The banquet captain is in charge of directing the other members of the banquet team, helping ensure smooth service during the entire meal and optimum satisfaction of guests. Usually, they are senior members of the banquet team with at least a few years of experience under their belt.

The duties of a banquet captain revolve around delegating tasks to subordinate staff, monitoring the execution of the banquet, and training new staff members. They also relay updates, memos, or policy changes to all members of the staff and are responsible for keeping an open line of communication between all employees.

The typical requirements for this role are a high school diploma and adequate work experience in a banquet or other foodservice application. Furthermore, one must have good grooming, a great sense of leadership, and excellent customer service skills to become an attractive candidate for the job.

As for the salary, the average banquet captain makes around $15 an hour or $31,000 per year.

What Does a Banquet Captain Do

There are certain skills that many banquet captains have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed physical strength, detail oriented and customer-service skills.

Learn more about what a Banquet Captain does

How To Become a Banquet Captain

If you're interested in becoming a banquet captain, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 49.8% of banquet captains have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.0% of banquet captains have master's degrees. Even though most banquet captains have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Banquet Captain

Banquet Captain Career Paths

Average Salary for a Banquet Captain

Banquet Captains in America make an average salary of $34,428 per year or $17 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $41,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $28,000 per year.
Average Banquet Captain Salary
$34,428 Yearly
$16.55 hourly

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Roles and Types of Banquet Captain

The role of a banquet captain includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general banquet captain responsibilities:

  • Organize and lead catering team on all catering functions organize
  • Sets up, services, breaks down and cleans all break areas
  • Responsible for controlling all aspects in the execution of banquet function. Effectively supervise the banquet staff during all food

There are several types of banquet captain, including:

Captain

Role:

Captains are the bosses of boats and ships. They let nothing that happens on their vessel go undetected. They watch out for the safety of passengers or cargo on-board and make sure everyone follows safety procedures.

Captains oversee the functioning of all mechanical and electric devices, supervise the navigation of the ship, and keep contact with the destination port and closest coast guard services. In close collaboration with the shipmate, they manage and supervise the day-to-day duties and activities of the staff. Captains are the ones responsible for hiring, training, motivating, and eventually firing members of the crew. The promotion of crew members is the captain's decision as well.

Captains are intimately familiar with maritime law, and they are responsible for making every essential decision during the journey. They have excellent interpersonal and communication skills, as they are required to keep the crew content and efficient and passengers calm and pleased.

  • Average Salary: $52,161
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Banquet Server

Role:

A banquet server works as a caterer at hotels or special events. They serve guests food and drinks with the biggest smile and kindest attitude, which they put on hold while preparing the event and cleaning up after it. Sometimes they contribute to the planning phase, too.

It goes without saying that you need excellent communication skills and a good amount of patience to do this job. Physical stamina is no less crucial, as you work long hours, always on your feet. It is a job you can work around your studies or other projects, if you wish, but do not count on having a lot of free weekends or holidays to yourself.

At every position where you have to deal with people, annoyances will occur. The job where you serve them alcohol at a wedding they never wanted to attend in the first place will not be the one exception to the rule. But it is also people who make this the diverse and fun occupation it is. Boredom, be gone!

  • Average Salary: $29,017
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Caterer

Role:

Everyone loves finger-licking food at parties, fancy events, and social gatherings, right? This is all possible through the talent and efforts of a skillful caterer. With the potential to make about $12.52 an hour, this position offers foodies creativity and satisfaction.

A caterer is solely responsible for providing yummy dishes and drinks via a company or collection of individuals. As a caterer, you will mostly prepare the food before the actual event and heat it up with the help of portable appliances. It's always a plus point to serve the food hot and ready to dazzle mouths right and left.

Besides being a cook, this job requires you to have some sort of training in the culinary world. This training can occur in the comfort of your home or through a proper training facility. You should know that 42.8% of caterers have a bachelor's degree that helps them showcase their talent better.

  • Average Salary: $28,891
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Banquet Captain Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active banquet captain jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where banquet captains earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Banquet Captain Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1Florida192$36,097
2California151$42,185
3Texas149$37,356
4Georgia58$31,524
5North Carolina57$33,750
6Ohio49$32,423
7Pennsylvania48$31,776
8Arizona47$35,610
9South Carolina47$29,827
10Colorado45$39,816
11Michigan43$37,088
12Illinois37$31,301
13Virginia36$33,946
14New Jersey34$37,511
15Nevada33$36,106
16New York30$44,832
17Wisconsin29$28,975
18Washington28$40,827
19Missouri28$31,264
20Tennessee27$33,053
21Indiana27$32,439
22Oklahoma26$32,405
23Utah24$33,293
24Iowa22$33,352
25Louisiana22$30,090
26Alabama20$29,760
27Massachusetts18$36,476
28Kentucky18$31,360
29Connecticut17$38,454
30Maryland15$35,558
31Minnesota13$37,595
32Mississippi9$31,053
33Nebraska8$34,743
34Oregon8$36,222
35Montana6$34,426
36New Hampshire6$32,702
37Maine6$32,063
38Arkansas6$29,957
39Wyoming4$38,779
40Alaska4$34,972
41New Mexico4$31,286
42Delaware3$37,730
43Hawaii2$47,710
44North Dakota2$34,106
45Rhode Island1$38,090
46Idaho1$36,041
47Vermont1$33,266
48South Dakota0$34,173
49Kansas0$32,386
50West Virginia0$31,428

Banquet Captain Education

Banquet Captain Majors

23.1 %

Banquet Captain Degrees

Bachelors

49.8 %

Associate

23.4 %

High School Diploma

16.1 %

Top Skills For a Banquet Captain

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 11.3% of banquet captains listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as physical strength and detail oriented are important as well.

  • Customer Service, 11.3%
  • Cleanliness, 8.9%
  • Food Service, 8.2%
  • Beverage Service, 7.8%
  • Banquet Functions, 5.3%
  • Other Skills, 58.5%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Banquet Captain Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Banquet Captain templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Banquet Captain resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Banquet Captain diversity

Banquet Captain Gender Distribution

Male
Male
54%
Female
Female
46%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among banquet captains, 45.9% of them are women, while 54.1% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among banquet captains is White, which makes up 57.8% of all banquet captains.

  • The most common foreign language among banquet captains is Spanish at 60.4%.

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Best States For a Banquet Captain

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a banquet captain. The best states for people in this position are Hawaii, New York, California, and Washington. Banquet captains make the most in Hawaii with an average salary of $47,710. Whereas in New York and California, they would average $44,832 and $42,185, respectively. While banquet captains would only make an average of $40,827 in Washington, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Wyoming

Total Banquet Captain Jobs: 4
Highest 10% Earn:
$46,000
Location Quotient:
1.3

2. Colorado

Total Banquet Captain Jobs: 45
Highest 10% Earn:
$47,000
Location Quotient:
1.47

3. Texas

Total Banquet Captain Jobs: 149
Highest 10% Earn:
$48,000
Location Quotient:
1.43
Full List Of Best States For Banquet Captains

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Top Banquet Captain Employers

Most Common Employers For Banquet Captain

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1McCormick & Company$38,869$18.6918
2Ruth's Chris Steak House$38,626$18.5717
3Maggiano's Little Italy$37,773$18.1674
4Red Lion Hotels Corporation$36,405$17.5013
5Embassy C E S$36,366$17.4855
6Wedgewood Weddings & Events$36,184$17.4012
7Boise Centre$36,134$17.379
8LGC Hospitality$35,922$17.2710
9Hyatt Hotels$35,741$17.1836
10Wyndham Hotels & Resorts$35,596$17.1123

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