Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between cocktail waitresses and food runners can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a cocktail waitress has an average salary of $26,819, which is higher than the $25,536 average annual salary of a food runner.
The top three skills for a cocktail waitress include customer service, drink orders and non-alcoholic beverages. The most important skills for a food runner are cleanliness, wine, and culinary.
| Cocktail Waitress | Food Runner | |
| Yearly salary | $26,819 | $25,536 |
| Hourly rate | $12.89 | $12.28 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 14% |
| Number of jobs | 77,429 | 240,853 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 35% | High School Diploma, 38% |
| Average age | 28 | 23 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A cocktail waitress, or often called a cocktail server, is a female server who serves alcoholic beverages and food to patrons in nightclubs and bars. Cocktail waitresses are required to interact with customers by taking their food orders, serving them food and drinks, and then processing payments. To serve proper alcoholic drinks to customers, cocktail waitresses must be well informed about the drinks they serve, such as wine, beer, and cocktails. They also assist in checking identification to ensure that customers are of legal age to buy alcoholic drinks.
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.
Cocktail waitresses and food runners have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Cocktail Waitress | Food Runner | |
| Average salary | $26,819 | $25,536 |
| Salary range | Between $19,000 And $36,000 | 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 |
There are a few differences between a cocktail waitress and a food runner in terms of educational background:
| Cocktail Waitress | Food Runner | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 35% | High School Diploma, 38% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between cocktail waitresses' and food runners' demographics:
| Cocktail Waitress | Food Runner | |
| Average age | 28 | 23 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.7% Female, 94.3% | Male, 59.0% Female, 41.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 21.6% Asian, 7.8% White, 53.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | 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% |