What does a kitchen manager do? It’s all in the name, right? They bring structure and leadership to the kitchen. Well, there’s a lot more under the surface. You’ll play a hands-on role in training, motivating, and inspiring your team. Working together with your general manager, you’ll smash those targets, help your team bring their A-game, and serve up one delicious meal after the next.

So, if you’re thinking about a long-term kitchen career or even just about your next step, let us break down the roles and responsibilities of a kitchen manager for you.

Top Duties Of A Kitchen Manager

The kitchen manager, being the focal point of the kitchen operations, has to monitor, as well as perform a number of tasks on a daily basis. Below are the major tasks that you have to perform as a kitchen manager, that will help the kitchen to run seamlessly:

1. Manage Vendors: Raw materials are what keep the restaurant running, and this makes vendor management extremely important. Hence it is advisable that a kitchen manager assesses multiple vendors in the market before finalizing one. This is primarily because the quality and the price of the raw materials affect the food cost and the service provided. The kitchen manager must under all circumstances keep in mind some points before finalizing a vendor for the restaurant.

2. Inventory Management: Managing the inventory is one of the most crucial duties of a kitchen manager. You should keep a keen eye on the inventory at the beginning and the end of the day and place orders as and when required, to avoid overstocking or running your restaurant out of stock. It is important for the kitchen manager to check the raw materials when the kitchen receives them, to ensure that the quantity and the quality are right. Storing the raw materials at the right temperature in a proper way is also essential, and hence a kitchen manager must ensure that the health safety standards are abided, and this will also ensure that the raw materials are not spoiled before the expected time.

3. Equipment Management: Without the proper equipment, a restaurant’s kitchen is simply nothing. Hence, it is imperative that a kitchen manager checks all the equipment from time to time, to ensure that they are properly functioning. Religiously servicing of the equipment is important, which will ensure the longevity and efficiency of the product. He should also be well aware of all the new equipment that might be available in the market, which will reduce the dependency on the kitchen staff and augment efficiency.

4. Recruiting And Managing the Kitchen Staff: A kitchen manager would best know the requirements in the kitchen and accordingly, he should look for hiring kitchen employees. Considering that the rush will be rather high during the festive season; the kitchen manager can decide on getting part-time or seasonal staff on board that will help him run his kitchen seamlessly. Not only should the kitchen manager simply look into the hiring process, but he should also play an integral role in managing the employees. He should monitor the performance of each staff and accordingly, send the performance reports to the restaurant owner and plan to provide incentives or awards which will help in motivating the employees immensely. 

5. Abiding By The Food Safety Guidelines: There are strict laws in every country when it comes to the health and safety codes. From preparing the food in a certain way, cleaning the hands before preparing the dish, keeping the cooking and the preparing area clean, and ensuring that the storing area is hygienic. All these are the duties of a kitchen manager, failing to abide by the set standards can cost your restaurant a lot and might get you into legal tussles, which will be extremely detrimental to your restaurant’s image.

Since the kitchen manager will be the leader of the kitchen, you need to be equipped with major skills such as strong communication and Decision Making Skill, Problem Solving Ability and should be good at multitasking.