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The differences between dining room servers and restaurant servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a dining room server has an average salary of $29,540, which is higher than the $24,558 average annual salary of a restaurant server.
The top three skills for a dining room server include fine dining, food service and cleanliness. The most important skills for a restaurant server are wine, exceptional dining, and guest satisfaction.
| Dining Room Server | Restaurant Server | |
| Yearly salary | $29,540 | $24,558 |
| Hourly rate | $14.20 | $11.81 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 99,079 | 141,250 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 48% |
| Average age | 39 | 28 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A dining room server performs various tasks to give patrons a positive dining experience. Their job usually entails greeting customers and presenting the menu, taking their orders, answering inquiries, recommending products and other services, serving drinks and food, and handling concerns professionally and courteously. They are also responsible for coordinating with cashiers and kitchen staff, cleaning and preparing tables for new customers, and assisting staff as needed. In some establishments, a dining room server may also participate in preparing drinks or ingredients, monitoring supply inventories, and collecting payments.
Also called food servers, restaurant servers perform food preparation, cleaning duties, and customer service in casual dining eateries and restaurants. The food servers stock supplies, handle credit cards and the cash register, and clean restaurant counters and tables. They provide assistance to restaurant patrons to take orders, deliver food, and answer customer questions. The skills they need include trustworthiness, organization, customer relations, and communication skills.
Dining room servers and restaurant servers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Dining Room Server | Restaurant Server | |
| Average salary | $29,540 | $24,558 |
| Salary range | Between $23,000 And $37,000 | Between $15,000 And $37,000 |
| Highest paying City | Marysville, WA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Eastmont School District | University of California, Berkeley |
| Best paying industry | Hospitality | Agriculture |
There are a few differences between a dining room server and a restaurant server in terms of educational background:
| Dining Room Server | Restaurant Server | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 42% | Bachelor's Degree, 48% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between dining room servers' and restaurant servers' demographics:
| Dining Room Server | Restaurant Server | |
| Average age | 39 | 28 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 35.1% Female, 64.9% | Male, 40.8% Female, 59.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 13.5% Asian, 7.5% White, 62.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% | 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 Percentage | 6% | 6% |