Cook and waitress/waiter resume examples from 2025
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How to write a cook and waitress/waiter resume
Craft a resume summary statement
Put a resume summary on the top of your resume to highlight your accomplishments. A resume summary sums up your experience and skills, making it easy for hiring managers to understand your qualifications at a glance. Here are some tips to write a strong, impressive resume summary:
Step 1: Start with your professional title, or the one you aspire to.
Step 2: Detail your years of experience in cook and waitress/waiter-related roles and your industry experience.
Step 3: What are your biggest professional wins? Here is your opportunity to highlight your strongest accomplishments by placing them at the start of your resume.
Step 4: Don't forget, your goal is to summarize your experience. Keep it short and sweet, so it's easy for recruiters to quickly understand why you're a great hire.
These four steps should give you a strong elevator pitch and land you some cook and waitress/waiter interviews.Please upload your resume so Zippia’s job hunt AI can draft a summary statement for you.
List the right project manager skills
Use your Skills section to show you have the knowledge and technical ability to do the job. Here is how to make the most of your skills section and make sure you have the right keywords:
- You often need to include the exact keywords from the job description in your resume. Look at the job listing and consider which of the listed skills you have experience with, along with related skills.
- Include as many relevant hard skills and soft skills as possible from the listing.
- Use the most up to date and accurate terms. Don't forget to be specific.
Here are example skills to include in your “Area of Expertise” on a cook and waitress/waiter resume:
- Food Handling
- Customer Service
- Waiter
- Food Orders
- Food Service
- Food Preparation
- Customer Orders
- Safety Standards
- Financial Transactions
- Fine Dining
- Drink Orders
- Customer Complaints
- Alcoholic Beverages
- POS
- Kitchen Equipment
- Clean Tables
- Bus Tables
- Sales Taxes
- Order Slips
- Customer Satisfaction
- Fryers
- Customer Payments
- Credit Card Machines
- Quality Food
- Waiting Tables
- Phone Orders
- Broilers
- Cooking Food
- Food Products
- Customers Food
Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.
How to structure your work experience
A work experience section is a vital part of your resume because it shows you have the experience to succeed in your next job.
- Put your most recent experience first. Prospective employers care about your most recent accomplishments the most.
- Put the job title, company name, city, and state on the left. Align dates in month and year format on the right-hand side.
- Include only recent, relevant jobs. This means if you're a fairly experienced worker, you might need to leave off that first internship or other positions in favor of highlighting more pertinent positions.
How to write cook and waitress/waiter experience bullet points
Your resume is your chance to show your biggest accomplishments. Don't just list your job responsibilities, instead take the opportunity to show why you're really good at what you do. Here is how you do that:
- Start with strong action verbs like managed, spearheaded, created, etc. Your goal is to show what you did and verbs will help demonstrate your contributions.
- Use numbers to quantify your achievements. Did you save time with a new report? Increase revenue? How large was the team you managed?
- Keep it concise. You're highlighting your achievements. Consider if all details you are sharing are relevant, or can be written more efficiently.
Here are effective examples from cook and waitress/waiter resumes:
Work history example #1
Cook/Dishwasher
Sonic
- Prepared customer orders * Cleaned kitchen after closing * Operated grill and fryer * Cleaned dishes after closing
- Received training as House Manager, responsible for all cash flow, and deposits at end of shift.
- Learned teamwork can make job easier.
- Greeted all guests with enthusiasm and friendliness and developed relationships with guests and maintained a professional appearance at all times
- Cleaned the oven and dishes.
Work history example #2
Cook And Waitress/Waiter
Ruby Tuesday
- Utilized the reservation system Micros, delivering food to guests in an efficient and timely manner.
- Assisted in the opening of a new store which involved hiring and training a full FOH staff.
- Prepared and cut pizzas for delivery and dine-in guests, washed dishes and served customers.
- Maintained an organized and clean cooking area, following company mandated guidelines.
- Worked at the busiest Chipotle in upstate New York and had to adapt to how fast everything moved there.
Work history example #3
Referee
YMCA
- Assisted in the implementation and evaluation of all youth sports programs including soccer, basketball, and baseball.
- Certified in CPR if needed and remained calm in stressful situations.
Work history example #4
Cook And Waitress/Waiter
Taneko Japanese Tavern
- Served and assisted customers and waiters, performed in a team-oriented environment
- Trained as Back Waiter and Host; promoted to Bar Back; promoted to Server
- Resolved several tricky customer situations without issue, and received only positive customer feedback.
- Recognized ability to provide friendly positive service through good communication with customers of all age levels.
- Maintained fast and accurate service, positive guest relations, and ensured that products were consistent with company quality standards.
Zippia’s AI can customize your resume for you.
Add an education section to your resume
Here is the best way to format your education section:
- Display your highest degree first.
- If you graduated over 5 years ago, put this section at the bottom of your resume. If you lack relevant work experience, the education section should go to the top.
- If you have a bachelor's or master's degree, do not list your high school education.
- If your graduation year is more than 15-20 years ago, it's better not to include dates in this section.
Here are some examples of good education entries from cook and waitress/waiter resumes:
High School Diploma
2013 - 2013
High School Diploma
2016 - 2016
Highlight your cook and waitress/waiter certifications on your resume
Certifications can be a crucial part of your resume. Many jobs have required certifications.
Start simple. Include the full name of the certification. It's also good to mention the organization that issued the certification. Next, specify when you obtained the certification.