Management at a restaurant is quite different from management of other businesses. Managers at restaurants are often extremely busy and involved with the inner workings of the restaurant and they often have a much more casual relationship with their employees. These things have both positive and negative aspects, which I will discuss in this post.
*Note: In this post, I consider only managers at corporate restaurants. Managers of private restaurants may be very different - especially if the manager is also the owner.*
Firstly, managers at restaurants usually have very different backgrounds than managers of other businesses. They usually worked as a server at one time and slowly worked their way up the chain. Often times, they do not have a college degree or if they do it is not in something very difficult. They probably worked at the restaurant for an extended period of time - at least ten years - before they got to where they are. They are used to working nights and long hours, although all the managers I have worked for did have a family. The hours they work will demonstrate that they have a different social life than the typical manager. This contributes to the different relationship they have with employees as well.
The background of restaurant managers has both positive and negative aspects. It's positive because managers have worked as servers too and they usually understand your point of view. It's easier for them to listen to your problems and help you solve them. In the same light, they will recognize when you are being unnecessarily difficult and they won't hesitate to fire you if you are not doing your job correctly. Managers are required to know how to do all the jobs in a restaurant so that will definitely benefit the employees since the manager understands what you are dealing with and that problems do arise.
The negative aspects of the background of restaurant managers is that they sometimes are not prepared to deal with problems that arise and they may not be as professional as they should be. They do not usually have college degrees and although they understanding the inner-workings of a restaurant very well, they may not be as prepared as they should be to deal with business issues. It can also be difficult for servers who feel they are more intelligent than their boss. For example, servers who are in college or graduate school.
Secondly, managers of restaurants are much more hands on than other managers. They will not hesitate to go on the line in the kitchen and start making salads when the salad staff gets behind. Or they will start cooking steaks when the time calls for it. It is not rare for a manager to spend half a shift in the kitchen is we are unexpectedly busy or if a kitchen member calls in sick. Managers are also always dealing with the problems that arise with customers. Usually, the manager and a "key" are on staff on a given night. On weekends, two keys may be working. These "keys" are servers who have had training to work as a part-time manager too. They have no authority to make "big picture" decisions in the restaurant, but during a shift they have all the personal authority of a manager. The keys deal with problems with customers, comp food that was made incorrectly, help servers when they need manager authorization, and can discipline servers when they step out of line. The manager will usually decide at the beginning of the night whether he will be front or back of the house, but that doesn't mean that he won't switch if the occasion calls for it. If he is front of the house, he will be talking with customers and dealing with their problems and if he is back of the house, he will be working in the kitchen or as an expo the whole night.
The hands-on aspect of restaurant managers is positive because it makes servers connect to him and respect him more. They see he is doing the same work they are and it makes him more respectable. He isn't just being an authority figure giving orders. However, managers mess up just like the rest of us and it can be difficult for a server to confront a manager when he sent the wrong food to their table or messed something up. It can also be positive because when a server has the general manager talk to their table, it makes customers feel valued and can help their tip.
However, the manager being so hands on had it's negatives too. Managers often get too casual in that atmosphere and will get snappy with servers. It is not uncommon for my manager to yell at a server during a shift for something the server did by mistake. It's not like the server did something on purpose, but the manager is in the heat of the moment caught up in the action and he does raise his voice. I think this is negative because the manager is supposed to be an authority figure above the petty things, and this often brings him down a notch and makes him lose respect in our eyes.
Another negative to managers being so hands on is that sometimes they do not realize the consequences of their actions because they are so involved. The other night, for example, our manager decided to have a contest for all the servers to see who could run the most food. To keep track, he told us to keep the ticket of each food we ran. This seemed like a good idea, except that people were stealing tickets and we were losing track of food. Also, the reason a ticket is stabbed and kept on the line once food is ran is so that servers can keep track of their food. They can check back there and see their food was ran. That way, if there is a problem they know the mistake was not made in the kitchen. The tickets are also necessary because servers may run the food to the wrong table and need to come back and check. Or something may have been left out but you cannot check what that was if the ticket isn't there. If the manager had not been so involved in the kitchen, he might have predicted that his contest would cause major problems. But the consequence of his action was that food was lost and huge problems arose. If he had taken a step back and been a big picture manager, that would not have occurred.
Lastly, managers at restaurants tend to have too causal of a relationship with their staff. This is because they work long hours beside one another and servers are often times friends so the manager becomes involved in that atmosphere. Managers hear about the private lives of servers during shifts and they cannot help but get caught up in the gossip and social atmosphere. Usually, managers will drink after work with servers too. Our manager does so only occasionally, probably once a week, but it is enough that the manager-employee line becomes blurred. Managers also play favorites and treat those they prefer much kinder and more causally.
In my opinion, this is only a negative aspect. Some may argue that this could make the workplace a more fun and kinder place, but I feel differently. Managers need to be an authority figure and this relationship blur only complicated things. It's difficult when your manager is joking with you about your boyfriend one minute, and yelling at you because you rang something in wrong the next. It's also very difficult to take a manager seriously if you have seen him out drunk or you know too much about his personal life. Managers in a typical business setting do not fraternize with their employees because they need to maintain the employer-employee line. The employer needs to maintain his authority and respect. In restaurants, this blurring raises problems and can cause tension.
For example, in the restaurant I work in my manager often times jokes with me about my boyfriend, another restaurant employee. This is all in good fun, until he then yells at me for a mistake that my boyfriend has made. That is extremely unprofessional and not fair to me as an employee. It's difficult to discern when the time is for jokes and when the time is to be serious when your manager acts in such a manner.
This post is largely my opinion of restaurant managers at corporate chains, based on my own experiences. I have worked in two corporate restaurants now and this description is accurate of those managers. It may seem hostile and too critical, but there are definitely problems with the way managers at restaurants act. There is a reason the majority of businesses have managers who maintain the employer-employee relationship line.
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