A restaurant group CEO decides which concepts the group runs, where the next restaurant opens and how it gets paid for. They lead the COO and CFO, deal with landlords, lenders and partners, and guard the name on every restaurant the group owns.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, full-service restaurants · BLS, May 2025
The Chief Executive Officer sets the direction for our restaurant group: which concepts we run, where we open next, and how we pay for it. The CEO leads the executive team, owns the relationships with investors, lenders and landlords, and protects the reputation of every restaurant that carries our name.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Decide which concepts to grow, remodel, fix or close, based on each restaurant's P&L, sales trend and lease terms.
Choose new sites and negotiate leases, renewals and build-out allowances with the CFO and [your real estate broker].
Raise and manage capital: bank lines, equipment loans, and updates to investors or partners on [your reporting schedule].
Hire and lead the COO, CFO and Marketing Manager, and set clear yearly goals for each.
Approve the yearly budget and major spending, such as new kitchens, remodels and new concepts.
Represent the group with landlords, lenders, major vendors, the press and the local community.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Read the weekly results by restaurant: sales, prime cost, profit and guest reviews.
Meet weekly with the COO and CFO on results, cash and open problems.
Eat in the restaurants on a rotating schedule, unannounced, to see what guests see.
Work on the next site: lease drafts, construction bids, lender meetings and permits.
Review the marketing calendar and any press or social media issue that could hurt a brand.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Same-store sales growth: [your target].
Group EBITDA: [your target].
New restaurants opened on time and on budget: [your target].
Executive and General Manager retention: [your target].
Guest review rating across the group: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[10+] years in restaurant or hospitality leadership, including [5+] years over more than one location.
Has opened new restaurants and can read a restaurant P&L line by line.
Experience negotiating commercial leases, construction budgets and bank financing.
Has hired and led senior leaders in operations, finance and culinary.
Bachelor's degree in business, hospitality or a related field, or equivalent experience.
6. Preferred Experience
Experience reporting to investors, a board or outside partners.
Has turned around a losing location, or closed one and kept the team and lender relationships intact.
Familiarity with liquor license transfers and permits for new locations.
Has worked shifts in a restaurant, front or back of house.
7. Physical Requirements
Mostly office and meeting work, plus walking dining rooms, kitchens and construction sites.
Drive between restaurants and to site visits [several days a week].
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Based at the central office in [city], with regular time in each restaurant.
Some evenings, weekends and holidays, especially during openings and the busiest weeks of the year.
Travel for lender meetings, site searches and industry events: [how often].
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 chief executive officer 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
Running a restaurant group means betting on rooms, menus and neighborhoods with long leases attached. Those bets are slow to undo, and guests grade them every night.
Each restaurant is its own bet
Six to eight restaurants may mean three or four concepts, each with its own lease, menu, guests and P&L. The CEO compares them side by side: one gets a second location, one a remodel, another a new chef or a closing date. A steakhouse with a busy bar and a dead lunch is a different call from a café that loses money on rent.
The lease outlives the menu
A restaurant lease runs longer than most menus and many chefs. The build-out money goes into a space the group doesn't own. Before signing, the CEO weighs rent, the term, renewal options, the landlord's build-out allowance and any personal guarantee. A bad lease can sink a good concept.
A liquor license can decide the site
When a concept leans on its bar, the CEO checks the liquor license before signing the lease. Pennsylvania, for one, sets a general limit of one retail liquor license for every 3,000 people in a county, and most counties are already over it. A new restaurant there buys an existing license or bids on an expired one at a state auction. The state still has to approve the transfer. Source: Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board: Quota system.
Lenders and landlords judge the operator
Banks lend against the group's track record, and landlords size up the operator before the concept. Partners who put money into a new restaurant expect regular updates. When a restaurant has a bad quarter, those people should hear it from the CEO first, along with the plan to fix it.
One bad night can follow every name
A food safety scare, a viral video or a run of bad reviews at one restaurant can show up when guests search the group's other names. The CEO eats in each restaurant unannounced and reads every location's reviews each week. When a problem needs a public answer, the CEO decides fast.
How much restaurant chief executive officers make
The closest BLS group for restaurant chief executive officers is chief executives. Chief executives who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $132,640 a year ($63.77 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $213,990 median for chief executives in all industries. About 270 of the 204,350 chief executives in that survey work for full-service restaurants.
Salary, with a bonus set on group EBITDA and same-store sales. When outside partners fund a new restaurant, the CEO may also get a small stake in it.
Full-service restaurants
$132,640$132,640 median Middle half $98,270–$206,150 10th–90th $84,900–$233,400
All industries
$213,990$213,990 median Middle half $129,540–$356,200 10th–90th $75,700–$507,730
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
$84,900
$98,270
$132,640
$206,150
$233,400
All industries
$75,700
$129,540
$213,990
$356,200
$507,730
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Can go line by line through a restaurant P&L and say which lines a GM controls
Has opened restaurants and lived through one that struggled
Negotiates leases, build-out budgets and bank loans
Hires and keeps senior operators, chefs and finance leaders
Judges a concept or a site as a guest would, not only on the spreadsheet
Stays steady with lenders and partners when sales slip
Teach these on the job
Each concept's history, menu and regular guests
Your reporting package and how your investors like to get it
How liquor license transfers and health permits work in a new city
Your history with each landlord, lender and partner
The group's brand standards and voice
The CEO works from a weekly packet. It holds sales, labor and prime cost from the POS and accounting software, a P&L for each restaurant, and reviews from Google, Yelp and OpenTable. Look for someone who can pull a Toast or Restaurant365 report alone and mark up a lease draft or a contractor's bid.
Each line ends in a blank for your number. A fair start is last year's actuals for the restaurants you'll still own next year, agreed with the owners before the budget is final.
Same-store sales growth
Compare this year's sales with last year's, week for week, counting only restaurants open long enough to have a full prior year. Leave new openings out so they don't flatter the number.
Group EBITDA
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the whole group, after central office costs. Show each restaurant's own figure beside it so one strong store can't hide a weak one.
New restaurants opened on time and on budget
For each opening, compare the real opening date and total build-out cost with the date and budget the CEO approved. Count pre-opening hiring and training costs too.
Executive and General Manager retention
Count the executives and GMs still in their roles after a year, by restaurant. Note who left by choice and who was let go, and hold an exit talk with each one.
Guest review rating across the group
Pull each restaurant's rating and review count from the main sites monthly and roll them into one group score. Look for one restaurant dragging the group down, or one concept slipping everywhere.
Look at what's eating the CEO's week. If it's still shifts and empty GM jobs, the first hire is someone to run operations, a director of operations or COO. If openings, loans and investor updates are piling up, hire the CFO first. Bring on a marketing manager once the restaurants can handle the extra guests marketing brings in.
How much does a restaurant chief executive officer make?
Chief executives who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $132,640 a year ($63.77 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $98,270 and $206,150 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Should a restaurant group close a restaurant that's losing money?
Not before asking whether the problem is the concept, the operator or the lease. A good concept with a weak GM can be fixed. A concept guests have stopped choosing needs a new idea for the space. A lease with years left at a bad rent may cost less to buy out or sublet than to keep running. Check the federal WARN Act too. An employer with 100 or more full-time workers generally owes at least 60 days' notice before closing a site where 50 or more full-time workers lose their jobs. Offer your best people jobs at your other restaurants.
How should a restaurant CEO report to investors?
Keep it regular and short: sales, prime cost, profit and cash for each restaurant against budget, plus what's being done about the misses. Partners in a single restaurant want that restaurant's numbers, and owners of the group want the whole picture. Bad news sent early, with a plan, keeps more trust than a surprise at year-end.
Do restaurant groups have to post calories on their menus?
Under the FDA's menu labeling rule, calories are required at chains with 20 or more locations that do business under the same name and sell much the same menu. Franchised locations count. The count goes name by name, so a group of six to eight restaurants is far from the line. A smaller restaurant can register with the FDA to follow the federal rule, which then takes the place of any different state or local rule. A CEO who plans to grow or franchise one concept should get recipes ready for calorie labels early.
How involved should a restaurant CEO be in the food?
The CEO owns each concept's idea: what the restaurant is, its price point and its guest. Menus, recipes and plating belong to the Culinary Director and the chefs. A CEO who rewrites dishes during a visit undercuts them. A better habit is to send notes from unannounced meals through the COO.
