How to Use the Restaurant Duty Manager Onboarding Template

Why structured restaurant duty manager onboarding matters

The duty manager is the person who keeps the restaurant running when the general manager isn't there. They make real-time decisions about service, staff, guests, and money — often under pressure and without a safety net. Yet many restaurants promote from within or hire externally and then expect the new duty manager to figure things out by watching.

That approach creates problems fast. A duty manager who doesn't understand your financial controls loses money. One who can't handle a guest complaint loses customers. One who doesn't know how to lead a team during a difficult service loses staff. The cost of getting this wrong shows up in every part of the business — from poor online reviews to rising labour turnover.

This template breaks the first week into five focused days, moving from operational orientation through to independent crisis management. Each day builds on the last, and the assessment questions and success indicators give you a clear picture of whether your new duty manager is ready to take the reins. By the end of Day 5, you'll know exactly where they stand and what support they still need.

Day 1: Operational Overview and Team Introduction

The first day is about giving your new duty manager a complete picture of the operation they'll be running. Before they can lead, they need to understand the building, the systems, the people, and the fundamentals of how your restaurant works.

Restaurant Systems and Layout Orientation

Why this matters: A duty manager who doesn't know the layout makes slow decisions. They need to know where everything is — from the walk-in fridge to the fire exits — so they can respond quickly when something goes wrong and direct staff without hesitation.

How to deliver this training:

• Walk the entire building during a quiet period, explaining the flow from guest arrival through to kitchen operations and back to the dining room
• Spend proper time on the POS system — don't just show them the basics. Cover end-of-day reports, void procedures, and how to troubleshoot common issues
• Run through opening and closing checklists together, explaining the reasoning behind each step rather than just handing over the paperwork
• Have them shadow a full opening and closing procedure on their first day so they see the theory in action

Customisation tips:

• Multi-floor restaurants should map out the communication challenges between levels and explain how to manage a split operation
• If your restaurant has a separate bar area with its own service style, treat it as a distinct zone during the walkthrough

Team Integration and Role Clarification

Why this matters: A duty manager's authority comes from relationships, not just a title. The team needs to see them as someone who understands the operation and cares about the people in it. Getting introductions right on Day 1 sets the tone for everything that follows.

How to deliver this training:

• Schedule proper one-to-one introductions with department heads rather than a quick group hello — give each conversation 15-20 minutes
• Have them shadow a current manager during a pre-service briefing to see how team communication works in practice
• Walk through staff policies together, but focus on the duty manager's role in enforcing them — not just what the policies say
• Set up all communication platform access before they arrive so they can start absorbing team dynamics from day one

Customisation tips:

• If your restaurant has high staff turnover, focus on building quick rapport techniques rather than deep relationship building
• In operations where the duty manager covers multiple outlets, prioritise introductions at the primary location and schedule others for the following week

Basic Management Principles

Why this matters: Even experienced hospitality professionals need to understand how your specific restaurant operates. The flow between kitchen and front-of-house, the warning signs that service is about to go wrong, and the rhythm of your table management are all unique to your operation.

How to deliver this training:

• Use real examples from recent services — show them reservation books from busy nights and walk through how tables were managed
• Sit together during a service and point out the early warning signs: a table waiting too long for drinks, a server looking overwhelmed, the kitchen pass backing up
• Walk through your reservation system and show how strategic table allocation prevents problems before they start
• Discuss how to read the room — the difference between a relaxed Monday night and a packed Saturday, and how management approach changes between them

Customisation tips:

• Fine dining operations should emphasise timing and pacing, while casual restaurants should focus on volume management and quick decision-making
• If your restaurant takes walk-ins as well as reservations, spend extra time on how to balance the two during busy periods

Assessment Questions

Use these questions to check understanding at the end of Day 1. Have a quick conversation with your new starter — this isn't a formal exam, but a chance to identify gaps and reinforce key learning.

How to use these questions effectively:

• Ask in a relaxed setting, ideally over a coffee at the end of the shift
• Look for practical understanding — "walk me through the closing procedure" is better than "what's on the closing checklist?"
• Note areas where additional support is needed and plan to revisit them on Day 2

Success Indicators

By the end of Day 1, your new duty manager should be demonstrating these behaviours. If any are missing, revisit the relevant training section before moving to Day 2.

Day 1 Notes

Record observations about how Day 1 went — what the new starter picked up quickly, areas needing extra support, and any adjustments to the remaining training days.

Day 2: Service Standards and Guest Experience

Day 2 shifts focus from understanding the operation to mastering the guest-facing side of the duty manager role. Service standards, complaint handling, and the ability to lead a pre-service briefing are the skills that separate a good duty manager from someone who's just holding the fort.

Service Standards and Protocols

Why this matters: The duty manager sets the standard for service on every shift they run. If they don't know your service standards inside out, the team has no benchmark to work against, and quality drifts.

How to deliver this training:

• Work through your service manual together, but focus on the non-negotiable standards versus the areas where staff have flexibility
• Walk the guest journey from arrival to departure, pointing out the critical moments where service quality is most visible
• Practise table management decisions together — show how optimal allocation prevents server overload and kitchen bottlenecks
• Set up a routine for quality control walkthroughs that the duty manager can run during every service

Customisation tips:

• Fine dining restaurants should spend more time on formal service language, timing between courses, and tableside service
• High-volume casual restaurants should prioritise efficient table turns and queue management over detailed service choreography

Guest Experience Management

Why this matters: Guest complaints and special occasions both land on the duty manager's desk. Handling them well builds loyalty and reputation. Handling them badly creates negative reviews and lost revenue.

How to deliver this training:

• Role-play complaint scenarios of increasing difficulty — start with a simple delay and work up to an angry guest demanding a refund
• Walk through your compensation guidelines clearly: what the duty manager can offer without approval, and when they need to escalate
• Practise VIP recognition protocols using real examples from your guest database
• Demonstrate special occasion procedures hands-on, including how to coordinate with the kitchen on timing

Customisation tips:

• Restaurants with a strong regular guest base should focus heavily on recognition and personalised service
• If your operation uses online review platforms actively, include training on how duty managers should respond to reviews (or when to flag them to a senior manager)

Pre-Service and Shift Briefings

Why this matters: The pre-service briefing is the duty manager's most important leadership moment of the shift. A good briefing gets the team focused, informed, and energised. A poor one — or no briefing at all — means staff go into service unprepared.

How to deliver this training:

• Have them observe two or three pre-service briefings delivered by experienced managers before they try their own
• Provide a simple briefing structure: covers, specials, 86'd items, VIPs, any service challenges, and one motivational point
• Let them deliver a practice briefing to you before doing one with the team — give honest feedback on pace, clarity, and energy
• Discuss how to adapt briefings for different situations: a quiet Tuesday versus a fully booked Saturday

Customisation tips:

• Operations with split shifts may need separate briefing protocols for lunch and dinner teams
• If your restaurant has a kitchen pass, coordinate with the head chef on joint briefings versus separate front-of-house and back-of-house sessions

Assessment Questions

Check these at the end of Day 2. By now your duty manager should be able to articulate your service standards and demonstrate basic complaint handling without prompting.

How to use these questions effectively:

• Ask the duty manager to walk you through a complaint resolution scenario step by step
• Have them deliver a mock pre-service briefing and give specific feedback
• Note any areas of hesitation for follow-up during Day 3

Success Indicators

By the end of Day 2, your duty manager should be showing confidence in guest-facing situations. If they're still uncomfortable handling complaints or leading briefings, schedule extra practice before moving to Day 3.

Day 2 Notes

Record how your duty manager handled the service and guest experience training — confidence level, natural communication style, and any recurring issues with approach.

Day 3: Staff Management and Scheduling

Day 3 moves into the people management responsibilities that often define a duty manager's effectiveness. Leading a team, managing schedules, and resolving conflicts are skills that take time to develop, but the foundations need to be laid early.

Team Leadership and Performance Management

Why this matters: A duty manager who can coach and motivate staff during a shift gets better performance from the team. One who avoids difficult conversations lets standards slip and loses the respect of good performers.

How to deliver this training:

• Walk through performance expectations for each front-of-house role so the duty manager knows what "good" looks like at every position
• Practise coaching conversations: start with a positive observation, then a constructive one. Role-play giving feedback to a server who's rushing tables and a host who isn't greeting guests warmly enough
• Review your progressive discipline procedures step by step, including the documentation required at each stage
• Discuss recognition — how to spot good work and call it out in a way that motivates the team

Customisation tips:

• If your restaurant has a formal performance review system, walk through the paperwork and timelines
• Smaller operations where the duty manager works closely alongside the team should focus on peer-style coaching rather than top-down management

Staff Scheduling and Labour Management

Why this matters: Scheduling is where operational skill meets financial discipline. A duty manager who builds good schedules saves money on labour while keeping service quality high. One who over-staffs burns through the budget, and one who under-staffs burns out the team.

How to deliver this training:

• Walk through your scheduling software hands-on — have them build a schedule from scratch for a typical week
• Explain your labour targets as a percentage of revenue and show how to forecast based on expected covers
• Discuss the balancing act: putting your strongest team on the busiest nights while still developing newer staff
• Review your procedures for handling call-outs, swaps, and last-minute availability changes

Customisation tips:

• Seasonal operations should explain how scheduling changes through high and low periods
• If your restaurant uses a labour management tool that integrates with POS data, show how to use sales forecasts to guide staffing decisions

Staff Conflict Resolution

Why this matters: Conflict between team members is inevitable in a high-pressure restaurant environment. A duty manager who can spot problems early and address them calmly prevents small issues from becoming team-wide problems.

How to deliver this training:

• Walk through the most common conflict scenarios: personality clashes, section disputes, perceived unfairness in scheduling or side work
• Practise mediation techniques — how to hear both sides, find common ground, and agree actions
• Discuss the line between informal resolution and formal HR involvement, and when to escalate
• Emphasise documentation: even informal conversations about behaviour should be noted

Customisation tips:

• In teams with a mix of experienced staff and new starters, focus on how to manage the dynamic where long-serving employees resist direction from a new duty manager
• Larger teams may need more structured conflict resolution protocols, while smaller teams may benefit from informal check-ins

Assessment Questions

Day 3 covers the most complex interpersonal skills. Use these questions to check that your duty manager is developing confidence in people management.

How to use these questions effectively:

• Have the duty manager build a sample schedule and talk through their reasoning
• Present a simulated staff conflict and observe how they approach resolution
• Check that they understand the documentation requirements for performance management

Success Indicators

By end of Day 3, your duty manager should be showing willingness to have difficult conversations and making sensible scheduling decisions. If they're avoiding people management scenarios, address this directly before Day 4.

Day 3 Notes

Note which leadership skills came naturally and which need more development. Pay particular attention to their comfort level with direct feedback and conflict situations.

Day 4: Financial Management and Compliance

Day 4 covers the responsibilities that protect the business from financial loss and legal trouble. Cash handling, inventory management, and compliance knowledge are non-negotiable skills for any duty manager.

Cash and Financial Management

Why this matters: The duty manager is responsible for significant amounts of money on every shift. Poor cash handling procedures create opportunities for theft, errors, and discrepancies that are difficult to trace after the fact.

How to deliver this training:

• Walk through the full end-of-day cash procedure from start to finish, then have the duty manager do it independently while you observe
• Explain your float preparation process and the importance of consistent starting amounts
• Show them how to read daily sales reports and what patterns to look for — unusually high voids, unexpected comp levels, or till discrepancies
• Discuss cost control measures they can influence directly: portion monitoring, waste awareness, and ordering discipline

Customisation tips:

• Operations that are heavily cash-based need more detailed till management training
• If your restaurant processes a high volume of card transactions, spend extra time on chargebacks, refund procedures, and PCI compliance

Inventory and Ordering Systems

Why this matters: Running out of a key ingredient during service is embarrassing and costly. Over-ordering ties up cash and increases waste. A duty manager who understands inventory keeps the kitchen running and the balance sheet healthy.

How to deliver this training:

• Do a physical inventory count together, explaining par levels for key items and how they're calculated
• Walk through the ordering process from identifying need through to receiving delivery and checking quality
• Show how to use your waste tracking system and discuss the most common sources of waste in your operation
• Explain seasonal adjustments — how par levels and ordering frequency change with business volume

Customisation tips:

• Restaurants with extensive wine or spirits programmes should allocate extra time to beverage inventory management
• If your operation shares suppliers with other sites, explain the group ordering process and any volume agreements

Regulatory Compliance and Safety

Why this matters: The duty manager is responsible for compliance on every shift they run. A health and safety incident or licensing breach that happens on their watch falls on them. They need to know the rules and how to apply them.

How to deliver this training:

• Walk through your health and safety documentation, focusing on the areas that affect daily operations: fire safety, food safety, and accident reporting
• Explain food safety procedures and temperature monitoring requirements — show the logbooks and where records are kept
• Review alcohol licensing conditions specific to your premises, including permitted hours, challenge 25, and the duty of care around intoxicated guests
• Run through the fire safety protocol physically: where the extinguishers are, how to use them, evacuation routes, and assembly points

Customisation tips:

• If your premises licence has specific conditions (live music cut-off times, outdoor seating restrictions), make these a priority
• Operations that serve food past midnight should focus on late-night licensing compliance and door security procedures

Assessment Questions

Day 4 covers specialist financial and compliance knowledge. Use these questions to check that your duty manager understands both the procedures and the reasoning behind them.

How to use these questions effectively:

• Have the duty manager complete an end-of-day reconciliation independently and review their work
• Ask scenario-based compliance questions: "A delivery arrives and the fridge temperature is above 5 degrees — what do you do?"
• Check that they can locate all relevant documentation and know the recording requirements

Success Indicators

By end of Day 4, your duty manager should be handling financial procedures confidently and showing awareness of compliance requirements in their daily actions.

Day 4 Notes

Record how your duty manager handled the financial and compliance training. Note whether they're connecting the dots between procedures and business protection.

Day 5: Crisis Management and Leadership Development

The final day prepares your duty manager for the situations that no training manual can fully predict. Emergencies, complex problems, and the need for independent decision-making define the moments when a duty manager earns their title.

Emergency and Crisis Management

Why this matters: When an emergency happens — a fire alarm, a medical incident, a power cut — the duty manager is the person everyone looks to. Hesitation or confusion in those moments puts people at risk.

How to deliver this training:

• Walk through each emergency procedure physically: fire evacuation, medical emergency response, and security threats
• Run a tabletop exercise for a power outage scenario — how to manage guests, process payments manually, and decide whether to close
• Demonstrate your incident documentation requirements and show where report forms are kept
• Discuss the communication chain: who to call, in what order, and what information to provide

Customisation tips:

• City centre restaurants should include procedures for handling protests, road closures, or major events that affect access
• If your restaurant has outdoor seating, add weather emergency protocols to the training

Complex Problem Solving

Why this matters: Not every problem has a clear answer. A duty manager who can think through complex situations, weigh options, and make a defensible decision is worth far more than one who freezes or always escalates.

How to deliver this training:

• Present three or four realistic scenarios that don't have a single right answer — for example, a fully booked Saturday where two servers call in sick
• Walk through a decision framework: identify the problem, consider the options, weigh the consequences, act, and review
• Discuss the boundaries of independent decision-making: what the duty manager can decide alone, and what needs a call to the general manager
• Practise stakeholder communication — how to explain a difficult decision to a guest, a team member, or an owner

Customisation tips:

• Independent restaurants should focus on scenarios where the duty manager is the most senior person on site with no one to call
• Chain or group operations should clarify the escalation path to area managers and head office support

Professional Development Planning

Why this matters: The best duty managers don't stop learning after their first week. Setting development goals early creates momentum and shows your new hire that you're invested in their growth, not just their output.

How to deliver this training:

• Have an honest conversation about their strengths and the areas where they felt less confident during the training week
• Set three to five specific development goals for the next 90 days — these should be measurable and relevant to their daily work
• Agree a schedule for regular feedback sessions: weekly for the first month, then fortnightly
• Discuss the longer-term career path: what the next step looks like and what skills they'd need to get there

Customisation tips:

• If your organisation has a formal management development programme, introduce it here and explain the entry requirements
• Smaller operations can focus on cross-functional skills — helping the duty manager develop knowledge in areas like marketing, supplier management, or menu development

Assessment Questions

These final assessment questions check whether your duty manager is ready for independent shifts. Focus on decision-making quality and self-awareness rather than technical recall — you've already covered that.

How to use these questions effectively:

• Present a complex scenario and ask them to talk through their decision-making process out loud
• Look for evidence of structured thinking rather than gut reactions
• Be honest about areas that still need development and agree a plan for continued support

Success Indicators

These are the markers of a duty manager who's ready to run shifts independently. If all four are present, your onboarding has been successful. If any are missing, extend supported working before stepping back completely.

Day 5 Notes

Record your final assessment of the onboarding period. Note strengths, development areas, and any agreed next steps for continued training.

Making the most of this template

Five days is a guideline, not a rigid rule. If your new duty manager is transitioning from a different management style or a different type of operation, they may need longer on certain sections. Spreading the programme across more shifts gives complex topics the attention they deserve.

Use the notes sections at the end of each day to build a record of your duty manager's development. These notes are valuable for performance reviews, identifying patterns across multiple new managers, and demonstrating that you've provided proper training if issues arise later.

The assessment questions and success indicators create accountability for both trainer and trainee. If a duty manager isn't meeting the success indicators by the end of each day, that's useful information — it might mean the training pace needs adjusting, additional shadowing time is needed, or that the role isn't the right fit.

Consider pairing your new duty manager with an experienced one for their first few solo shifts. Having someone available by phone who knows your operation gives them a safety net while they build confidence, and it's far cheaper than the damage an unsupported manager can cause during a busy service.