The typical responsibilities of a dietary manager vary from one facility to the next. In most cases, the manager is in charge of all dietary department performances and operations. Facilities that are likely to hire dietary managers include hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and colleges. Ultimately, they are responsible for analyzing the needs of each resident, patient, student, or client in the facility. Other responsibilities may include budget, safety, and compliance with government regulations.
In most cases, a hospital dietary manager will supervise all aspects of food services, including budgeting, supply purchasing, production, food distribution, and the hiring of qualified personnel. This person typically will train, schedule, and conduct staff meetings, as well. Often, the manager may attend workshops and seminars to remain current with governmental regulations. Typically, the dietary manager will consult with patients to teach them about healthy meal planning.
Nursing home dietary managers have similar responsibilities. Since many of their patients are geriatric, most of their training is on special nutritional needs of the elderly. In addition to the responsibility of kitchen operations, most managers are required to conduct periodic visits with each patient to ensure that the specific needs of each resident are being met. The person in this supervisory position may also conduct periodic in-service training sessions for other nursing home staff, as well as dietary department training on updates in food service regulations.
Dietary managers in schools often have to follow the guidelines of the school system for the grade levels they serve. The managers usually are in charge of hiring, training, scheduling, and continuing education of personnel. Typically, the dietary manager is directly responsible for the food budget of each school. It is generally this person’s responsibility to plan and organize the production of food, serving the food, and cleaning up after each meal served in the school cafeteria.
Most college campuses have one or more cafeterias, depending on the size of student enrollment. The job requirements of the dietary manager typically will vary according to the governing body of the college. He or she is still likely to be responsible for the budget; food and non-food purchases; hiring, training, and scheduling of staff; and anything else related to the cafeteria.
Additional responsibilities may be required in any of the dietary manager positions. Some of these may include special food for celebrations, food service for meetings, or public relations in the community. Other places that may hire dietary or food service managers are businesses for employee cafeterias, theme parks, and charities.