Understanding the Kitchen Manager Job Description

by Deagon B. Williams

Are you looking to fill a Kitchen Manager position and need to nail a good job description to land the right candidate? Are you hoping to clarify roles and responsibilities among your kitchen staff by drafting clear job descriptions for key roles? Understanding the role of the Kitchen Manager, one of the kitchen’s key players, is a great place to start.

Solid, well thought-out job descriptions are very important for the success of your team. A good job description guides you in selecting the right candidate for the job, provides a road map for the new hire to follow in aspiring towards success, and gives you the metrics with which to measure on-the-job performance. Clearly, a good job description can be a crucial component in your management strategy.

The Kitchen Manager is responsible for the operations of the entire kitchen. S/He oversees a wide range of areas including: food preparation, cleanliness, inventory, menu creation, and media presence. The Kitchen Manager has hire, fire and training responsibility over kitchen staff, and is responsible to ensure that the kitchen meets both restaurant quality standards and legal health and safety standards.

A Kitchen Manager performing at the top of their game should be achieving these benchmarks:

·         Maintaining professionally trained kitchen staff with no more than a 20% annual turnover;

·         Creating and executing seasonally appropriate menus with a food cost under 30%;

·         Maintaining an active, on-brand media presence that drives sales.