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The differences between cocktail waitresses and waitresses 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 $24,770 average annual salary of a waitress.
The top three skills for a cocktail waitress include customer service, drink orders and non-alcoholic beverages. The most important skills for a waitress are food orders, food preparation, and customer orders.
| Cocktail Waitress | Waitress | |
| Yearly salary | $26,819 | $24,770 |
| Hourly rate | $12.89 | $11.91 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 77,429 | 87,315 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 35% | High School Diploma, 36% |
| Average age | 28 | 28 |
| 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.
Waitresses are responsible for ensuring that guests are given proper attention during their visit to the restaurant. They guide guests to their table, provide menu boards, answer any questions the guests may have, take the guests' order, and communicate the order to the kitchen. Once the order is ready, waitresses collect the food from the kitchen and serve it to the guests. They then give guests time to finish their meal. Upon the guests' request, waitresses bring them their bill and wait for them to finish paying up. Once the guests leave, waitresses are responsible for ensuring that the table is ready for the next guests.
Cocktail waitresses and waitresses have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Cocktail Waitress | Waitress | |
| Average salary | $26,819 | $24,770 |
| Salary range | Between $19,000 And $36,000 | Between $17,000 And $35,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | - | New York |
| Best paying company | - | New York Institute of Technology |
| Best paying industry | - | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between a cocktail waitress and a waitress in terms of educational background:
| Cocktail Waitress | Waitress | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 35% | High School Diploma, 36% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between cocktail waitresses' and waitresses' demographics:
| Cocktail Waitress | Waitress | |
| Average age | 28 | 28 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 5.7% Female, 94.3% | Male, 19.9% Female, 80.1% |
| 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, 11.9% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.2% Asian, 8.6% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |