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The differences between bartender, cook, and waitresses and food servers 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 $25,209 average annual salary of a food server.
The top three skills for a bartender, cook, and waitress include food orders, customer orders and bartending. The most important skills for a food server are beverage orders, wine, and cleanliness.
| Bartender, Cook, And Waitress | Food Server | |
| Yearly salary | $27,827 | $25,209 |
| Hourly rate | $13.38 | $12.12 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 162,319 | 125,455 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 42% | High School Diploma, 36% |
| Average age | 28 | 42 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
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.
A Food Server specializes in helping customers attain a pleasant dining experience while ensuring to meet all food handling and health regulation standards. Most of the responsibilities revolve around greeting customers and directing them to comfortable seats, responding to their inquires and taking their orders, and courteously suggesting options. Aside from serving meals, Food Servers must also accept payments, organize order receipts, replenish stocks in food containers and drinking stations, and clean tables for the new customers.
Bartender, cook, and waitresses and food servers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Bartender, Cook, And Waitress | Food Server | |
| Average salary | $27,827 | $25,209 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $35,000 | Between $18,000 And $34,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Los Angeles, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | Vermont |
| Best paying company | - | Gettysburg College |
| Best paying industry | - | Retail |
There are a few differences between a bartender, cook, and waitress and a food server in terms of educational background:
| Bartender, Cook, And Waitress | Food Server | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 42% | High School Diploma, 36% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between bartender, cook, and waitresses' and food servers' demographics:
| Bartender, Cook, And Waitress | Food Server | |
| Average age | 28 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.4% Female, 94.6% | Male, 36.0% Female, 64.0% |
| 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, 4.2% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.4% Asian, 8.7% White, 60.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 7% |