Top 12 Restaurant Supervisor Skills to Put on Your Resume

Crafting a standout resume as a restaurant supervisor means showing a tight blend of leadership, operations savvy, and people skills. Put your strongest abilities front and center so hiring managers can picture you running a smooth, profitable floor with guests leaving happy and staff proud to be on shift.

Restaurant Supervisor Skills

1. Leadership
2. Scheduling
3. Inventory Management
4. POS Systems
5. Customer Service
6. Conflict Resolution
7. Team Building
8. Food Safety
9. Financial Reporting
10. OpenTable
11. Staff Training
12. Time Management

1. Leadership

Leadership, for a Restaurant Supervisor, means guiding and energizing the team to hit service, quality, and revenue goals while keeping morale strong and guests delighted.

Why It's Important

It anchors culture, steadies operations when the rush hits, and sets standards that ripple into better service, fewer errors, and stronger results.

How to Improve Leadership Skills

Focus on behaviors your team can feel and follow:

1. Communicate with clarity: Share expectations, priorities, and changes early. Ask questions. Close the loop.

2. Model the standard: Jump in on the floor, handle tough tables, show composure under pressure.

3. Build trust: Be fair with shifts, feedback, and recognition. Keep promises.

4. Coach often: Quick, specific feedback during service beats annual reviews. Praise in public. Correct in private.

5. Keep learning: Study industry trends, costs, and service techniques. Share what you learn with the team.

Do this consistently and the room starts to hum.

How to Display Leadership Skills on Your Resume

2. Scheduling

Scheduling means building and managing shifts that match demand, respect labor rules, and fit employee availability—without blowing the budget.

Why It's Important

Right seats, right people, right time. Good schedules cut overtime, reduce call-outs, and raise service quality.

How to Improve Scheduling Skills

1. Use reliable scheduling tools: Centralize shift swaps, time-off requests, and alerts.

2. Forecast with data: Base coverage on sales, reservations, events, weather, and seasonality.

3. Respect availability: Capture preferences. Honor them when possible to boost retention.

4. Cross-train: Build flexible coverage for call-outs and spikes.

5. Set clear rules: Define swap, cutoff, and notice policies. Enforce consistently.

6. Review and refine: Compare plan vs. actual each week and adjust staffing templates.

How to Display Scheduling Skills on Your Resume

3. Inventory Management

Inventory management covers ordering, receiving, storing, and using product so you hit cost targets, control waste, and keep the menu ready to go.

Why It's Important

It protects margins, prevents 86’s, and keeps quality consistent—critical for guest trust and profitability.

How to Improve Inventory Management Skills

1. Adopt a tracking system: Use a POS or inventory platform with real-time counts and recipe-level costing.

2. Count regularly: Weekly (or more) cycle counts reveal shrink, waste, and ordering issues fast.

3. Train the team: Standardize receiving, labeling, and storage. Consistency kills waste.

4. Dial in par levels: Set pars from sales data and lead times. Update for seasons and events.

5. Strengthen supplier ties: Confirm specs, delivery windows, and backup options.

6. Track waste: Log trims, spoilage, and mistakes. Fix root causes, not just symptoms.

7. Use FIFO: First in, first out. Date everything. Audit often.

8. Consider tools: MarketMan, Lightspeed, Toast, or your POS’s inventory module can streamline counts and costing.

How to Display Inventory Management Skills on Your Resume

4. POS Systems

POS systems handle orders, payments, inventory ties, and reporting—your operational heartbeat on a busy shift.

Why It's Important

They reduce errors, speed service, surface insights, and keep the cash drawer honest.

How to Improve POS Systems Skills

1. Integrate: Connect POS with inventory, accounting, payroll, and loyalty for clean data flow.

2. Keep it simple: Use an intuitive layout, smart modifiers, and clear menu buttons to cut taps and mistakes.

3. Go mobile: Tableside ordering and payments shrink ticket times and waits.

4. Leverage reports: Use product mix, hour-by-hour sales, void/comp, and labor-to-sales ratios to tune menus and staffing.

5. Protect data: Enforce permissions, two-factor logins, and PCI-compliant practices.

6. Train relentlessly: Short, focused refreshers when menus change. Cheat sheets help.

7. Choose proven vendors: Toast, Square, Lightspeed, Revel, NCR, Verifone—pick what fits your operation and budget.

How to Display POS Systems Skills on Your Resume

5. Customer Service

Customer service is orchestrating a smooth, warm experience—anticipating needs, resolving issues fast, and making guests feel seen.

Why It's Important

It fuels repeat visits, stronger reviews, and resilient revenue even in slower seasons.

How to Improve Customer Service Skills

1. Train the basics: Greeting, eye contact, product knowledge, pacing, table checks. Refresh often.

2. Empower fixes: Give staff guidelines and a small comp budget to resolve issues on the spot.

3. Collect feedback: Comment cards, post-shift debriefs, and review monitoring. Act on patterns.

4. Personalize: Note regulars, preferences, allergies, and occasions. Share with the team pre-shift.

5. Respond fast: Tackle complaints immediately. Own the problem. Offer a clear remedy.

6. Standardize service steps: Define timing for greet, drinks, courses, and payment. Measure and coach.

How to Display Customer Service Skills on Your Resume

6. Conflict Resolution

Conflict resolution is calming friction—between staff, or staff and guests—so service keeps flowing and relationships don’t fray.

Why It's Important

It protects culture and guest experience, and it stops small sparks from becoming shift-long fires.

How to Improve Conflict Resolution Skills

1. Listen first: Let each person speak without interruption. Summarize back to confirm you heard correctly.

2. Stay neutral: Focus on behaviors and outcomes, not personalities.

3. Clarify the goal: What does “good” look like right now—smooth service, safety, guest recovery?

4. Co-create options: Offer choices, ask for input, settle on actions everyone can live with.

5. Follow up: Check in after service. Reinforce expectations and note improvements.

6. Practice under pressure: Role-play tough scenarios during pre-shift. Short, realistic, frequent.

How to Display Conflict Resolution Skills on Your Resume

7. Team Building

Team building means creating rhythm and trust so staff communicate clearly, cover for each other, and deliver as one.

Why It's Important

Teams that click move faster, make fewer mistakes, and turn stress into momentum.

How to Improve Team Building Skills

1. Open the channels: Pre-shifts with goals, section notes, 86’d items, and shout-outs. Post-shift wins and learns.

2. Run joint drills: Host-bartender-runner-server scenarios to smooth handoffs and timing.

3. Resolve friction quickly: Address it that day. Align on standards and reset.

4. Recognize effort: Small, frequent recognition—prime sections, preferred shifts, public praise.

5. Grow people: Offer skills ladders and cross-training paths. Pair new hires with mentors.

6. Mix in fun: Short team challenges, tastings, or friendly comps to build camaraderie.

How to Display Team Building Skills on Your Resume

8. Food Safety

Food safety means preventing contamination and illness through strict handling, storage, and sanitation—from delivery to plate.

Why It's Important

It safeguards guests, meets legal requirements, and protects your brand.

How to Improve Food Safety Skills

1. Train and retrain: Hygiene, glove use, allergen awareness, and cleaning protocols for every role.

2. Use HACCP principles: Identify hazards, set critical limits, monitor, and document.

3. Inspect routinely: Walk the line and storage daily with checklists. Fix issues immediately.

4. Control temps: Calibrate thermometers, log hot and cold holding, and audit cooking temps.

5. Sanitize right: Verify concentrations, contact times, and label-dating. Replace worn tools.

6. Encourage reporting: Make it safe to flag risks or near-misses. Act fast.

How to Display Food Safety Skills on Your Resume

9. Financial Reporting

Financial reporting is tracking sales, costs, cash flow, and profitability so decisions are grounded in numbers, not guesses.

Why It's Important

It reveals where money is made or lost, flags trends early, and supports compliance and planning.

How to Improve Financial Reporting Skills

1. Tighten POS-to-books: Integrate POS with accounting to reduce manual entry and errors.

2. Automate routine tasks: Invoicing, bill pay, payroll, and bank feeds—less keystrokes, more accuracy.

3. Standardize categories: Use consistent chart-of-accounts and coding for clean period comparisons.

4. Close on a schedule: Weekly prime cost snapshots; monthly P&L and cash flow review.

5. Use the right tools: QuickBooks Online, Xero, or your POS back office for dashboards and exports.

6. Train key staff: Teach managers to read product mix, labor %, and COGS so they can act.

How to Display Financial Reporting Skills on Your Resume

10. OpenTable

OpenTable is a reservation and guest management platform that helps balance book flow, manage capacity, and track guest preferences.

Why It's Important

Smarter seating, clearer wait lists, and cleaner data turn tables faster and improve experiences.

How to Improve OpenTable Skills

1. Polish your profile: Accurate hours, menus, photos, and policies reduce no-shows and confusion.

2. Use guest notes: Capture preferences, allergies, occasions, and seating likes for personalized touches.

3. Train the host stand: Consistent quoting, pacing, and table assignment logic keep the room balanced.

4. Monitor reviews: Respond professionally, log themes, and fix root causes.

5. Study analytics: Identify peak times, lead times, and party-size trends to adjust staffing and floor plans.

6. Promote online booking: Make reservations easy across your site and social channels.

How to Display OpenTable Skills on Your Resume

11. Staff Training

Staff training equips team members with the skills, standards, and confidence to execute consistently, even when the volume spikes.

Why It's Important

Better training slashes errors, speeds service, and raises guest satisfaction—day after day.

How to Improve Staff Training Skills

1. Assess gaps: Mystery shop your own service steps and technical skills to set priorities.

2. Build role-based paths: Host, server, bartender, expo, line cook—clear checklists and milestones.

3. Make it interactive: Role-play guest recovery, menu quizzes, tastings, and short drills.

4. Certify key areas: Food safety (ServSafe), alcohol service, allergens—document completions.

5. Blend formats: On-the-job shadowing, microlearning videos, and quick refreshers during pre-shift.

6. Mentor system: Pair new hires with top performers. Reward great coaches.

7. Track and iterate: Log progress, test retention, and update materials with menu or policy changes.

How to Display Staff Training Skills on Your Resume

12. Time Management

Time management is structuring tasks and people so service hits its marks—prep done, tables turned, issues handled without chaos.

Why It's Important

It cuts wasted motion, keeps labor in line, and turns peak periods into predictable wins.

How to Improve Time Management Skills

1. Set shift goals: Define targets for sales, table turns, and ticket times before doors open.

2. Prioritize ruthlessly: Tackle high-impact, time-sensitive items first. Defer or delegate the rest.

3. Delegate by strength: Assign tasks to the best-fit person, not the nearest.

4. Time block: Prep windows, side work, cut lists, and cash-out routines—put them on the board.

5. Use the tools: Scheduling apps, prep lists, expo screens, and checklists reduce mental load.

6. Train for speed and quality: Drills for tray runs, order entry, and station resets boost consistency.

How to Display Time Management Skills on Your Resume