The 40 Hour Work Weekend

If you’re considering working as a restaurant manager and your ideal work schedule is Monday through Friday, 9-5, get out now while you still can.  Three things will drive you crazy about your work schedule:

1) Depending on the restaurant you work in, your hours of operation will far extend those listed above.

2) Also depending on the restaurant, the hours NOT listed above are normally the most profitable, which means you need to be at your most productive during the “odd” hours of the day.

3) The schedule above is a 40 hour work week.  In a new restaurant, your weekends alone will add up to 40+ hours, and you’ll be working shifts Monday through Thursday too.

As a manager you have to balance what I call the “on stage” and the “behind the scenes” dueling lives.  When you’re open for business, you need to be on stage, with your employees, interacting with customers and managing the floor.  During slower times and the times before you open and after you close, you need to get all your office work done.  Some people view it as two separate jobs, to help them prioritize tasks during different times of the day, and when you add up the hours, it most certainly will feel like you’re doing the work of two.

Is true of all restaurants? No.  Some restaurant concepts call for breakfast and lunch only, some call for lunch and dinner, some dinner and late night only, etc.  However, it is rare to find a restaurant that only operates during what most people would consider normal work hours.  And in the case of a restaurant opening, the hours for managers extend far beyond the actual hours of operation.  It’s quite a pill to swallow, especially for first timers.  Everyday there is a list of tasks that will probably never get done; you cross one off and add three more.  You learn to prioritize and squeeze the most out of every second, but getting over the frustration is the hardest part.  You come in early and stay on late, just to try to complete your work, but something always comes up.  And when you think about it, how productive can you be if you opened the restaurant for lunch, worked straight through the dinner shift, and decide to start paper work after your kitchen closes for the night?  On a good night, you can get a lot done in a single hour, because you know how precious each minute is.  On a bad night, you spend that first hour convincing yourself you love your job.  The goal, obviously, is to have as many of those good nights as possible.  Is it worth it?  For me, it is.  For you, try it, and let me know.