Kitchen Manager Job Description for a Japanese Restaurant

A kitchen manager runs the kitchen (rota, ordering, cost, compliance); a head chef owns the food. In most markets a kitchen manager is a local hire: the occupation code is separate from chef and cook, carries no chef-style visa floor, and rarely clears a sponsorship business case on its own. Use the copy-paste template below, settle authority with the head chef in a matrix before you advertise, and price the role from an official series where one exists rather than guessing.

1. Kitchen manager or head chef?

If your menu depends on one person's craft (an omakase counter, for example), hire the head chef first and give the admin to a manager. If you run a standardised menu across sites, the kitchen manager is often the more important hire. Our guide to Japanese kitchen roles maps the traditional titles to these jobs.

2. Kitchen manager job description template

Job title

Kitchen Manager, [Restaurant or group name], [City]

About us

[Name] runs [x] Japanese restaurant(s) in [city], serving [format: sushi and izakaya / ramen / set meals]. The kitchen team is [x] people across [x] shifts. Weekly food purchases are about [amount].

The role

You will run the kitchen operation so the chefs can cook. You report to [owner / general manager] and work alongside the [head chef], who owns the menu and recipes.

What you will own

• Weekly rota and labour cost for [x] kitchen staff, within a target of [x]% of sales
• Ordering and supplier relationships, including [Japanese import distributor / fish supplier]
• Stock counts, par levels and waste tracking; monthly food cost report
• Food safety system: temperature logs, cleaning schedules, allergen records, inspection readiness
• Equipment maintenance and repair contractors
• Onboarding new kitchen staff, including training records and certificates
• Covering stations during service when needed

What we are looking for

• [x] years in a kitchen, including [x] years with responsibility for rotas, ordering or cost
• Working knowledge of Japanese ingredients and prep, enough to order and store correctly
• Comfortable with spreadsheets or [your inventory / scheduling software]
• [Food safety manager certification, or willingness to obtain it within x weeks]
• [Languages: for example "English required; Japanese useful for supplier and chef communication"]

Hours

[x] hours a week, [x] days off. Mix of [daytime admin and evening service]. [Overtime or salaried arrangement.]

Pay and benefits

[Currency][range] per year, plus [bonus tied to food cost / labour cost / inspection results]. [Benefits.]

Visa

[Sponsorship position, stated plainly: usually "this role is not visa-sponsored" — see section 4.]

How to apply

Send [CV and one example of a rota, cost report or system you built, with numbers removed if needed] to [contact].

3. The authority matrix

Unclear lines between the head chef, the kitchen manager and the owner cause more friction than any single duty on the list above. Fill this in before you hire either role, and attach it to both job descriptions.

Write the actual answer into each bracket before you publish either job description; a blank cell is a fight waiting to happen. In a Japanese kitchen, the manager often also translates between a Japanese chef and local staff, formally or not. If that is part of the job, write it in and pay for it. For more on mixed teams, see cross-cultural kitchen management.

4. Can a kitchen manager be sponsored?

Almost always, plan for this to be a local hire. A kitchen manager sits under a different occupation code from a chef or cook in every market we checked, and none of those codes carries the visa salary floors or chef-specific routes this site covers elsewhere.

State the position plainly in the ad either way. A candidate weighing a move wants to know before they apply, not after an offer.

5. Food safety certification

If your kitchen manager will be the person in charge of food safety, name the certificate you expect. In the US, the Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that some states and localities require food service managers to have food safety certification, obtainable by passing an exam for a Food Protection Manager Certification. Check your state or local health department for the exact rule.

Other countries use different schemes and names. Our guide to food safety certification by country lists them. If you will pay for the course, say so in the ad; it widens the pool.

6. Pay benchmarks by market

Where an official kitchen-manager-specific series exists, use it. Where none does, price the role against your local chef benchmark rather than guessing.

A kitchen manager who also cooks a station, speaks Japanese, or manages more than one site should sit above the median wherever one exists. For multi-site roles, see hiring a kitchen manager for a Japanese chain, and for the top culinary role, the head chef job description.

7. Pre-publish checklist

• Is it clear who owns the menu and who owns the operation?
• Is the authority matrix filled in, not left with blank brackets?
• Are hiring and purchasing authority stated, with figures?
• Are two or three performance measures named, with targets?
• Is the food safety certificate named, and who pays for it?
• Is there a pay range, benchmarked against an official figure where one exists?
• Is the visa position stated plainly, either way?

General information, not legal or immigration advice. Certification, employment and visa rules differ by country, state and city; check local requirements before publishing or relying on the visa reality table.