Restaurant managers are one of the least happy careers in the United States.
At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, restaurant managers rate their career happiness 2.7 out of 5 stars which puts them in the bottom 12% of careers.
To put this into perspective, we compared how happy restaurant managers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:
Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers
| Career | Satisfaction | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Fundraising manager | 2.8 | $115k |
| Sales manager | 2.8 | $127k |
| Mail superintendent | 2.7 | $80k |
| Compensation and benefits manager | 2.7 | $128k |
| Restaurant manager | 2.7 | $59k |
| Account manager | 2.7 | $47k |
| Retail manager | 2.6 | $39k |
| Restaurant cook | 2.5 | $30k |
| Maitre d' | 2.5 | $25k |
So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:
- Salary: Are restaurant managers happy with their salary?
- Meaning: Do restaurant managers find their jobs meaningful?
- Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as restaurant managers?
- Work environment: How enjoyable are restaurant manager’s work environments?
- Skills utilization: Are restaurant managers making the best use of their abilities?
Are restaurant managers happy with their salary?
Restaurant managers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 2.6/5. Restaurant managers tend to be quite unhappy with their salary, with very few reporting satisfaction with their pay.
We asked restaurant managers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:
2.6 out of 5 stars
4154 restaurant managers
7% of restaurant managers rated their compensation 5 stars
17% of restaurant managers rated their compensation 4 stars
26% of restaurant managers rated their compensation 3 stars
28% of restaurant managers rated their compensation 2 stars
23% of restaurant managers rated their compensation 1 stars
Do restaurant managers find their jobs meaningful?
On average, restaurant managers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.3/5. The majority of restaurant managers struggle to find any sort of meaning in their work, likely resulting in less satisfaction with the career overall.
We asked restaurant managers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:
2.3 out of 5 stars
4155 restaurant managers
6% of restaurant managers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars
10% of restaurant managers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars
22% of restaurant managers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars
29% of restaurant managers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars
32% of restaurant managers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars
How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as restaurant managers?
Restaurant managers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 4.0/5. The majority of restaurant managers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.
We asked restaurant managers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4456 restaurant managers
37% of restaurant managers rated their career fit 5 stars
37% of restaurant managers rated their career fit 4 stars
17% of restaurant managers rated their career fit 3 stars
6% of restaurant managers rated their career fit 2 stars
4% of restaurant managers rated their career fit 1 stars
How enjoyable is a restaurant manager’s work environment?
As a whole, restaurant managers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.3/5. Most of them tend to enjoy, or at least not be actively bothered by, their work environment.
We asked restaurant managers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:
3.3 out of 5 stars
4443 restaurant managers
18% of restaurant managers rated their work environment 5 stars
29% of restaurant managers rated their work environment 4 stars
27% of restaurant managers rated their work environment 3 stars
18% of restaurant managers rated their work environment 2 stars
9% of restaurant managers rated their work environment 1 stars
Are restaurant managers making the best use of their abilities?
Former restaurant managers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 2.8/5. Restaurant managers tend to feel that they don’t manage to use their abilities to their fullest, when compared to other careers.
We asked restaurant managers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:
2.8 out of 5 stars
4462 restaurant managers
11% of restaurant managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars
18% of restaurant managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars
26% of restaurant managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars
27% of restaurant managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars
18% of restaurant managers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars