# Food Service Managers

US SOC code 11-9051. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/11-9051

Also called: Restaurant manager, Restaurant general manager, Restaurant GM, Cafe manager, QSR manager.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **238,430** US food service managers, with median pay of **$69,390** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the highest was **246,070**, in May 2023, close to the May 2025 count. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.bu.edu/bhr/2015/08/21/from-patrons-to-chefs-a-history-of-women-in-restaurants/) of **90,000** from 1910, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for food service managers: Drive-thru voice AI and kitchen automation, 2018 to 2024.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 5.8% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=11-9051&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **39.6%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

## Food Service Managers employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1827
- Latest US employment: 238,430 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [5]
- Latest US median pay: $69,390 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [13]
- Outlook: +5.8% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [32]

### In other countries

The latest figure each country's statistics agency publishes for this job. Each uses its own occupation definition, survey basis and currency, so the numbers are not directly comparable with each other or with the US figures.

- **United Kingdom** (UK SOC 1222)
  - Employment, 2025: 46,000. Source: ONS ASHE 2025 [8]. ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14): employee jobs in SOC 1222 Restaurant and catering establishment managers and proprietors, United Kingdom, 2025 (ASHE "number of jobs", thousands x1000; excludes self-employment). Open Government Licence v3.0.
  - Median pay, 2025: £30,513. Source: ONS ASHE 2025 [17]. ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14.7a): median gross annual pay for all employee jobs in SOC 1222 Restaurant and catering establishment managers and proprietors, United Kingdom, 2025. Open Government Licence v3.0.
- **Australia** (ANZSCO 1411)
  - Employment, 2025: 61,000. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey [9]. ABS Labour Force Survey (Detailed), table EQ08: employed persons in ANZSCO 1411 Cafe and Restaurant Managers, national (summed across sex and state/territory), annual average of 4 quarterly estimates.
  - Median pay, 2025: A$85,488. Source: ABS Employee Earnings May 2025 [18]. Annualised (x52) from A$1,644 median weekly earnings. ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025: median pay for full-time non-managerial employees paid at the adult rate, before tax. Surfaced via the Jobs and Skills Australia occupation profile.

### All 28 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1910 | 90,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Estimate derived from 1910 U.S. Census… [1] |
| 1939 | 170,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Restaurant-ing Through History [2] |
| 1956 | n/a | $5,200 (estimate) | Est., University of Missouri Libraries [10] |
| 1980 | 320,000 (estimate) | $18,000 (estimate) | Est., BLS (employment) [3]; Est., BLS Monthly Labor Review (1984) (pay) [11] |
| 2000 | 282,290 | $31,720 | BLS OEWS 2000 [4] |
| 2003 | 229,960 | $37,260 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [5] |
| 2004 | 206,340 | $39,610 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [5] |
| 2005 | 191,420 | $41,340 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [5] |
| 2006 | 189,050 | $43,020 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [5] |
| 2007 | 191,460 | $44,570 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [5] |
| 2008 | 196,080 | $46,320 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [5] |
| 2009 | 190,250 | $47,210 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [5] |
| 2010 | 186,830 | $48,130 | BLS OEWS May 2010 [5] |
| 2011 | 183,940 | $48,110 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [5] |
| 2012 | 189,510 | $47,960 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [5] |
| 2013 | 191,030 | $48,080 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [5] |
| 2014 | 198,610 | $48,560 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [5] |
| 2015 | 201,370 | $48,690 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [5] |
| 2016 | 201,470 | $50,820 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [5] |
| 2017 | 208,110 | $52,030 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [5] |
| 2018 | 219,160 | $54,240 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [5] |
| 2019 | 235,470 | $55,320 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [5] |
| 2020 | 197,010 | $56,590 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [5] |
| 2021 | 210,680 | $59,440 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [5] |
| 2022 | 231,100 | $61,310 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [5] |
| 2023 | 246,070 | $63,060 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [5] |
| 2024 | 244,230 | $65,310 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [5] |
| 2025 | 238,430 | $69,390 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [5] |

## Sources (100)

### Employment series

1. [Estimate derived from 1910 U.S. Census restaurant-keeper data, via Boston University Hospitality Review, "From Patrons to Chefs: A History of Women in Restaurants"](https://www.bu.edu/bhr/2015/08/21/from-patrons-to-chefs-a-history-of-women-in-restaurants/), Boston University Hospitality Review (1910 Census-derived estimate)
2. [Restaurant-ing Through History -- "Taste of a decade: 1930s restaurants" (1929 and 1939 establishment counts, 30,000 women managers)](https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2008/11/04/taste-of-a-decade-1930s-restaurants/), Restaurant-ing Through History
3. [BLS -- Current Employment Statistics: Food Services and Drinking Places (NAICS 722), historical series context](https://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag722.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
4. [BLS OES 2000 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes00nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
5. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
6. ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 1223, United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., Office for National Statistics. Editions: [2011](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2011revisedbasedonsoc2010/2011-revised-table-14.zip), [2015](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2015/table142015revised.zip), [2020](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2020revised/table142020revised.zip)
7. [ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 1222, United Kingdom, 2022. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2022revised/ashetable142022revised.zip), Office for National Statistics
8. [ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 1222, United Kingdom, 2025. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2025provisional/ashetable142025provisional.zip), Office for National Statistics
9. [ABS: Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, table EQ08 (Employed persons by Occupation unit group, ANZSCO 2013), latest release](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia-detailed/latest-release), Australian Bureau of Statistics

### Wage series

10. [University of Missouri Libraries -- "Prices and Wages by Decade: 1950-1959" (BLS earnings data, service industry managers)](https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1950-1959), University of Missouri Libraries / BLS historical sources
11. [BLS Monthly Labor Review (1984) -- "A century of wage statistics: the BLS contribution" (historical service industry earnings context)](https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/1984/11/art3full.pdf), Bureau of Labor Statistics
12. [BLS OES 2000 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes00nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
13. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
14. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
15. ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 1223, United Kingdom. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0., Office for National Statistics. Editions: [2011](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2011revisedbasedonsoc2010/2011-revised-table-14.zip), [2015](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2015/table142015revised.zip), [2020](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2020revised/table142020revised.zip)
16. [ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 1222, United Kingdom, 2022. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2022revised/ashetable142022revised.zip), Office for National Statistics
17. [ONS: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14.7a (Annual pay - Gross), 4-digit SOC 1222, United Kingdom, 2025. Office for National Statistics, Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.](https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/occupation4digitsoc2010ashetable14/2025provisional/ashetable142025provisional.zip), Office for National Statistics
18. [Jobs and Skills Australia: Cafe and Restaurant Managers (ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025)](https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/data/occupation-and-industry-profiles/occupations/1411-cafe-and-restaurant-managers), Jobs and Skills Australia / Australian Bureau of Statistics

### Tool eras

19. [Gothamist -- "A Brief History Of Delmonico's, New York City's First Restaurant" (Lorenzo Delmonico's management practices)](https://gothamist.com/food/a-brief-history-of-delmonicos-new-york-citys-first-restaurant), Gothamist
20. [Culinary Historians of Chicago -- "The Delmonico Way" (professional standards in nineteenth-century American restaurant management)](https://culinaryhistorians.org/the-delmonico-way/), Culinary Historians of Chicago
21. [Restaurant Business Online -- "Timeline: How today's restaurant industry came to be" (chain expansion, standardization era)](https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/special-reports/timeline-how-todays-restaurant-industry-came-be), Restaurant Business Online
22. [Restaurant-ing Through History -- "Taste of a decade: 1930s restaurants" (chain operating systems, standardized recipes)](https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/2008/11/04/taste-of-a-decade-1930s-restaurants/), Restaurant-ing Through History
23. [Wikipedia -- IBM 4680 (retail/restaurant POS history, 1970s-1980s terminal systems)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_4680), Wikipedia
24. [Toast -- State of the Restaurant Industry 2025 (POS technology evolution context)](https://pos.toasttab.com/resources/state-of-the-restaurant-industry), Toast
25. [Wikipedia -- MICROS Systems (restaurant POS and management software history)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MICROS_Systems), Wikipedia
26. [7shifts -- Restaurant Labor Management Report 2025 (digital scheduling platform history, AI scheduling evolution)](https://www.7shifts.com/blog/restaurant-labor-management-report/), 7shifts
27. [SoundHound AI -- "Next-Generation AI Platform for Restaurants, Enhancing Dynamic Drive-Thru with Omnichannel Ordering" (February 2025)](https://investors.soundhound.com/news-releases/news-release-details/soundhound-ai-unveils-next-generation-ai-platform-restaurants), SoundHound AI
28. [Yum! Brands -- Byte by Yum! platform (25,000 restaurants using at least one product; AI-powered ordering, labor, and inventory management, 2025)](https://www.restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/research-reports/state-of-the-industry/), Yum! Brands / National Restaurant Association
29. [Winnow Solutions -- Case Studies: food waste reduction results from hotels, catering, and hospitality kitchens (documented reductions spanning 40-80%+ across 3,500+ deployments)](https://www.winnowsolutions.com/en/case-studies), Winnow Solutions
30. [Restaurant365 -- AI-Powered Features That Cut Restaurant Labor and Food Waste (R365 AI platform: predictive labor demand, AI scheduling, inventory forecasting, and food cost analytics)](https://www.restaurant365.com/blog/ai-powered-features-that-cut-restaurant-labor-and-food-waste/), Restaurant365
31. [MarginEdge -- Restaurant Finance Platform: automated daily P&L, OCR invoice ingestion, menu engineering analytics](https://www.marginedge.com/), MarginEdge

### Forecasts and exposure studies

32. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 11-9051 Food service managers (2025: 344.3 thousand; 2035: 364.2 thousand; +5.8%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=11-9051&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
33. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 11-9051.00, human-rated β 0.396)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

34. [Gothamist -- "A Brief History Of Delmonico's, New York City's First Restaurant"](https://gothamist.com/food/a-brief-history-of-delmonicos-new-york-citys-first-restaurant), Gothamist
35. [National Restaurant Association -- Our History (founded March 13, 1919, Kansas City; 68 founding members representing 43,000 establishments)](https://restaurant.org/about-us/who-we-are/our-history/), National Restaurant Association
36. [Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration -- History (founded 1922, world's first four-year hospitality management degree)](https://sha.cornell.edu/about/history/), Cornell University
37. [Restaurant Business Online -- "Timeline: How today's restaurant industry came to be" (McDonald's founding and QSR expansion)](https://www.restaurantbusinessonline.com/special-reports/timeline-how-todays-restaurant-industry-came-be), Restaurant Business Online
38. [Wikipedia -- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the restaurant industry in the United States (employment losses, closures, recovery timeline)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_on_the_restaurant_industry_in_the_United_States), Wikipedia
39. [Restaurant365 -- AI-Powered Features That Cut Restaurant Labor and Food Waste (R365 AI platform: predictive scheduling, inventory analytics, and food cost forecasting for restaurant operators)](https://www.restaurant365.com/blog/ai-powered-features-that-cut-restaurant-labor-and-food-waste/), Restaurant365

### Predecessors & successors

40. [Gothamist -- "A Brief History Of Delmonico's" (origin of professional restaurant management from proprietor tradition)](https://gothamist.com/food/a-brief-history-of-delmonicos-new-york-citys-first-restaurant), Gothamist
41. [O\*NET 11-9051.00 -- Food Service Managers (career pathway from culinary to management)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/11-9051.00), O\*NET / BLS
42. [National Restaurant Association -- State of the Restaurant Industry 2025 (industry has more minority and female managers than any sector; common promotion pathway from hourly FOH)](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/research-reports/state-of-the-industry/), National Restaurant Association
43. [BLS OOH -- Food Service Managers: related occupations and career advancement (general and operations managers)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/food-service-managers.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Present-day analysis

- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-24
- [O\*NET 30.3 — Food Service Managers (11-9051.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/11-9051.00), accessed 2026-05-24
- [BLS — Food Service Managers Occupational Outlook Handbook (+3% growth 2024-2034, ~37,700 openings/yr)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/food-service-managers.htm), accessed 2026-05-24
- [National Restaurant Association — State of the Restaurant Industry 2025: ~79% annual turnover, labor and food cost pressures, AI adoption trends](https://restaurant.org/research-and-media/research/research-reports/state-of-the-industry/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [7shifts — Restaurant Labor Management Report 2025: AI scheduling cuts labor cost 3-5% and reclaims 2-3 hrs/week of manager time](https://www.7shifts.com/blog/restaurant-labor-management-report/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Toast — State of the Restaurant Industry 2025: technology adoption, AI features, and operational analytics benchmarks](https://pos.toasttab.com/resources/state-of-the-restaurant-industry), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Winnow AI — Hospitality operators using Winnow saving $100 million in food waste per year: 40-70% waste reduction in full-service restaurant deployments using computer-vision waste tracking](https://blog.winnowsolutions.com/hospitality-operators-using-winnow-now-saving-100-million-in-food-waste-per-year), accessed 2026-06-21
- [MarginEdge — Restaurant Finance Platform: automated daily P&L, OCR invoice ingestion, menu engineering analytics; case studies show 2-4 margin-point food cost improvement](https://www.marginedge.com/), accessed 2026-05-24
- [Restaurant365 — R365 AI: the only intelligence engine built on the full restaurant P&L (May 2026): predictive labor, food cost, and operational analytics platform](https://www.restaurant365.com/in-the-news/restaurant365-introduces-r365-ai-the-only-intelligence-engine-built-on-the-full-restaurant-pl/), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Plate IQ — AI invoice capture, approval workflow, and food cost analytics platform for restaurants (2025)](https://ottimate.com/), accessed 2026-05-24

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.