Your first 30 days as a restaurant manager: what to learn, who to meet, and what not to change yet

This is part 1 of 7 in our series Your first year as a restaurant manager, for the shift lead who just got the keys, the barista who just became assistant manager, and anyone running a café or restaurant floor for the first time.

The first month in a new management job comes with a strong pull to prove yourself by changing things: a new prep system, a new closing routine, a new way to build the schedule. Most of those ideas will be better in week six than in week one, because by then you'll know why things are the way they are.

So treat the first 30 days as a learning month. Get clear on the job, learn the building and the stations, meet every person, and learn the numbers. Fix only what can't wait. This post walks through it week by week.

Before day one: get the job in writing

A lot of first-year trouble starts with a job nobody wrote down. Before your first shift as a manager, sit down with the owner or general manager for 30 minutes and leave with answers to five questions:

1. What do I own? Opening and closing, the schedule, ordering, cash, hiring, training: which of these are yours now, and which stay with someone else?
2. What do I decide alone? Comps, refunds, sending someone home early, 86-ing an item. Ask for limits in numbers ("comps up to $20 a shift").
3. What do I call you about? An injury, a no-show with no cover, an inspector at the door, anything involving the police.
4. Which numbers will I be judged on? Labor, food cost, checklist completion, reviews. Ask for the targets and how they're measured.
5. How will we check in? A weekly 15 minutes is enough, at a fixed time.

If you were promoted from inside, this is the same conversation an owner should have when promoting a lead; our post on promoting your first shift lead has a one-page role card you can bring to the meeting and fill in together.

Week 1: learn the building and the stations

Work every station. Spend at least part of a shift on each one: register, bar, line, prep, dish. You're not there to show you're fast; you're there to learn where the work gets stuck. Write down every question you have ("why are the lids stored under the far counter?") and ask them later.

Read the written record. Before you form opinions, read what's already there:

• The last month of shift logs or manager notes. Repeated problems show up fast. If there's no log yet, our manager shift log template is a good one to start.
• The opening and closing checklists, and whether they're actually completed.
• The employee handbook, so you know the policies you'll be enforcing.
• The last health inspection report, and any open items on it.

Learn the building. Know where these are before you need them:

Week 2: meet everyone, one by one

Schedule a 10-minute conversation with every person on the team, on the clock, away from the counter. Ask the same three questions each time:

1. What's working here that I shouldn't break?
2. What gets in the way of a good shift?
3. What should I know about you? Availability, school, a second job, what they want to learn next.

Then mostly listen. Write down what you hear, and look for answers that come up again and again. Don't promise fixes on the spot; say "thank you, I'm writing that down," and mean it.

If you were promoted from inside, these conversations feel strange with people who were your coworkers a week ago. Have them anyway. We'll come back to managing former peers later in this series.

Meet the people outside the building too: the vendor reps (and their order cutoffs), the repair companies, the landlord or property manager, and the neighbors you share a dumpster or a parking lot with. Our vendor contact sheet and order guide is a good place to keep them.

Week 3: learn the numbers and the rhythms

Every restaurant runs on a weekly rhythm. Learn yours:

• Sales by day and hour. Which day is the busiest, when the lunch rush starts, when it dies. Our guide to forecasting weekly sales from your POS shows how to read it.
• The schedule. When it's built, when it's posted, how people request time off and swap shifts, and who usually picks up extra shifts.
• Payroll. When the workweek starts, when timesheets are due, and who fixes missed punches.
• Ordering and deliveries. Order days, cutoffs, delivery windows, and who receives.
• The targets. Ask to see last month's labor cost percentage and food cost. You don't need to fix them yet. You need to know where they sit. Our post on labor cost percentage explains the first one.

Week 4: decide what to fix first

By now you have a list. Sort it into three columns and take it to your check-in with the owner:

Then pick one or two fixes for month two, not ten. One change the team sees through is worth more than five announced at once.

What not to change yet

Leave these alone in the first month unless they fall into "fix now":

• The shape of the schedule. People build childcare, school and second jobs around their usual shifts. Changing them is a big deal to the people involved.
• Who works which station, and with whom. You don't yet know who trained whom, who covers for whom, and which pairings keep the line moving.
• The menu and the recipes. That's usually not a first-month call for a manager, and any change needs costing, allergen checks and training.
• The small rituals. The staff meal, the playlist rule, the way the closing crew splits the mopping. They matter more than they look.

What to fix on day one

Some things can't wait for week four, and nobody will think you're moving too fast:

• Food safety. A cooler running warm, missing date labels, a sanitizer bucket with no sanitizer.
• Anything unlawful. People working off the clock before their punch, a 15-year-old scheduled past the legal hours, breaks your state requires that aren't happening. Part 7 of this series covers the federal rules.
• Physical safety. A blocked fire exit, a frayed cord, a wet floor with no sign.
• Cash controls. Shared register logins, no count at close, the safe code taped inside a drawer. Our cash handling guide has the routine.

For each one, tell the owner what you found and what you did about it, the same day.

Where Mays fits

If your restaurant runs on Mays, these are the screens worth reading in your first week:

• The logbook. Scheduling → Logbook shows each day's manager entries for your location, and the Follow-ups tab lists what's still flagged. Reading the last month is the fastest way to learn what keeps going wrong. See The manager logbook.
• What you can see and do. As a Manager, you see and manage the locations you're assigned to, and an admin sets which ones. Check that yours are right before your first schedule. See Location access for managers.
• The written policies. Your team's procedures and policies may already be in the Knowledge Base. See Knowledge Base basics.
• Attendance so far. Scheduling → Reports → Attendance shows each person's recorded no-shows, late arrivals, sick days and call-outs over the dates you pick. Treat it as background for your one-on-ones, not a verdict. See Scheduling reports.

Your first-30-days checklist

• A written answer to "what do I own, decide alone and escalate?"
• A shift on every station, and a list of questions
• The last month of logs, the checklists, the handbook and the last inspection report read
• Shut-offs, extinguishers, first-aid kit, SDS binder and repair contacts found
• A 10-minute one-on-one with every person, with notes
• Vendors, repair companies and the landlord met or called
• The weekly rhythm learned: sales, schedule, payroll, ordering
• A keep / fix now / ask later list, and one or two changes chosen for month two
• Day-one fixes for food safety, the law, physical safety and cash, reported to the owner

Start your first month with Mays

Read the logbook, check your locations and find the policies from your phone or the web.

Start your free trial: 30 days, every module, no card needed. Or book a walkthrough and we'll show you around a manager's first week in Mays.