If you're like most Americans, at least one of your meals was probably eaten away from home. Whether you grabbed lunch in the school cafeteria or stopped for a burger at a fast-food restaurant after school, you were probably one of the millions of people who ate in a restaurant or an institutional food service facility. And, though you might not have been aware of it, in each of those food service facilities, a restaurant or food service manager was at work. If you want a career that involves lots of contact with people, and if you are interested in a job that involves working around food, this may be a career for you.
Restaurants are about a lot more than food.
They're businesses, and some of them take in millions of dollars a year. In order to stay in business they must be run efficiently. That's the job of restaurant and food service managers. They select and appropriately price menu items, use food and other supplies efficiently, and work to make sure the restaurant achieves consistent quality in food preparation and service. They also see to the thousands of details that go into running a food service operation, from ordering supplies to recruiting and training workers.