This format focuses on your latest experience items and skills you've learned during your relevant (and recent) jobs.
- Don't go over the two-page limit, when creating your professional restaurant operations manager resume. Curate within it mainly experience and skills that are relevant to the job.
- Make sure your restaurant operations manager resume header includes all of your valid contact information. You could also opt to display your professional portfolio or LinkedIn profile.
- Submit or send out your restaurant operations manager resume as a PDF, so you won't lose its layout and design.
Different markets have specific resume formats – a Canadian resume could vary in layout.
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Listing your relevant degrees or certificates on your restaurant operations manager resume is a win-win situation. Not only does it hint at your technical capabilities in the industry, but an array of soft skills, like perseverance, adaptability, and motivation.
The six in-demand sections for your restaurant operations manager resume:
- Top one-third should be filled with a header, listing your contact details, and with a summary or objective, briefly highlighting your professional accolades
- Experience section, detailing how particular jobs have helped your professional growth
- Notable achievements that tie in your hard or soft skills with tangible outcomes
- Popular industry certificates to further highlight your technical knowledge or people capabilities
- Education to showcase your academic background in the field
What recruiters want to see on your resume:
- Proven experience in effective restaurant operations management, cost control, and revenue optimization.
- Demonstrated ability in staff hiring, training, and leadership with a focus on building a high-performing team.
- Strong familiarity with health and safety regulations within the foodservice industry.
- Track record of improving customer satisfaction and handling challenging guest service issues gracefully.
- Expertise in inventory management, scheduling, and maintaining operational standards.
Defining your professional expertise in your restaurant operations manager resume work experience section
The work experience section, often the most detailed part of your resume, is where you discuss your past roles and achievements. To effectively list your experience, consider these four key tips:
- Align your expertise with the job requirements. It's vital to integrate keywords matching the job criteria to pass initial assessments;
- Show, don’t just tell. Quantify your responsibilities by stating your actual achievements in previous roles;
- Include measurable metrics. For instance, how did your performance impact the annual ROI?
- Highlight crucial industry skills. Mention both technological knowledge and interpersonal skills in this section.
These guidelines will help you craft an impressive restaurant operations manager resume work experience section that is bound to catch recruiters' attention.
- Spearheaded the implementation of a table management system, improving seating efficiency by 30%.
- Developed and enforced new service protocols to enhance the dining experience, leading to a 20% increase in customer satisfaction ratings.
- Negotiated with vendors to reduce food cost percentage by 5%, effectively controlling the restaurant's operational budget.
- Launched a staff training initiative that decreased turnover by 25% and fostered a culture of continuous improvement.
- Orchestrated a complete menu overhaul, incorporating locally sourced ingredients, which boosted sales by 18%.
- Led a successful social media marketing campaign that expanded our digital presence and increased online reservations by 40%.
- Managed daily operations for a high-volume establishment, serving over 1,000 guests per day.
- Reduced labor costs by implementing an employee scheduling software, saving the company approximately $50,000 annually.
- Collaborated with the culinary team to introduce 10 new signature dishes, contributing to a 15% growth in average check size.
- Managed a team of 50+ employees, fostering a cooperative and achievement-oriented environment.
- Initiated a waste reduction program that saved the restaurant $20,000 per year in operational costs.
- Improved vendor delivery schedules and order accuracy by establishing robust supply chain management practices.
- Enhanced guest experience by integrating customer feedback systems that informed service and menu refinements.
- Conducted market analysis to identify and capitalize on food trends, resulting in a 25% boost in quarterly revenues.
- Synchronized front-of-house and back-of-house operations to streamline processes and reduce average dining time by 15 minutes.
- Systematized inventory control, reducing food spoilage by 20% while increasing stock rotation efficiency.
- Oversaw major renovation project, coordinating with contractors and ensuring minimal disruption to business operations.
- Cultivated a partnership with a premier food delivery service, increasing order volume by 50%.
- Pioneered a customer loyalty program that amplified repeat business by 35% within the first year.
- Optimized beverage cost through meticulous inventory tracking, resulting in a profit margin improvement of 10% on liquor sales.
- Facilitated a collaborative effort between the kitchen and dining staff to design a dynamic seasonal menu.
- Implemented environmentally sustainable practices, reducing the restaurant’s carbon footprint by an estimated 15%.
- Directed the training of a culturally diverse staff, ensuring consistent service standards across the board.
- Supervised the introduction of innovative payment solutions, including mobile and contactless options, boosting transaction speed.
- Increased restaurant seating capacity by redesigning the dining area layout, which led to a 20% rise in nightly covers.
- Established a robust health and safety program, surpassing local regulatory requirements and maintaining a spotless inspection record.
- Reengineered inventory procurement, aligning deliveries with peak service times to ensure maximum freshness of ingredients.
- Instrumental in launching a second business location, overseeing the setup and staff training, ensuring a seamless opening period.
- Drove a cross-promotion initiative with local businesses that increased new customer foot traffic by 25%.
- Revitalized the brand image through a complete rebrand, including updated interior design and modernized logo, attracting a more diverse clientele.
Quantifying impact on your resume
- Highlight the percentage increase in restaurant revenue achieved under your management to showcase financial growth.
- Include the number of staff members you've successfully trained and managed to demonstrate leadership and team development skills.
- Mention the cost-saving percentages you've realized through efficiency improvements or vendor negotiations to illustrate financial acumen.
- Quantify customer satisfaction improvements through metrics like increased ratings or positive reviews to indicate a focus on customer experience.
- Detail the exact number of process or system improvements implemented, showing a proactive approach to operations management.
- Report the reduction in staff turnover rates to emphasize the creation of a stable and positive workplace environment.
- Document the number of compliance audits passed, which reflects adherence to industry regulations and standards.
- Showcase the growth in average ticket size or covers per night to prove your ability to boost profitability through operational strategies.
Action verbs for your restaurant operations manager resume
Lacking relevant restaurant operations manager resume experience?
Learn how to write your restaurant operations manager resume experience in spite of having no real-world (or applicable) experience for the job.
You should:
- Feature relevant projects or publications that could impress recruiters or showcase that you have the basic skill set for the job
- Shift the focus towards your people (communication, organization, etc.) skills to demonstrate that you're a quick learner and can easily adapt to a new environment
- Use the resume objective to not only highlight your accomplishments but also map out how your career plans are perfectly aligned with the company's vision
- Select either the functional-skill-based resume format (that puts the focus on your skills) or the hybrid one (balancing expertise with skills).
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If the certificate you've obtained is especially vital for the industry or company, include it as part of your name within the resume headline.
Key hard skills and soft skills for your restaurant operations manager resume
At the top of any recruiter restaurant operations manager checklist, you'd discover a list of technical competencies, balanced with personal skills.
Hard or technical skills are your opportunity to show how you meet the essential responsibilities of the role. The ability to use a particular job-crucial technology or software would also hint to recruiters whether you'd need a prolonged period of on-the-job training - or you'd fit right in the job.
But to land your dream role, you'd also need to demonstrate a variety of soft or people resume skills . Employers care about soft skills as they show how each candidate would fit into the team and company culture.
Both types of skills are specific and to best curate them on your resume, you'd need to:
- Create a skill section within which you showcase your hard and soft skills and present how they help you succeed.
- List specific examples of projects, tasks, or competitions, within which your skill set has assisted your results.
- Soft skills are harder to measure, so think about situations in which they've helped you thrive. Describe those situations concisely, focusing on how the outcome has helped you grow as a professional.
- Metrics of success - like positive ROI or optimized workplace processes - are the best way to prove your technical and people skills.
Take a look at some of restaurant operations manager industry leaders' favorite hard skills and soft skills, as listed on their resumes.
Top skills for your restaurant operations manager resume:
Point of Sale (POS) Systems
Inventory Management Software
Staff Scheduling Tools
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems
Financial Reporting Software
Food Safety Management Systems
Kitchen Display Systems (KDS)
Online Ordering Platforms
Employee Training Software
Event Management Software
Leadership
Communication
Problem-Solving
Time Management
Customer Service
Conflict Resolution
Teamwork
Adaptability
Attention to Detail
Decision Making
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If the certificate you've obtained is especially vital for the industry or company, include it as part of your name within the resume headline.
Qualifying your relevant certifications and education on your restaurant operations manager resume
In recent times, employers have started to favor more and more candidates who have the "right" skill alignment, instead of the "right" education.
But this doesn't mean that recruiters don't care about your certifications .
Dedicate some space on your resume to list degrees and certificates by:
- Including start and end dates to show your time dedication to the industry
- Adding credibility with the institutions' names
- Prioritizing your latest certificates towards the top, hinting at the fact that you're always staying on top of innovations
- If you decide on providing further information, focus on the actual outcomes of your education: the skills you've obtained
If you happen to have a degree or certificate that is irrelevant to the job, you may leave it out.
Some of the most popular certificates for your resume include:
The top 5 certifications for your restaurant operations manager resume:
- ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification (ServSafe) - National Restaurant Association
- Certified Restaurant Manager (CRM) - National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation
- Certified Food and Beverage Executive (CFBE) - American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute
- Foodservice Management Professional (FMP) - National Restaurant Association
- Hospitality Management Professional (HMP) - American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute
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If you're in the process of obtaining your certificate or degree, list the expected date you're supposed to graduate or be certified.
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Restaurant operations manager resume summary or objective? the best choice is based on your experience
If you're wondering about the relevancy of the resume summary or the resume objective to your restaurant operations manager application - here's the truth.
The summary and objective provide recruiters with your expertise and accomplishments at a glance, within an up-to-five-sentence structure.
The difference is that the:
- Resume objective is also more focused on emphasizing your career goals. The objective is the perfect fit for (potentially more junior) candidates who'd like to balance their relevant experience with their career goals.
- Resume summary can provide you with space to also detail the unique value of what it's like to work with you. Restaurant operations manager candidates who have many noteworthy accomplishments start from the get-go with their summary.
Ensure that either type of resume introduction presents your restaurant operations manager expertise in the best light and aligns it with the job advert.
The more details you can provide with numbers, the more compelling your resume summary or objective will be.
Real-world restaurant operations manager candidates follow these frameworks in writing their resume summaries and objectives.
The end results are usually as such:
Resume summaries for a restaurant operations manager job
- Seasoned restaurant operations manager with over 15 years of experience in high-volume establishments in New York City, adept at P&L management, staff training, and optimizing kitchen operations. Increased profitability for a flagship venue by 30% within two years through innovative cost-saving strategies and revenue enhancement initiatives.
- Dynamic leader with a 10-year track record managing fast-paced, upscale restaurants in Chicago. Proficient in staff development, inventory control, and process re-engineering. Spearheaded the customer service improvement plan that magnified the guest satisfaction rate by 25%.
- Former Supply Chain Director with 12 years of experience transitioning to Restaurant Operations Management, bringing expertise in logistical coordination, cost reduction, and vendor negotiations. Excels in environments demanding robust strategic planning and problem-solving skills. Certified in Food Safety Management and passionate about delivering exceptional dining experiences.
- Accomplished Event Manager pivoting into the restaurant industry, with a vast background in overseeing large-scale events, keen financial acumen, and proven leadership abilities. Eager to apply a decade's worth of organizational and team motivation experience to ensure seamless restaurant operations and guest satisfaction.
- Aspiring to leverage a strong foundation in customer service and team management to excel as an Operations Manager in a restaurant setting. Energetic, with a passion for food service excellence, eager to contribute to team success and establish a career in the hospitality industry.
- Driven individual with an academic background in Business Administration and a concentration in Hospitality seeking an entry into restaurant management. Ready to deploy excellent communication skills, organizational savvy, and a new-found zeal for culinary arts to create memorable experiences for patrons.
Four more sections for your restaurant operations manager resume
Your restaurant operations manager resume can be supplemented with other sections to highlight both your personality and efforts in the industry. Use the ones you deem most relevant to your experience (and the role):
- Awards - to celebrate your success;
- Interests - to detail what you're passionate about outside of work (e.g. music, literature, etc.);
- Publications - to show your footprint in the wider community;
- Projects - to pinpoint noteworthy achievements, potentially even outside of work.
Key takeaways
- Ensure your restaurant operations manager resume uses a simple, easy-to-read format that reflects upon your experience and aligns with the role;
- Be specific within the top one-third of your resume (header and summary or objective) to pinpoint what makes you the ideal candidate for the restaurant operations manager role;
- Curate information that is tailored to the job by detailing skills, achievements, and actual outcomes of your efforts;
- List your certifications and technical capabilities to demonstrate your aptitude with specific software and technologies;
- The sections you decide on including on your restaurant operations manager should pinpoint your professional expertise and personality.
