How to hire a restaurant general manager (and multi-unit leader)

If you're hiring a restaurant general manager, start with what you actually need this person to fix or build. I know it's tempting to get the job posted and start taking calls, especially when you're covering the role yourself. But before you do that, get clear on the first year. What do they need to accomplish? What financial responsibility will they have? Who do they need to develop? Write that down, then use the interviews and references to find out whether they've done that kind of work.

And if you're hiring someone to lead several restaurants, treat that as a different job. They need to coach your GMs and recognize problems across locations. They also need to put systems in place that keep working when they're at another restaurant.

So let's walk through it, starting with the role and working through the interviews, references, and first 90 days.

Start with the job your restaurant needs

A sports bar, a fine dining room, and a hotel restaurant can all post an opening for a general manager. The title is the same. The work, the volume, and what ownership expects can be very different. A multi-unit franchise group adds another set of responsibilities.

Before the job goes up, write down:

• Your concept and service style
• Annual sales, covers, number of outlets, private dining, and bar program complexity
• Who the GM reports to and their authority over hiring, scheduling, and spending
• Why you're hiring, whether it's a new opening, replacement, turnaround, or growth
• What you expect them to accomplish in the first 90 days and 12 months

Here's where you can get into trouble. If you haven't decided what you need this person to accomplish, the person who interviews best can start to look like the best hire. Get the job clear first. Then write the post.

Build a scorecard for the first year

A list of duties tells someone what they'll be doing. You also need to tell them what doing it well looks like. That's what the scorecard is for. Keep it to first-year outcomes you can actually measure, such as:

• A prime cost, labor percentage, or food cost target
• Retention of key managers and kitchen leadership
• Guest satisfaction or review quality
• Sales growth or a successful opening by a set date
• A trained assistant GM or successor for your next unit

Use the same scorecard when you write the job description, ask questions, and compare finalists. Otherwise one interviewer is focused on service, another is focused on cost, and you're not really evaluating people for the same job.

At Whitton Recruiting (WR), we look at concept fit, operating scale, team leadership, service standards, and financial responsibilities. We also talk through compensation, schedule, and relocation. Your scorecard should bring those details into the conversation early. Our hospitality recruiting page explains more about the work we do.

Understand the difference between a GM and a multi-unit leader

A good GM can see what's happening during service, step in, and lead the team from the floor. Now put that person over several restaurants. They can't be in every dining room or kitchen when something goes wrong. They have to help other GMs run those restaurants well without them standing there.

So you're looking for someone who can:

• Develop people rather than do everything themselves
• Recognize the same problem across several restaurants
• Coach GMs to take responsibility for their own locations

Your best GM may be ready for that. But don't assume they are just because they run their own restaurant well. Ask who they've coached, what changed, and what responsibility they're ready to take on. Then make sure you have training and a clear span of control in place.

For a multi-unit candidate, ask about:

• An example of how they figured out why one location was behind three others
• GMs they've developed and where those people are now
• Their experience running excellent restaurants before leading several
• Examples of how they held standards while ownership pressed on cost, traffic, and margins

When someone says they ran a certain number of units, find out what that actually meant. Who reported to them? What could they decide on their own? What support did they have? How far apart were the restaurants? Running established locations is different work from opening new ones or taking over turnarounds.

Set a realistic compensation range

A strong operator is going to look at more than the salary. What's the bonus based on? What does the schedule look like? Do they have to move, and if they do, what does housing look like? Those things affect whether the job works for them.

You don't have to wait for a salary guide to start, but you do need an honest range. If you're below what similar operators pay for comparable volume and complexity, expect people to pass or the search to take longer. Better to work through that before you spend time interviewing.

Talk about compensation before you start introductions. It prevents a lot of interviews that won't lead to a hire. At WR, we align pay expectations before presenting candidates and document fee terms before the search begins. You can review our published options on hospitality recruiter fees.

Decide where you'll find candidates

How you find people depends on how urgent the hire is, how quiet the search needs to stay, and who you already know. Here are the options I'd work through.

Promote from within

You may already have an assistant GM who's ready. Look at the shifts they've run, how they lead the team, and whether they've shown they can handle more. Don't promote someone just because you need the opening filled. And have a plan for the assistant role, because now that needs coverage too.

Post the job

A job post can work, especially for a more junior GM role or a brand people already want to work for. Just remember that plenty of strong GMs are employed. They may not see your post because they're not looking at job boards.

Ask your network for referrals

If you know the local market, start asking people you trust. Just be aware of how small that circle may be and how quickly word can get around if the search needs to stay confidential.

Work with a hospitality recruiter

A recruiter may make sense when the role is important, hard to fill, confidential, or outside the network you already have. Understand how contingent and retained searches work before you sign anything.

WR runs contingent hospitality searches. You pay when your hire starts, with replacement protection agreed in writing first. You can read about the process on contingent search.

Ask about the work they've done

Ask every finalist the same core questions. Tie them to the scorecard so you can compare what people have actually done. I'd start here:

1. Walk me through your last P&L. What were prime cost and labor, and what did you change?
2. Tell me about a manager you developed who was later promoted.
3. What was your management team's turnover in the past year, and why did people leave?
4. Describe a night when service went wrong. What did you do that night, and what did you change the next week?
5. How do you set and enforce standards when ownership is pressing for cost cuts?
6. For a multi-unit role, tell me about a GM you coached. Where are they now, and what systems did you leave in place?

When you're down to finalists, give them a realistic restaurant case to work through. A few months of P&L against budget, a product mix with theoretical costs, a schedule, and a page of guest reviews. Include food cost, labor, and service problems. Then ask them what they see and what they'd address first.

Pay attention to how they get to the answer. Can they read the P&L and connect a sales problem with what guests are saying? Can they decide what comes first? And can they explain it in a way their team would understand? You want to hear their thinking, not just the answer they think you want.

Check the claims before you make an offer

Before you make the offer, talk to prior owners or supervisors about the work this person says they did. What financial decisions did they own? Who did they develop? How did they handle a guest problem? Then ask whether they'd hire this person again for the same job, and why.

Go back to your scorecard when you check those answers. If the candidate says they cut labor without hurting service, ask what the numbers were and how they did it. If they led several locations, ask what kept improving when they weren't there. You need to understand what they were responsible for and what actually changed.

At WR, we interview candidates, screen against your role, and align compensation before an introduction. You receive a résumé and a presentation covering fit, motivation, pay expectations, and availability. You can see sample formats on candidate presentations. Relevant certifications and references can be checked as part of the agreed search requirements.

Plan the first 90 days before you send the offer

Even a good hire can struggle when they show up and nobody has worked out what happens next. Don't wait until their first morning to make that plan.

Before they start, decide:

• Who owns onboarding and who the GM needs to meet in week one
• Which reports, recipes, vendor contacts, and key holders they need right away
• Which operating priorities come first, such as cost, staffing, guest recovery, or an opening timeline
• How often ownership will meet with them and which decisions they can make on their own
• What "on track" means at 30, 60, and 90 days

For a multi-unit hire, tell them which GMs need help first and which restaurants need the most attention. Make sure they know who they can call for support without waiting for ownership to approve every conversation.

Decide whether to run the search yourself

You may be able to handle this yourself when:

• You have a successor who's ready
• Your concept and market are well known locally
• Someone on your team has time to find, screen, and hire candidates
• Confidentiality isn't essential
• Previous job posts brought you qualified operators

I'd consider bringing in a recruiter when:

• The GM or multi-unit role is critical to margins and guest experience
• You need to reach people who aren't looking
• You're replacing a leader who's still in the role and need to keep it confidential
• Previous searches took time without producing people who fit
• You want pay expectations aligned and candidate presentations ready before interviews

You're still deciding who belongs on your team. A recruiter takes on finding people and the first screening, so your interview time goes to candidates you've already learned something useful about.

Watch for problems in candidates and recruiters

Candidate concerns

• They can't explain their own P&L with specifics
• They talk about culture but can't discuss operating numbers
• They blame every failure on the last ownership group
• They've never developed a manager who could run a shift without them
• They're applying for a multi-unit role but still want to personally solve every restaurant's problems

Recruiter concerns

• They promise speed without a thorough intake
• They won't put fees and replacement terms in writing
• They introduce candidates without aligning compensation expectations
• They stop communicating when the search gets hard
• They push you to interview people who don't meet the scorecard

WR's hospitality fee options are contingent with no upfront recruiting fee. Published options are 20% of first-year salary with a 90-day guarantee, 17% with a 60-day guarantee, or 15% with a 30-day replacement only. This is a summary. The signed fee agreement controls. See hospitality recruiter fees.

Checklist for your next GM or multi-unit hire

1. Write down the first-year outcomes before you post the job.
2. Confirm reporting lines, decision-making authority, and why the role is open.
3. Set a realistic compensation range, including bonus and schedule expectations.
4. Decide whether to promote, post, ask your network, or use a recruiter.
5. Give every interviewer the same scorecard.
6. Ask every finalist the same P&L and team-development questions.
7. Use a short case with cost and service problems for them to identify.
8. Check results with references.
9. Plan the first 90 days before the offer.
10. If you use a recruiter, document fees, replacement protection, and feedback timing.

Talk through the role you're filling

If you're trying to hire a restaurant GM or multi-unit leader, we can talk through the role in about 15 minutes. What do you need them to do? What will the compensation look like? What do you need to know before you meet someone? We'll explain how we screen and how the search works, and you'll get the terms in writing before outreach starts.

Start at hospitality recruiting, open a search on intake, or call 509-953-0100.

Ryan Whitton

Founder & CEO

Ryan Whitton is the founder and CEO of Whitton Recruiting. Ryan and his team have closed hundreds of placements, negotiated countless offers, and lived the consequences of both great hires and bad ones. Ryan built Whitton Recruiting in response to God's call on his life. Whitton recruiting is founder-managed and built on biblical values. The WR team is willing to tell the hard truth even if it costs a placement or a contract. Ryan shares insights through both writing and speaking on hiring mechanics, leadership, and the real work of building teams that last for generations.