Restaurant Manager

Responsible for managing the overall operations of a Denny's unit. Uses discretion in daily management decisions with accountability for ensuring effective execution of the Service Profit Chain (SPC) and Brand Promise. Develops team to provide excellent internal service, external service, and build restaurant sales and profit while ensuring compliance with policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements.

Job Requirements

KEY DUTIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Internal Service:

• Recruits, selects, trains, develops, and evaluates restaurant employees.
• Monitors staffing levels to ensure sufficient development and talent;
• Ensures systems for training employees on workstations are fully implemented and adhered to by management and crew;
• Identifies and develops internal candidates for management and Team Leader positions.
• Works with restaurant management team to ensure all facets of “My Promise to You” and the Service Profit Chain are executed; creates a restaurant environment that is “employee friendly,” fun, clean and safe;
• Takes accountability for motivating and inspiring employees to achieve high performance; t
• Treats all employees with respect and dignity; and regularly recognizes and rewards employees.
• Understands and utilizes Denny's systems, processes, and tools; and complies with all state and federal labor laws and regulations.

External Service:

• Manages daily activities to achieve excellence in restaurant operational performance.
• Provides an exceptional experience for the guests by ensuring proper training and holding restaurant team accountable for consistently delivering excellent guest service and food quality in adherence with Denny's systems, procedures, and food safety requirements.
• Reviews practices and modifies as needed to continuously improve the guest experience; maintains visibility and interaction with guests; responds to guest concerns and complaints in a timely and professional manner and ensures positive resolution.
• Ensures management team and crew understands and operates all systems correctly.
• Maintains the brand image of restaurant cleanliness, maintenance, and excellent service. Serves as a role model for excellent guest service.

Sales & Profits:

• Utilizes management information tools to analyze restaurant operational and financial performance each Period, including the I&E, quality and service reports, health inspections, HACCP, etc; identifies trends and implements action plans for improvement; uses data to analyze business results and consults with regional and CSC resources as needed.
• Focuses efforts on increasing restaurant sales and profitability by executing the Service Profit Chain and understanding its impact on the overall business.
• Considers cost/benefit impact of financial decisions and works to protect the Denny's brand. Monitors costs and adherence to budget and restaurant goals.

SELECTION SKILLS/QUALITIES:

Fostering the Culture:

• Demonstrates a passion for the business and pride in Denny's; ability to manage professionally with integrity, honesty, and trust that promotes the Denny's culture and values; demonstrates high ethical standards; treats employees and guests with respect; and actively listens and communicates timely, clearly, and accurately with management team and crew.
• Remains calm when challenged or placed under pressure; calms others who are confronted with a difficult situation or task; and effectively manages conflict.

Training/Coaching/Development:

• Serves as a strong role model who motivates and inspires employees; effectively trains, coaches, and provides time for employees to learn; identifies employees' potential and fosters development for promotion to the next level; and demonstrates patience and commitment toward development of employees.
• Values effective job performance and ensures restaurant team receives recognition and expression of gratitude.
• Understands the importance of feedback and provides employees with quality and timely performance feedback and reviews.

Guest Focus:

• Is passionate about providing a high-quality guest experience that is evident to our guests.
• Understands guests' perspectives and focuses efforts on ensuring consistent, quality service that exceeds guests' expectations.
• Demonstrates guest service techniques and ability to manage in a fast-paced environment.

Food Quality/Safety:

• Demonstrates a strong awareness and concern for food quality and safety, and restaurant cleanliness; and is dedicated to consistently serving great food to guests and conveys importance to restaurant team.
• Demonstrates ability to utilize systems and perform duties within established structure.

Business Management:

• Is willing and able to adjust to multiple demands, shifting priorities, ambiguity and change; understands the importance of change and implements, manages, and supports change initiatives; maintains a strong sense of urgency; and works toward achieving goals.
• Consistently makes high quality decisions based on experience, policy and procedure, or knowledge of the setting; and exercises discretion and independent judgment on important restaurant business matters.
• Attends to priorities, delegates work, and systematically conducts follow up; demonstrates attention to detail; and is well organized in all aspects of job performance.
• Performs other related duties, tasks and responsibilities as required, assigned and directed.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Education – High School Diploma, G.E.D. or equivalent required. Associate's or Bachelor's degree preferred.

Experience – Internal Promote: Minimum of 1+ years of experience as an Associate Manager and/or 2 years of experience as a First Assistant Manager; must be 100% certified in all workstations. External Recruit: Minimum of 3 years of experience managing a service concept with full P&L responsibility.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities – Must be at least 18 years old; must complete Restaurant Manager training classes; must be ServSafe certified. Requires ability to speak, read, and write effectively in English; excellent interpersonal skills; ability to perform and understand basic math concepts (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division); proven analytical skills; and good organization and planning skills. Is a self-starter who takes initiative and willingly accepts responsibility. Proficient knowledge of personal computers and related software applications. Must possess a valid driver's license, insurance, and use personal vehicle to make bank deposits and travel to other restaurants/business locations as required. Demonstrates integrity and ethical behavior.

Physical Requirements – Ability to stand and walk approximately 85%-95% of shift; ability to lift and carry 10-65 lbs; ability to move freely throughout the restaurant; ability to operate restaurant equipment and drive a motor vehicle. Ability to operate a computer keyboard.

COMPETENCIES:

Organizational Competencies:

Customer Focus – Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of internal and external customers; gets first-hand customer information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with customers in mind; establishes and maintains effective relationships with customers and gains their trust and respect.

Dealing with Ambiguity – Can effectively cope with change; can shift gears comfortably; can decide and act without having the total picture; isn't upset when things are up in the air; doesn't have to finish things before moving on; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty.

Learning on the Fly – Learns quickly when facing new problems; a relentless and versatile learner; open to change; analyzes both successes and failures for clues to improvement; experiments and will try anything to find solutions; enjoys the challenge of unfamiliar tasks; quickly grasps the essence and the underlying structure of anything.

Problem Solving – Uses rigorous logic and methods to solve difficult problems with effective solutions; probes all fruitful sources for answers; can see hidden problems; is excellent at honest analysis; looks beyond the obvious and doesn't stop at the first answers.

Position Competencies:

Composure – Is cool under pressure; does not become defensive or irritated when times are tough; is considered mature; can be counted on to hold things together during tough times; can handle stress; is not knocked off balance by the unexpected; doesn't show frustration when resisted or blocked; is a settling influence in a crisis.

Confronting Direct Reports – Deals with problem direct reports firmly and in a timely manner; doesn't allow problems to fester; regularly reviews performance and holds timely discussions; can make negative decisions when all other efforts fail; deals effectively with troublemakers.

Developing Direct Reports and Others – Provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments; holds frequent development discussions; is aware of each person's career goals; constructs compelling development plans and executes them; pushes people to accept developmental moves; will take on those who need help and further development; cooperates with the developmental system in the organization; is a people builder.

Ethics and Values – Adheres to an appropriate (for the setting) and effective set of core values and beliefs during both good and bad times; acts in line with those values; rewards the right values and disapproves of others; practices what he/she preaches.

Hiring and Staffing – Has a nose for talent; hires the best people available from inside or outside; is not afraid of selecting strong people; assembles talented staffs.

Integrity and Trust – Is widely trusted; is seen as a direct, truthful individual; can present the unvarnished truth in an appropriate and helpful manner; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; doesn't misrepresent him/herself for personal gain.

Managerial Courage – Doesn't hold back anything that needs to be said; provides current, direct, complete, and "actionable" positive and corrective feedback to others; lets people know where they stand; faces up to people problems on any person or situation (not including direct reports) quickly and directly; is not afraid to take negative action when necessary.

Motivating Others –Creates a climate in which people want to do their best; can motivate many kinds of direct reports and team or project members; can assess each person's hot button and use it to get the best out of him/her; pushes tasks and decisions down; empowers others; invites input from each person and shares ownership and visibility; makes each individual feel his/her work is important; is someone people like working for and with.

Priority Setting – Spends his/her time and the time of others on what's important; quickly zeros in on the critical few and puts the trivial many aside; can quickly sense what will help or hinder accomplishing a goal; eliminates roadblocks; creates focus.

Drive for Results – Can be counted on to exceed goals successfully; is constantly and consistently one of the top performers; very bottom-line oriented; steadfastly pushes self and others for results.

Self-Knowledge – Knows personal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and limits; seeks feedback; gains insights from mistakes; is open to criticism; isn't defensive; is receptive to talking about shortcomings; looks forward to balanced (+'s and –'s) performance reviews and career discussions.

Sizing Up People –Is a good judge of talent; after reasonable exposure, can articulate the strengths and limitations of people inside or outside the organization; can accurately project what people are likely to do across a variety of situations.

Building Effective Teams – Blends people into teams when needed; creates strong morale and spirit in his/her team; shares wins and successes; fosters open dialogue; lets people finish and be responsible for their work; defines success in terms of the whole team; creates a feeling of belonging in the team.

Managing Vision and Purpose – Communicates a compelling and inspired vision or sense of core purpose; talks beyond today; talks about possibilities; is optimistic; creates mileposts and symbols to rally support behind the vision; makes the vision sharable by everyone; can inspire and motivate entire units or organizations.

REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION:

Feast American Diners, LLC and its affiliates will make reasonable accommodations to allow a qualified individual with a disability to enjoy equal employment opportunities and to perform the essential functions of the job. This position description should be applied accordingly.