Cafe Server Overview
Working as a Cafe Server
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a cafe server. For example, did you know that they make an average of $11.21 an hour? That's $23,312 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 14% and produce 775,300 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Cafe Server Do
There are certain skills that many cafe servers 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 communication skills, customer-service skills and physical strength.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a cafe server, we found that a lot of resumes listed 28.0% of cafe servers included communication, while 26.9% of resumes included customer service, and 26.6% of resumes included support tasks. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the cafe server job title. But what industry to start with? Most cafe servers actually find jobs in the hospitality and retail industries.
How To Become a Cafe Server
If you're interested in becoming a cafe server, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 43.0% of cafe servers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.9% of cafe servers have master's degrees. Even though some cafe servers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a cafe server. When we researched the most common majors for a cafe server, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or high school diploma degrees. Other degrees that we often see on cafe server resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a cafe server. In fact, many cafe server jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many cafe servers also have previous career experience in roles such as server or sales associate.
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Cafe Server Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a cafe server can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as barista, progress to a title such as teacher and then eventually end up with the title general manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Cafe Server
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Barnes & Noble Barista/Cafe Server Barista/Cafe Server | Barnes & Noble Barnes & Noble | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $25,04401/29/2021 $25,044 |
Enchantment Resort Cafe Server Cafe Server | Enchantment Resort Enchantment Resort | 07/25/2020 07/25/2020 | $16,69607/25/2020 $16,696 |
Health & Hospital Corporation Cafe Server Barista (Starbucks) Cafe Server Barista (Starbucks) | Health & Hospital Corporation Health & Hospital Corporation | 03/11/2020 03/11/2020 | $27,13103/11/2020 $27,131 |
Enchantment Resort Cafe Pool Server Cafe Pool Server | Enchantment Resort Enchantment Resort | 02/27/2020 02/27/2020 | $16,69602/27/2020 $16,696 |
Salvation Army USA Cafe Server Cafe Server | Salvation Army USA Salvation Army USA | 01/08/2020 01/08/2020 | $23,56201/08/2020 $23,562 |
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Top Skills For a Cafe Server
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, 28.0% of cafe servers listed communication on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and customer-service skills are important as well.
- Communication, 28.0%
- Customer Service, 26.9%
- Support Tasks, 26.6%
- Health Code, 3.9%
- Menu Items, 2.9%
- Other Skills, 11.7% See All Cafe Server Skills