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Dining room hostess vs restaurant server

The differences between dining room hostesses and restaurant servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a dining room hostess has an average salary of $33,233, which is higher than the $24,558 average annual salary of a restaurant server.

The top three skills for a dining room hostess include reservations, cleanliness and customer service. The most important skills for a restaurant server are wine, exceptional dining, and guest satisfaction.

Dining room hostess vs restaurant server overview

Dining Room HostessRestaurant Server
Yearly salary$33,233$24,558
Hourly rate$15.98$11.81
Growth rate9%10%
Number of jobs34,343141,250
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 37%Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age3928
Years of experience--

Dining room hostess vs restaurant server salary

Dining room hostesses and restaurant servers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Dining Room HostessRestaurant Server
Average salary$33,233$24,558
Salary rangeBetween $26,000 And $41,000Between $15,000 And $37,000
Highest paying City-Washington, DC
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-University of California, Berkeley
Best paying industry-Agriculture

Differences between dining room hostess and restaurant server education

There are a few differences between a dining room hostess and a restaurant server in terms of educational background:

Dining Room HostessRestaurant Server
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 37%Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common college--

Dining room hostess vs restaurant server demographics

Here are the differences between dining room hostesses' and restaurant servers' demographics:

Dining Room HostessRestaurant Server
Average age3928
Gender ratioMale, 6.7% Female, 93.3%Male, 40.8% Female, 59.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 15.0% Asian, 7.6% White, 60.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%Black or African American, 10.9% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 20.9% Asian, 9.4% White, 52.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage6%6%

Differences between dining room hostess and restaurant server duties and responsibilities

Dining room hostess example responsibilities.

  • Assist guests in booking reservations and manage guest history data using OpenTable reservation system.
  • Supervise efficient working and maintain cleanliness.
  • Monitor cleanliness of dining room and overall resident satisfaction, encourage resident socialization, assist with meals as needed.
  • Show exceptional leadership skills in delegating tasks to other employees while encouraging and motivating teams to exceed expectations from management.

Restaurant server example responsibilities.

  • Demonstrate adequate culinary and Italian wine knowledge through suggestive selling.
  • Input orders in micros and issue guest check for each order.
  • Prepare the groceries for the customer in their request baggage handing.3.
  • Maintain clean, sanitize FOH area and ensure health & safety and hygiene procedures and standards are meet.
  • Work with operations manager in ordering and setting up all FOH systems need in opening a new restaurant.
  • Provide thorough knowledge of the restaurant's menu to make recommendations or answer questions, and enter POS charges.
  • Show more

Dining room hostess vs restaurant server skills

Common dining room hostess skills
  • Reservations, 34%
  • Cleanliness, 8%
  • Customer Service, 8%
  • Departmental Policies, 8%
  • Fine Dining, 6%
  • Seat Guests, 4%
Common restaurant server skills
  • Wine, 28%
  • Exceptional Dining, 6%
  • Guest Satisfaction, 5%
  • Cleanliness, 5%
  • POS, 5%
  • Food Service, 5%

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