Assistant Manager meaning in hospitality

Hospitality glossary term

An Assistant Manager is a key leadership role that supports the General Manager in running the day to day. They manage staff, customer satisfaction and quality across all departments. Assistant Managers are the bridge between front line staff and upper management, translating high level strategy into action.

The Assistant Manager role is important in hospitality because it provides a layer of hands on leadership that keeps everything running smoothly. They're the go to person for solving immediate problems, managing rosters, and training new staff. Their presence allows the General Manager to focus on the big picture while the day to day operations meet the standards of the business. 

Making sure that an Assistant Manager focusses on the correct tasks and has the correct skills to do that is key to their success. Here's some useful links:

Imagine you're an Assistant Manager in a busy restaurant. It's Friday night and one of your servers has phoned in sick. You quickly assess the situation, re-allocate tables to the staff you have and step in to help with service during the peak. Later a customer complains about a dish. You listen, apologise and offer to replace the meal for free. After the rush you brief the head chef about the complaint and discuss how to prevent it happening again. Throughout the night you've shown the many hats of an Assistant Manager - problem solving, staff management, customer service and operational improvement all in one shift.'