Top 12 Restaurant Manager Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's competitive hospitality landscape, a standout resume can tilt the table in your favor. For aspiring restaurant managers, spotlighting the skills that prove you can run tight operations, rally a team, and delight guests isn’t optional—it’s your way in.

Restaurant Manager Skills

1. POS Systems
2. Inventory Management
3. Staff Training
4. Customer Service
5. Scheduling Software
6. Financial Reporting
7. Health Code Compliance
8. Conflict Resolution
9. Menu Development
10. OpenTable
11. Marketing Strategies
12. Safety Protocols

1. POS Systems

A POS (Point of Sale) system in a restaurant manages orders, payments, and sales while tying into inventory and reporting. It tightens up service speed, trims waste, and delivers data you can act on.

Why It's Important

POS systems streamline ordering and checkout, cut errors, speed table turns, and surface the numbers that guide staffing, pricing, and purchasing decisions.

How to Improve POS Systems Skills

Sharper POS use pays dividends. Try these moves:

1. Go Cloud-Based: Real-time access, remote management, better security.

2. Integrate Everything: Connect POS with inventory, accounting, payroll, and online ordering to reduce manual work.

3. Mobilize: Use handhelds for tableside ordering and payments to shrink wait times and boost accuracy.

4. Harden Security: Enforce encryption, tokenization, user permissions, and two-factor authentication.

5. Train Relentlessly: Short, frequent refreshers keep teams quick and consistent.

6. Mine the Data: Review sales mix, peak times, and item performance weekly; adjust prep and purchasing accordingly.

7. Prioritize Usability: Clean layouts, clear modifiers, and smart shortcuts minimize mistakes.

Dial these in and you’ll see smoother shifts, fewer comped items, and cleaner reports.

How to Display POS Systems Skills on Your Resume

2. Inventory Management

Inventory management means tracking food, beverage, and supply levels to ensure availability, curb waste, and control costs without tying up cash in overstock.

Why It's Important

Done right, it preserves margins, maintains quality, and keeps the line moving. Waste drops, ordering gets smarter, and stockouts stop derailing service.

How to Improve Inventory Management Skills

Practical, fast wins you can sustain:

1. Adopt a Restaurant-Focused System: Use tools that track on-hand amounts, recipe-level depletion, and automatic reorders.

2. Audit Consistently: Weekly counts for top movers; full counts monthly. Compare to theoreticals to spot shrinkage.

3. Train on Handling: Portion control, labeling, storage temperatures, and transfer logs matter more than you think.

4. Run FIFO: First In, First Out—labeled dates, clear shelving, no guesswork.

5. Negotiate Smart: Lock pricing where possible, build supplier relationships, and balance bulk buys with shelf life.

6. Engineer the Menu: Push high-margin items, trim low sellers, and align prep with demand patterns.

7. Forecast: Use historical sales, seasonality, and event calendars to right-size orders.

Fewer surprises. Better margins. Simpler ordering.

How to Display Inventory Management Skills on Your Resume

3. Staff Training

Staff training covers procedures, service standards, food safety, and brand voice. It turns new hires into pros and keeps veterans sharp.

Why It's Important

Well-trained teams move faster, make fewer mistakes, and handle guests with calm confidence. Lower turnover, stronger reviews, smoother nights.

How to Improve Staff Training Skills

Build a program that sticks:

1. Make It Interactive: Role-play, shadowing, and hands-on drills beat slide decks.

2. Blend Online and In-Person: Short e-learning modules plus live practice cement skills.

3. Give Regular Feedback: Quick huddles, scorecards, and clear goals keep momentum.

4. Cross-Train: Flexibility saves shifts when the unexpected hits.

5. Update Often: New dishes, new tech, new standards—train to match the pace of change.

Consistency grows when training becomes a habit, not a one-off.

How to Display Staff Training Skills on Your Resume

4. Customer Service

For managers, customer service is orchestration—clearing bottlenecks, coaching tableside finesse, and resolving issues before they snowball.

Why It's Important

Guest experience drives reviews, repeat visits, and word-of-mouth. It’s the heartbeat of revenue.

How to Improve Customer Service Skills

Raise the floor and the ceiling:

1. Train the Fundamentals: Warm greetings, clear communication, menu knowledge, and recovery tactics.

2. Collect Feedback: Comment cards, quick surveys, and post-visit follow-ups reveal what guests won’t say aloud.

3. Smooth the Journey: Streamline reservations, waitlists, and order flow with the tools you already have.

4. Personalize: Note preferences, celebrate occasions, remember regulars.

5. Respond Fast: A quick, sincere recovery can turn a stumble into loyalty.

Small touches add up. So do quick fixes.

How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume

5. Scheduling Software

Scheduling software coordinates shifts, availability, and labor targets so you aren’t flying blind on a Friday night.

Why It's Important

It trims labor costs, fills peaks, respects time-off requests, and prevents the dreaded puzzle of last-minute swaps.

How to Improve Scheduling Software Skills

Make your tool work harder:

1. Keep It Simple: Clean templates, clear roles, and easy edits save hours.

2. Integrate: Sync with POS, payroll, and HR to align labor with sales and compliance.

3. Use Real-Time Alerts: No-shows, early clock-ins, and shift trades should ping instantly.

4. Go Cloud and Mobile: Managers and staff need access anywhere, anytime.

5. Track Compliance: Breaks, overtime, predictive scheduling laws—build rules into the system.

6. Forecast: Lean on historical sales and events to staff proactively. Note: platforms formerly known as HotSchedules now operate under Fourth; similar forecasting exists across major tools.

Right people, right time, right cost. That’s the game.

How to Display Scheduling Software Skills on Your Resume

6. Financial Reporting

Financial reporting translates daily chaos into clean numbers—P&L, cash flow, balance sheets—so decisions aren’t guesses.

Why It's Important

It clarifies profitability, flags cost creep, supports budgets, and helps secure financing. No numbers, no steering wheel.

How to Improve Financial Reporting Skills

Make accuracy routine:

1. Integrate POS and Accounting: Reduce manual entries and reconcile faster.

2. Standardize Processes: Clear rules for coding expenses, recording comps, and counting cash.

3. Automate: Payroll, invoicing, and bill pay should run on rails.

4. Reconcile Regularly: Weekly bank, credit, and cash checks catch issues early.

5. Analyze and Forecast: Read trends, build budgets, and project seasons and events.

6. Train Your Leads: Teach key managers to read reports and own their cost centers.

7. Get Expert Eyes: A periodic review from a hospitality CPA can uncover hidden leaks.

Clean books, clear path.

How to Display Financial Reporting Skills on Your Resume

7. Health Code Compliance

Health code compliance means running a safe, sanitary operation that aligns with local, state, and federal rules—covering food handling, storage, cleaning, equipment, and hygiene.

Why It's Important

It protects guests and staff, keeps inspectors satisfied, and safeguards the brand from closures or fines.

How to Improve Health Code Compliance Skills

Build safety into the routine:

1. Train on Food Safety: Onboarding plus refreshers for temps, allergens, cross-contamination, and holding temps.

2. Use a Detailed Cleaning Schedule: Daily, weekly, and monthly tasks with checklists and sign-offs.

3. Conduct Internal Inspections: Mirror local health department checklists and fix issues before they’re flagged.

4. Stay Current: Reference the FDA Food Code (2022) and local updates; adapt SOPs promptly.

5. Encourage Reporting: Create a no-blame culture for calling out hazards or near-misses.

Compliance isn’t a scramble the day before inspection—it’s a rhythm.

How to Display Health Code Compliance Skills on Your Resume

8. Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is the art of defusing staff tensions, smoothing guest issues, and keeping the room calm without losing speed.

Why It's Important

Unresolved friction wrecks service and culture. Swift, fair solutions protect morale and revenue.

How to Improve Conflict Resolution Skills

Practical habits that work under pressure:

1. Listen First: Let each person speak fully. Hunt for root causes, not just symptoms.

2. Be Clear: Outline expectations and next steps in plain language.

3. Show Empathy: Acknowledge feelings while steering toward solutions.

4. Solve Collaboratively: Co-create options; confirm buy-in before closing.

5. Mediation Tools: Bring in a neutral lead when needed; set ground rules.

6. Follow Up: Check back to ensure the fix sticks and patterns don’t repeat.

Calm is contagious. Model it.

How to Display Conflict Resolution Skills on Your Resume

9. Menu Development

Menu development blends guest tastes, kitchen capacity, and cost structure into a lineup that sells and scales.

Why It's Important

It shapes identity, drives margins, and streamlines prep. Get it wrong and you juggle slow sellers and food waste. Get it right and everything hums.

How to Improve Menu Development Skills

Turn data and creativity into profit:

1. Analyze Sales Mix: Spotlight stars, fix dogs, and right-size prep for demand.

2. Know Your Guests: Use quick surveys and server insights to steer ideas.

3. Study Competitors: Identify gaps and opportunities without copying blindly.

4. Lean Into Seasonality: Fresher flavors, better pricing, local partnerships.

5. Design Matters: Use menu engineering and clean layouts to guide eyes to high-margin items. Tools like Canva’s Menu Maker can help.

6. Test Before You Launch: Run specials, gather feedback, tweak portions and pricing.

7. Cost It Precisely: Recipe-level costing, yield tests, and target margin ranges for each category.

8. Train the Team: Teach ingredients, prep notes, and the story behind dishes to fuel confident upselling.

Iterate often. Tastes shift, and your menu should too.

How to Display Menu Development Skills on Your Resume

10. OpenTable

OpenTable is a reservation and guest management platform that helps manage bookings, track preferences, and smooth table turns.

Why It's Important

It streamlines reservations, boosts visibility, and supports personalized hospitality that guests remember.

How to Improve OpenTable Skills

Make the most of the platform:

1. Polish Your Profile: Accurate details, strong photos, and clear descriptions increase conversions.

2. Use Marketing Features: Promote specials, slow-day offers, and events to fill gaps.

3. Manage Reviews: Monitor, respond professionally, and share feedback with the team.

4. Leverage Analytics: Track booking patterns, no-shows, and party sizes; adjust staffing and pacing.

5. Personalize Service: Note occasions, allergies, and preferences; surprise and delight.

6. Train Staff: Host stand and managers should be fluent in waitlists, pacing, and table management tools.

Better use = fuller books and steadier turns.

How to Display OpenTable Skills on Your Resume

11. Marketing Strategies

Marketing for restaurants means drawing new guests, keeping regulars engaged, and building a brand that stands out across channels.

Why It's Important

Visibility and trust translate to seats filled and checks closed. Consistency beats one-off campaigns every time.

How to Improve Marketing Strategies Skills

Mix digital with on-the-ground tactics:

1. Show Up on Social: Share dishes, behind-the-scenes moments, and team stories on platforms like Instagram and Facebook. Engage, don’t just post.

2. Tighten Your Website: Mobile-first, current menus, easy reservations, fast load times, and basic SEO best practices.

3. Run Email: Collect emails and send concise updates, offers, and event notes. Tools like Mailchimp keep it simple.

4. Boost Reviews: Encourage happy guests to leave feedback on Yelp and Google. Respond to all reviews with grace.

5. Promotions and Loyalty: Time-bound offers, birthday perks, and simple points programs keep guests coming back.

6. Partner Locally: Collaborate with nearby businesses, creators, and community events.

7. Own Local Search: Keep your Google Business Profile accurate, use location keywords, and maintain consistent listings.

Measure, learn, adjust. Then repeat.

How to Display Marketing Strategies Skills on Your Resume

12. Safety Protocols

Safety protocols protect guests and staff through clear procedures for food safety, sanitation, emergencies, and equipment use.

Why It's Important

They reduce accidents and foodborne risks, uphold legal standards, and sustain a reputation people trust.

How to Improve Safety Protocols Skills

Make safety visible and routine:

1. Assess Risks: Conduct scheduled safety walks in kitchen, bar, dining areas, storage, and deliveries.

2. Create a Living Safety Plan: Cover emergency responses, chemical handling, PPE, burns, cuts, slips, and equipment lockout procedures.

3. Train and Retrain: Short, regular sessions; new-hire certifications; drills for fire, evacuation, and first aid.

4. Communicate Clearly: Post procedures and contact info; label everything; keep MSDS/SDS binders accessible.

5. Stay Current: Align with local regulations and the FDA Food Code (2022); update SOPs as rules change.

6. Invite Feedback: Anonymous channels and open-door policies surface hazards early.

Safe teams move faster—and last longer.

How to Display Safety Protocols Skills on Your Resume