WHAT DOES A KITCHEN MANAGER DO?

Published: Jan 09, 2026 - The Kitchen Manager leads and supervises kitchen teams to uphold company food standards, ensures smooth daily operations, and collaborates closely with both Front and Back of House staff to exceed customer expectations. This role involves partnering with the Store Manager on strategies for sales, manpower planning, and cost control, while maintaining adequate staffing and inventory levels through efficient scheduling and stock management. The manager also oversees recruitment, monitors staff performance, enforces discipline, ensures compliance with food safety regulations, and implements company policies with consistent reporting to management.

A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Kitchen Manager

1. Kitchen Manager Overview

  • Culinary Planning: Responsible for developing a culinary plan.
  • Food Quality Control: Ensure food quality by setting and enforcing standards for the kitchen team.
  • Menu Development: Menu development for in-store, catering, and special events.
  • Cost Management: Review operating costs of running the kitchen to ensure food, equipment, and labour budgets are not exceeded.
  • Team Management: Accountable for hiring, training, and managing the kitchen team.
  • Equipment Maintenance: Ensure all kitchen equipment is running efficiently.
  • Inventory Control: Ensure proper inventory control systems are in place and followed by the kitchen team.
  • Food Costing: Responsible for costing and ordering food supplies.
  • Pricing Strategy: Accountable for setting menu prices.
  • Productivity Management: Ensure a high level of productivity and efficiency is maintained by the kitchen team.
  • Process Improvement: Develop systems and protocols to ensure smooth and efficient kitchen operations.

2. Kitchen Manager Roles

  • Team Motivation: Create a positive kitchen environment where the team feels motivated.
  • Food Standards Compliance: Ensure that all food items and products are stored, prepared, and served based on the franchise's recipe, preparation, and portion standards.
  • Stock Control: Apply knowledge of stock control, ordering schedules, prep schedules, and storage processes.
  • Kitchen Supervision: Supervise food preparation in the kitchen.
  • Hygiene Maintenance: Maintain clean working environments and ensure that employees follow the kitchen's preventive maintenance measures.
  • Inventory Management: Maintain adequate inventory levels and conduct weekly inventories.
  • Customer Service: Handle customers through a mobile phone.
  • Team Leadership: Lead the team on a day-to-day basis.
  • Cost Control: Work with the business manager to control GP and manage a labour budget.
  • Service Efficiency: Manage the line effectively to ensure all food is delivered on time, meeting service demands and maintaining low rider waiting times.

3. Kitchen Manager General Responsibilities

  • Brand Standards: Uphold brand standards and core values.
  • Team Leadership: Lead, coach, and develop a team in a high-volume, hands-on setting.
  • Financial Management: Define and guide management towards achieving financial goals.
  • Customer Service: Deliver excellent customer service.
  • Quality Assurance: Consistently deliver and provide high levels of quality, service, and cleanliness.
  • Food Safety Compliance: Hold self and staff accountable for proper cooling, labeling, and storage.
  • Equipment Maintenance: Ensure daily cleaning, maintenance, and storage of all kitchen equipment.
  • Receiving Procedures: Practice proper receiving habits, including placing and checking in all orders and rejecting unusable product.

4. Kitchen Manager Duties and Roles

  • Production Planning: Manage production levels to assure proper product mix.
  • Workforce Scheduling: Plan, prepare, and adjust work schedules, assign employees to specific duties, and follow up to ensure duties are properly completed in a timely manner.
  • Staff Supervision: Supervise and coordinate the activities of all Bistro employees.
  • Inventory Control: Monitor and control inventory.
  • Recipe Quality Control: Ensure quality control of all recipes.
  • Food Safety Certification: Maintain a Serve Safe certificate.
  • Special Orders: Place special orders for customers.
  • Merchandising Standards: Maintain presentation and signage of display cases and salad bar.
  • Promotions Planning: Plan and organize monthly sales and special promotions.

5. Kitchen Manager Duties

  • Customer Engagement: Smile and greet customers in a friendly manner.
  • Customer Service Excellence: Provide prompt, courteous, and efficient service to customers and set a good example for team members.
  • Customer Care: Exhibit care, concern, and patience in all customer interactions and treat customers as the most important people in the store.
  • Health Compliance: Follow and comply with all applicable health and sanitation procedures and adhere to safe work practices.
  • Performance Management: Evaluate employee performance to recommend personnel actions such as promotion, transfer, or dismissal.
  • Safety Leadership: Train and enforce safety procedures to provide a safe and healthy work environment for employees and customers.
  • Workplace Safety: Work safely to prevent on-the-job injuries.
  • Staff Training: Assist in training workers in store policies, department procedures, and job duties.
  • Policy Compliance: Ensure employee compliance with established policies and laws related to security, sales, and record-keeping procedures and practices.

6. Kitchen Manager Roles and Responsibilities

  • Shift Operations: Conduct shift walk-throughs and complete all tasks required to open, transition, and close the kitchen.
  • Team Leadership: Actively lead the team, ensuring all focus and energy remain on guest enjoyment.
  • Team Motivation: Maintain awareness of business flow, positively motivate the team, actively observe performance, and provide praise and coaching.
  • Guest Anticipation: Anticipate and predict the needs of team members and guests.
  • Quality Control: Responsible for quality checks, completing thorough line checks and food quality checks throughout the shift.
  • Shift Administration: Complete shift administration, including prep lists, food product orders, and waste sheets.
  • Staffing Management: Ensure shift staffing is correct and take corrective action.
  • Team Deployment: Monitor team deployment.

7. Kitchen Manager Accountabilities

  • Shift Deployment: Accountable for shift deployment.
  • Staff Training: Supervise the training process for new team members on the shift.
  • Cleanliness Standards: Ensure cleanliness standards are maintained throughout the kitchen.
  • Safety Focus: Maintain a focus on team and guest safety.
  • Task Completion: Ensure daily and weekly tasks are completed.
  • Cost Control: Maintain a balance of costs to sales throughout the shift.
  • Break Compliance: Ensure team members follow mandated break schedules.
  • Closing Procedures: Check that closing and refresh tasks are completed to standard.

8. Kitchen Manager Details and Accountabilities

  • Team Leadership: Lead and supervise a team of Kitchen Assistant Managers, Kitchen Supervisors and Cooks in delivering food to company standards.
  • Strategic Planning: Work closely with the Store Manager to develop strategies and plans (including sales promotion, manpower deployment and cost control) to achieve the company's financial and operational goals.
  • Cross-Team Collaboration: Work closely with all team members from both Front of the House and Back of the House.
  • Operational Excellence: Ensure smooth operations and exceed customers' expectations.
  • Resource Planning: Ensure that the store has adequate resources (including manpower and inventory) for daily operations through effective and efficient duty roster planning, manpower deployment and stock ordering.
  • Food Safety Compliance: Ensure compliance with food safety, hygiene and sanitation standards according to statutory guidelines.
  • Recruitment Management: Handle the selection and recruitment of kitchen staff.
  • Performance Management: Monitor the work performance of all staff and enforce discipline.
  • Policy Implementation: Implement company policies and regular reporting to management effectively.

9. Kitchen Manager Key Accountabilities

  • BOH Supervision: Supervise and coordinate all BOH activities while coordinating great teamwork with the FOH.
  • Sanitation Oversight: Oversee cleanliness and sanitation, ordering, and inventory.
  • Food Quality: Ensure a high quality of ingredients and food preparation.
  • Staff Scheduling: Create and adjust staff schedules to meet restaurant needs.
  • Safety Compliance: Adhere to all safety and sanitation regulations.
  • Kitchen Operations: Responsible for the day-to-day running of the busy kitchen operation.
  • Staff Development: Responsible for staff recruitment, training, and development.
  • Stock Control: Accountable for stock control, ordering, and quality food control, including wastage control.
  • Owner Reporting: Report and attend regular meetings with the Owners.
  • Standards Compliance: Ensure staff are adhering to health and safety, food and hygiene, and company standards.