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The differences between bartender, cook, and waitresses and servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a server has an average salary of $29,901, which is higher than the $27,827 average annual salary of a bartender, cook, and waitress.
The top three skills for a bartender, cook, and waitress include food orders, customer orders and bartending. The most important skills for a server are wine, customer service, and guest satisfaction.
| Bartender, Cook, And Waitress | Server | |
| Yearly salary | $27,827 | $29,901 |
| Hourly rate | $13.38 | $14.38 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 162,319 | 162,734 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Average age | 28 | 28 |
| 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 server is a restaurant employee assigned to the main dining area of the restaurant to primarily attend to the customer's needs. Servers assist guests to their tables, wait for the guests to be ready with their orders, and take the guests' orders. They should be knowledgeable about the restaurant's offerings since they should be able to answer any questions asked by the guests regarding the menu. They communicate the guests' orders to the kitchen crew and serve the orders once they are ready. Once the guests are finished eating, servers provide their bills upon their request and clean up the table when they leave. Servers should have excellent customer service skills and hospitality management skills.
Bartender, cook, and waitresses and servers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Bartender, Cook, And Waitress | Server | |
| Average salary | $27,827 | $29,901 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $35,000 | Between $21,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | - | New York |
| Best paying company | - | Dell |
| Best paying industry | - | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between a bartender, cook, and waitress and a server in terms of educational background:
| Bartender, Cook, And Waitress | Server | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between bartender, cook, and waitresses' and servers' demographics:
| Bartender, Cook, And Waitress | Server | |
| Average age | 28 | 28 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.4% Female, 94.6% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| 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, 12.0% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.4% Asian, 8.2% White, 54.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |