Restaurant assistant general manager job description
A restaurant assistant general manager runs the front of the house under the GM: the schedule for servers, hosts, bussers and runners, their hiring and training, and the floor managers. On the GM's days off, the AGM is the manager in charge of the whole restaurant.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, full-service restaurants · BLS, May 2025
We're hiring an Assistant General Manager to own front-of-house staffing, training and standards, and to run the restaurant when the GM is off. You'll write the server, host, busser and runner schedule, hire and train the front-of-house team, lead the Floor Managers, and work the floor as manager on duty on [number] shifts a week, including weekends.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Write the front-of-house schedule against forecast covers and the labor budget, and post it [number] days ahead.
Interview, hire and train servers, hosts, bussers and food runners with the GM.
Lead the Floor Managers: set their shifts, read their shift logs, and follow up on comps, voids and cash variances from their nights.
Keep the front-of-house training plan current: menu and allergen tests, shadow shifts, and sign-off before a new server takes a full section.
Retrain the front-of-house team when the menu, wine list or steps of service change.
Order front-of-house supplies: to-go containers, linens, glassware and paper goods, within budget.
Run the restaurant as the manager in charge when the GM is off.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Read last night's shift log and follow up on what the Floor Manager flagged: complaints, call-outs, repairs and cash variances.
Adjust the week's schedule for reservations, large parties, private events and call-outs.
Lead pre-shift on your floor shifts: specials, wine features, large parties, VIPs and allergy notes on the book.
Coach servers, hosts and runners during service, and record training sign-offs.
Close on your scheduled nights: server checkouts, tip-outs under the written house policy, drawers and the deposit.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Front-of-house labor percentage: [your target].
Front-of-house turnover: [your target].
New hires signed off by the end of training: [your target].
Schedules posted on time: [your target].
Guest review rating for service: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[2+] years as a floor manager, shift manager or AGM in a full-service restaurant.
Food protection manager certification (ServSafe Manager or equivalent), or earned within [30] days of hire.
Responsible alcohol service certification where your state requires it, and the judgment to stop service to a guest.
Has written front-of-house schedules to a labor budget, and hired and trained hourly staff.
Stays calm with upset guests and is direct with staff who miss standards.
6. Preferred Experience
Served or bartended in full-service restaurants before moving into management.
Experience with manager functions in [your POS]: comps, voids, discounts and end-of-day reports.
Has trained new servers with a written training plan and shadow shifts.
7. Physical Requirements
On your feet for a full dinner shift, moving between the floor, bar, host stand and kitchen.
Lift and carry bus tubs, glass racks or cases of wine up to [40] pounds.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Daytime office hours for schedules, hiring and ordering, plus evening, weekend and holiday floor shifts.
Close the restaurant [number] nights a week, which can run late after the last table leaves.
Some days at other locations in the group to train staff for new openings.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new assistant general manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
What sets the AGM job apart in a full-service restaurant
Most assistant managers back up the boss. In a full-service group, though, the AGM also owns the front-of-house team: who works which shift, who is ready for a full section, and who gets hired next.
The schedule is the AGM's budget
Front-of-house labor is the cost the AGM controls most. The schedule starts from forecast covers, then bends for the reservation book, large parties, private events the catering team sold, and the patio when the weather turns. One server short on a Saturday shows up in reviews. One extra on a Tuesday shows up in the labor line.
Some places set how far ahead you post
In Oregon, a retail, hospitality or food service employer with 500 or more workers worldwide has to hand out written schedules two weeks before the first day on them. Adding time, moving a shift or sending someone home early after that usually means extra pay for the worker. The count covers the whole employer, so a group can reach it when no single restaurant comes close. Check the rules in each city and state where you operate. Source: Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries: Predictive scheduling.
Training ends with a sign-off
A new server takes a full section only after passing the menu and allergen test, working shadow shifts with a trainer, and getting signed off. The AGM keeps that plan current. When the menu, wine list or steps of service change, the AGM retrains the whole floor. In a group, those changes usually come from the central office and land on every location at once.
Certificates expire on their own clocks
Food safety training comes with paperwork. In DuPage County, Illinois, every food handler who isn't a certified manager needs basic training, and that certificate lasts three years. Risk Category I and II restaurants also need a certified food protection manager, whose certificate lasts five. Category I places need at least one of those managers to have allergen training, good for three years. The AGM keeps a list of whose front-of-house card runs out when. Source: DuPage County Health Department: Food safety training.
Floor managers report to the AGM
Floor managers run most nights, and the AGM reads every shift log they write. Mornings start with the follow-up: comps, voids, cash variances, call-outs and repairs. When one floor manager's comps or labor keep standing out, the AGM is the one who coaches them, with the GM kept in the loop.
How much restaurant assistant general managers make
The closest BLS group for restaurant assistant general managers is food service managers. Food service managers who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $73,610 a year ($35.39 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s above the $69,390 median for food service managers in all industries. About 84,940 of the 238,430 food service managers in that survey work for full-service restaurants.
Typically salaried, and many groups add a smaller bonus tied to the same restaurant results as the GM's. BLS pay data for this code counts GMs along with other food service managers, so expect an AGM's offer to come in under a GM's.
Full-service restaurants
$73,610$73,610 median Middle half $60,430–$90,600 10th–90th $49,070–$109,810
All industries
$69,390$69,390 median Middle half $56,870–$86,800 10th–90th $45,960–$107,640
$25k$50k$75k$100k$125k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Full-service restaurants
$49,070
$60,430
$73,610
$90,600
$109,810
All industries
$45,960
$56,870
$69,390
$86,800
$107,640
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has written front-of-house schedules to a labor budget and stuck to it
Has hired and trained servers, hosts and bussers, not just supervised them
Teaches steps of service and checks them from the floor during a rush
Holds floor managers to their shift logs, cash counts and comp limits
Keeps an even voice with an upset guest and a direct one with staff
Teach these on the job
Your group's training plan, menu tests and sign-off forms
Your scheduling app and how it builds a labor forecast
Manager screens in your POS for comps, voids and reports
Youth work-hour and scheduling rules where you operate
Par levels and vendors for linens, glassware and to-go supplies
An AGM's office hours go to the scheduling app (7shifts, HotSchedules or similar), the POS manager screens, the reservation book and a training tracker, often a shared drive or a learning app. In the interview, ask to see a schedule the candidate built and the forecast behind it.
Restaurant assistant general manager interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Set targets from this restaurant's past results. Review them monthly, AGM and GM together, since the AGM's schedule has to fit the GM's budget.
Front-of-house labor percentage
Hourly pay for servers, hosts, bussers and runners against net sales, by week, from the scheduling app and POS. Check it against the cover forecast behind that week's schedule, not just the budget.
Front-of-house turnover
How many front-of-house employees left over the last year, compared with how many you employ on a normal week. Track early quits, in the first few months, as a separate number; those point at hiring and training.
New hires signed off by the end of training
Of the servers, hosts, bussers and runners who started training, how many were signed off on schedule. Log sign-off dates in your tracker and note why the rest weren't ready.
Schedules posted on time
Check each week whether the schedule went out by your posting day. Count late posts and changes made after posting, since both cost goodwill and, in some places, extra pay.
Guest review rating for service
Star ratings and comments that mention servers, wait times or hospitality, pulled from review sites and guest surveys sent after a visit. Track them by month and by lunch or dinner.
Career path
Floor managerRuns shifts, closes the restaurant and writes the shift log.
Assistant general managerOwns the front-of-house schedule, hiring and training.
General managerTakes over a restaurant's P&L, sometimes at a new location.
What does a restaurant AGM do that a floor manager doesn't?
A floor manager runs a shift: the door, the floor, comps, cut-offs and the close. An AGM runs the front of the house across the whole week: the schedule, hiring, training plans and supplies, with the floor managers reporting in. The AGM still works floor shifts, but is judged on the team and the labor line, not on one night.
How much does a restaurant assistant general manager make?
Food service managers who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $73,610 a year ($35.39 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $60,430 and $90,600 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Is a restaurant assistant general manager exempt from overtime?
It depends on the duties, not the title. Under federal rules, an assistant manager can serve guests and supervise at the same time and stay exempt if management is the primary duty. If most of the shift goes to running food or serving with little say over staff, the job may not qualify. A salary alone doesn't make it exempt, so judge the job by what the AGM does on a normal week, and check your state's rules as well.
When is an AGM ready to run their own restaurant?
Look for three things. They have run the restaurant on the GM's days off without problems piling up for Monday. They can explain last month's P&L, not just the labor line. And they have hired and coached a floor manager who now runs good shifts. Kitchen knowledge helps too, so have strong AGMs spend time with the Executive Chef on ordering and food cost.
Should a restaurant have two AGMs?
Usually not in a group set up like this one. Here the Bar Manager owns the bar and the Executive Chef owns the kitchen, so one AGM can carry the front of the house. A very busy location, or one with a large private dining business, may need a second manager on nights. Add a floor manager before a second AGM; you get coverage without splitting ownership of the schedule.
