Bartender, cook, and waitress vs food runner

The differences between bartender, cook, and waitresses and food runners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a bartender, cook, and waitress has an average salary of $27,827, which is higher than the $25,536 average annual salary of a food runner.

The top three skills for a bartender, cook, and waitress include food orders, customer orders and bartending. The most important skills for a food runner are cleanliness, wine, and culinary.

Bartender, cook, and waitress vs food runner overview

	Bartender, Cook, And Waitress	Food Runner
Yearly salary	$27,827	$25,536
Hourly rate	$13.38	$12.28
Growth rate	10%	14%
Number of jobs	162,319	240,853
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 42%	High School Diploma, 38%
Average age	28	23
Years of experience	-	-

What does a bartender, cook, and waitress do?

A bartender, cook, and waitress are employees who work in the food services industry and usually deal with customer orders and food preparations. Bartenders usually prepare alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks for bar and restaurant patrons and assess the customers' needs. On the other hand, cooks assist chefs in the preparation of food and manage food stations when needed. Lastly, waitresses interact with restaurant customers by taking food orders and serving them appropriately to the customers.

What does a food runner do?

Food Runners are responsible for assisting waitstaff on serving customers at a restaurant or similar establishment. Among their duties include maintaining cleanliness in particular areas, setting tables, refilling drinks, assisting customers with everything that they need, and coordinating with the workforce in and out of the kitchen. Furthermore, Food Runners need to ensure that all deliveries are accurate according to what is ordered by a customer. It is essential to stay presentable and helpful at all times as the main priority is customer satisfaction.

Bartender, cook, and waitress vs food runner salary

Bartender, cook, and waitresses and food runners have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Bartender, Cook, And Waitress	Food Runner
Average salary	$27,827	$25,536
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $35,000	Between $18,000 And $34,000
Highest paying City	-	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	-	Vermont
Best paying company	-	University of Massachusetts Boston
Best paying industry	-	Hospitality

Differences between bartender, cook, and waitress and food runner education

There are a few differences between a bartender, cook, and waitress and a food runner in terms of educational background:

	Bartender, Cook, And Waitress	Food Runner
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 42%	High School Diploma, 38%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Bartender, cook, and waitress vs food runner demographics

Here are the differences between bartender, cook, and waitresses' and food runners' demographics:

	Bartender, Cook, And Waitress	Food Runner
Average age	28	23
Gender ratio	Male, 5.4% Female, 94.6%	Male, 59.0% Female, 41.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 13.8% Asian, 7.8% White, 62.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 6.9% Hispanic or Latino, 18.6% Asian, 6.5% White, 57.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	6%	8%

Differences between bartender, cook, and waitress and food runner duties and responsibilities

Bartender, cook, and waitress example responsibilities.

General cleaning, and knowledge of POS systems.
Start off here as a cook, learned to bartend.
Operate a POS system to itemize and complete a customer purchases.
Develop relationships with regular patrons; develop an understanding of their personal needs and expectations, including preferences and food allergies.
Cook waitresses cashier hostess prep cook dishwasher
Generate detail checks utilizing micros systems.

Food runner example responsibilities.

Manage labor and design of numerous weddings, banquets, buffets, and the restaurant floor.
Manage event reservations and party requests, inform customers about upcoming events and specials.
Provide excellent customer service to guests by describing and suggesting culinary options
Greet customers and prepare drinks (tea, smoothies).
Expedite the kitchen to ensure food leaves fast and accurately.
Demonstrate strong computational skills for tendering receipt of payments from clients.

Bartender, cook, and waitress vs food runner skills

Common bartender, cook, and waitress skills

Food Orders, 16%
Customer Orders, 13%
Bartending, 8%
Food Preparation, 7%
Customer Service, 6%
Drink Orders, 5%

Common food runner skills

Cleanliness, 20%
Wine, 9%
Culinary, 7%
Food Orders, 6%
Fine Dining, 5%
Food Handling, 5%

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Food Preparation and Restaurant Industry
Bartender, Cook, And Waitress
Bartender, Cook, And Waitress vs Food Runner

Updated January 8, 2025

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