Best Restaurant jobs can pay up to $130,000 per year.
Depending on the type of restaurant, there are different jobs opportunities, but all restaurants employ management, kitchen staff, and front-of-house staff. A host or hostess, wait staff, and support personnel like table bussers are all considered front-of-house staff. While some eateries employ bartenders, others rely on a more formal maître d’ who takes the place of a host or hostess. Managers of restaurants work all over the establishment. Dishwashers, cooks, sous chefs, and support personnel work in the kitchen. The kitchen at some restaurants is overseen by a head chef.
While some restaurants require their kitchen staff to attend culinary school, the majority of them offer entry-level jobs like dishwasher, table cleaner, or food prep worker. These entry-level jobs can help you obtain experience so you can eventually move up to a different role. For jobs waiting tables or in the kitchen, some restaurants offer on-the-job training. Obtaining experience in a casual restaurant prior to applying for a position in a fine-dining establishment is an additional option. You can apply to work as a support bar back and learn on the job, or you can enrol in classes at nearby schools, to become a barman. Restaurant managers typically hold a degree or have a lot of work experience.
Jobs in Restaurants with Good Pay
Director of Restaurant Operations
Salary range: $84,000-$130,000 per year
Most sectors of the hospitality industry employ people in the role of director of restaurant operations. Although you oversee a wide range of duties in this line of work, maintaining the smooth and effective operation of the restaurant is your main priority. Developing and implementing training, enhancing customer satisfaction, managing staff, and other managerial tasks are all part of your responsibilities. If you don’t work on site, you might have to inspect different facilities, and you might be in charge of multiple restaurants in a chain. You might also be responsible for evaluating each employee’s performance as well as that of the restaurant as a whole.
Research Chef
Salary range: $76,500-$120,000 per year
A culinary expert who manages the investigation and creation of novel recipes and food items is known as a research chef. In your role as a research chef, you will evaluate what is available now, collaborate with food scientists to generate ideas, and create new dishes and goods. Working alone or in a team, you create and test new dishes for eateries or food producers in a test kitchen. It is your responsibility to use creativity and innovation to satisfy the needs of the manufacturer, the restaurant, and the consumer.
Restaurant Area Director
Salary range: $87,000-$114,000 per year
A district manager who is in charge of several restaurants in a particular area or region is known as a restaurant area director. In this line of work, chain restaurants with numerous locations typically hire you; however, smaller eateries may also use you to guarantee uniform product quality throughout their locations. You have a lot on your plate; you oversee every facet of every restaurant in your neighbourhood. Your responsibilities encompass hiring personnel, providing training to managers and staff, serving guests, overseeing the expenses and revenue targets of your eateries, and modifying the operations as needed. Additionally, you might be in charge of hiring staff and opening new restaurants.
Culinary Director
Salary range: $55,500-$111,500 per year
The overall objectives and goals of eateries or other food-related businesses fall under the purview of the culinary director. Establishing a menu, hiring chefs and other staff, creating budgets, and deciding how much to charge for menu items are all part of the job description of a culinary director. Years of experience in the service sector are necessary for this career, usually including time spent as an executive chef. Additional prerequisites could be a postsecondary degree from a hospitality or culinary school. The ability to lead, have financial and budgetary management experience, and be well-versed in food safety and health regulations are all necessary for the position.
Executive Chef
Salary range: $68,000-$95,000 per year
An executive chef oversees every aspect of a restaurant’s culinary operation. Executive chefs oversee all kitchen personnel, including sous chefs and dishwashers, as well as inventory, budgeting, menu planning, training, and plating. They guarantee the excellent calibre of the food and the seamless, effective operation of the service. As the top tier of kitchen management, executive chefs bear the ultimate responsibility for the success or failure of the kitchen.
Executive Pastry Chef
Salary range: $65,000-$91,000 per year
For a restaurant, the production and preparation of breads, pastries, and desserts is under the direction of an executive pastry chef. High-end eateries, hotels, and casinos employ the majority of executive pastry chefs. You design, develop, and test new baking methods and recipes as an executive pastry chef for your restaurant’s menu. Lower-level pastry chefs are employed, trained, and supervised by executive pastry chefs. In addition, you oversee the ordering of supplies and guarantee that the kitchen is stocked with all required ingredients. Other duties include maintaining kitchen appliances, making beautiful, intricate desserts with tools, and baking bread. Other responsibilities include making the pastry kitchen’s budget, decorating cakes, and maintaining inventory.
Restaurant District Manager
Salary range: $67,000-$85,000 per year
A restaurant district manager is responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of several restaurants in a particular area, usually belonging to a chain. A few of your tasks and obligations include managing human resources, conducting operational, sales, compliance, and budgetary audits, as well as evaluating customer satisfaction and service at each franchise. In addition to overseeing that staff performance satisfies company standards, district managers have a say in hiring and training decisions made for all of your restaurants. It is necessary for you to travel to every restaurant in your district, visiting each one, meeting with managers to talk about the profitability, performance, and efficiency of each one, and resolving any problems they bring up.
Restaurant Area Manager
Salary range: $67,000-$85,000 per year
A restaurant area manager’s duties include overseeing that all eateries under your control deliver the calibre of service that your brand demands, all the while keeping an eye on revenue growth, staffing levels, and sales trends. As an area manager for restaurants, it is your duty to make sure that all of the locations in your area have established and followed policies and procedures. Even though you don’t usually get involved in employee relations, you might hear complaints from employees regarding rules or guidelines that managers are disobeying or discuss potential promotions with them. Your responsibilities require you to be a leader who can set objectives and assist your stores in achieving them.
Dining Services Director
Salary range: $50,000-$86,000 per year
The long-term and daily management of a dining or food service establishment is the responsibility of the director of dining services. Large-scale food operations like cafeterias in hospitals, homes, or schools, as well as extensive catering services and community outreach initiatives like soup kitchens and senior meal delivery services, frequently employ people in this role. Among your duties as a director of dining services are managerial and administrative ones. You plan delivery services to residents or institutional clients, supervise purchase orders, hire and train new kitchen staff, and assign other workers as needed.
Banquet Chef
Salary range: $52,000-$77,000 per year
For a restaurant or catering business, a banquet chef plans and directs the preparation of banquet meals. They hire staff, choose the menu, place food orders, and prepare the meal, among other things. When choosing a meal and other dinner-related details, they frequently collaborate closely with clients. The typical educational requirements for this profession are a culinary arts degree. It is imperative to have prior work experience in a commercial kitchen. Time management and the capacity to function under pressure are useful abilities.