Food Service Managers
Plan, direct, or coordinate activities of an organization or department that serves food and beverages.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Coordination
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Reading Comprehension
- Service Orientation
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Administration and Management
- Food Production
- English Language
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Sales and Marketing
- Mathematics
- Administrative
What the work involves
- Test cooked food by tasting and smelling it to ensure palatability and flavor conformity.
- Investigate and resolve complaints regarding food quality, service, or accommodations.
- Schedule and receive food and beverage deliveries, checking delivery contents to verify product quality and quantity.
- Monitor food preparation methods, portion sizes, and garnishing and presentation of food to ensure that food is prepared and presented in an acceptable manner.
- Monitor budgets and payroll records, and review financial transactions to ensure that expenditures are authorized and budgeted.
- Schedule staff hours and assign duties.
- Monitor compliance with health and fire regulations regarding food preparation and serving, and building maintenance in lodging and dining facilities.
- Coordinate assignments of cooking personnel to ensure economical use of food and timely preparation.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Enterprising, Conventional, Realistic.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (29.7% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (19.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (45.8%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Food Service Managers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 88% of occupations compared | 94% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Very high | Higher on dealing with the public than 91% of occupations compared | 84% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 99% of occupations compared | 97% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 56% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 71% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 89% of occupations compared | 45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 88% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Lower on consequence of error than 58% of occupations compared | 25% of surveyed respondents chose “Not serious at all” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 5.08%
- Contact with others about half the time: 0.02%
- Contact with others most of the time: 0.51%
- Constant contact with others: 94.38%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 10.9%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0.63%
- Very important: 4.35%
- Extremely important: 84.12%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2025
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 0.93%
- Very important: 2.44%
- Extremely important: 96.64%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2025
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 10.41%
- Limited freedom: 7.32%
- Some freedom: 34.92%
- A lot of freedom: 47.35%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2025
Time pressure
- Never: 0.93%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 12.86%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 0.3%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 44.85%
- Every day: 41.06%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2025
Conflict situations
- Never: 0.21%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.41%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 45.31%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 44.78%
- Every day: 9.3%
n = 34, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 0.52%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 6.33%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 27.16%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 55.61%
- Every day: 10.38%
n = 33, Incumbent 08/2025
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 25.09%
- Fairly serious: 24.12%
- Serious: 10.45%
- Very serious: 23.9%
- Extremely serious: 16.45%
n = 32, Incumbent 08/2025
Is this career right for me? Find jobs with conditions you prefer
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O*NET-SOC 11-9051.00 · SOC 11-9051 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8