How To Become A Grocery Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a grocery manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Grocery managers ensure the smooth running of the grocery store. This involves coordinating the staff, overseeing the management of inventory, assigning duties, and ensuring customer satisfaction. As a grocery manager, you are responsible for the growth and success of the grocery store. You need to constantly come up with new ideas to generate sales, ways to create better shopping experiences for your customers and get maximum productivity from your staff. The hiring and training of staff, maintenance of the store, control of inventory, and quality control on your products are only a few of the things you have to do as a grocery manager.

You can become a grocery manager with a high school degree and without a college degree. Employers usually look for applicants who are skilled in implementing company policies, team leadership, food storage, sales promotion, and customer service skills. As long as grocery stores exist, we would always need grocery managers. This must be why grocery managers earn an average of $21.84 an hour or $45432 a year.

ScoreGrocery ManagerUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $36,769

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.6

Growth Rate 6%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.47%

Asian 6.33%

Black or African American 6.14%

Hispanic or Latino 15.04%

Unknown 4.33%

White 67.69%

Gender

female 14.83%

male 85.17%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Stress Level

9.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

9.2

Complexity Level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.6

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a grocery manager

Explore grocery manager education requirements

Most common grocery manager degrees

Bachelor's

34.7 %

High School Diploma

31.7 %

Associate

23.5 %

Start to develop specific grocery manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Basic Math	8.82%
Food Safety	8.48%
Role Model	7.99%
Wine	7.83%
Math	7.49%

Complete relevant grocery manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New grocery managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a grocery manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real grocery manager resumes.

Gain additional grocery manager certifications

Grocery manager certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific grocery manager certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for grocery managers include Food Safety Manager Certification and Forklift Safety and Inspector.

More About Certifications

Research grocery manager duties and responsibilities

Direct and manage all functions of the dairy department including departmental ordering using an RF system.
Manage dairy levels in store, maintaining inventory levels
Create displays; print and run tags/signs.
Have ran the general merchandise department to insure fully stock by morning.

Prepare your grocery manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your grocery manager resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a grocery manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Grocery Manager Resume templates

Build a professional Grocery Manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Grocery Manager resume.

Apply for grocery manager jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a grocery manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do grocery managers rate their job?

-/5

5 Stars

4 Stars

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1 Star

Grocery Manager reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Oct 2022

Cons

I don’t like escalations from the customers

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2020

Cons

Insurbordination, failure to deliver on tasks and targets.

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020

Pros

The people that you meet! Interactive with a diverse group of individuals from every walk of life.