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.

Dining Room Server Responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real dining room server resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.

  • Schedule all reservations and plan seating arrangements with management prior to dinner service.
  • Contribute wine and food pairing knowledge to allow for guarantee customer satisfaction during dining experience.
  • Clean and polish glass shelves and doors of service bars and equipment.
  • Used a POS to charge members and their guests for monthly billing.
  • Assist in overseeing the day-to-day operations and performance of the VIP service team.
  • Coordinate VIP services including; greet and check in VIP's as they arrive at the hotel.
  • Have extensive knowledge of fine seafood and steak menu, as well as the restaurants wine list and specialty cocktail menu.
  • Maintain cleanliness of residents rooms and dining area
  • Maintain proper condition and cleanliness of dining areas and servicing equipment.
  • Maintain out-going personality in face-pace environment, make reservations, anticipate the guests needs
  • Perform busing, serving, expediting and bartending.
  • Serve customers by the 'Marriott Standard'Kept area stock and clean.
  • Increase sales by learning different upselling strategies to use while serving customers.
  • Contribute to restaurant's sales goals by making recommendations and upselling to customers.
  • Preform waitress and responsible for bartending some evenings

Dining Room Server Skills and Personality Traits

We calculated that 13% of Dining Room Servers are proficient in Fine Dining, Food Service, and Cleanliness. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Customer-service skills, and Physical strength.

We break down the percentage of Dining Room Servers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Fine Dining, 13%

    Demonstrated and further developed fine dining etiquette and protocol while adapting to an unpredictable and fast-paced work environment.

  • Food Service, 12%

    Provided resident food service in a timely matter

  • Cleanliness, 10%

    Maintained cleanliness of residents rooms and dining area

  • Wine, 7%

    Contributed wine and food pairing knowledge to allow for guaranteed customer satisfaction during dining experience.

  • Beverage Orders, 7%

    Processed food and beverage orders through a point-of-sale system.

  • Food Handling, 5%

    Covered assigned work station throughout entire meal, following all established food handling, service standards, and sanitation procedures.

Most dining room servers list "fine dining," "food service," and "cleanliness" as skills on their resumes. We go into more details on the most important dining room server responsibilities here:

  • The most important skills for a dining room server to have in this position are communication skills. In this excerpt that we gathered from a dining room server resume, you'll understand why: "food and beverage serving and related workers must listen carefully to their customers’ orders and relay them correctly to the kitchen staff so that the orders are prepared to the customers’ request." According to resumes we found, communication skills can be used by a dining room server in order to "assured exceptional customer service and communication to provide better aesthetic experience for the guest. "
  • Another trait important for fulfilling dining room server duties is customer-service skills. According to a dining room server resume, "food service establishments rely on good food and customer service to keep customers and succeed in a competitive industry." Here's an example of how dining room servers are able to utilize customer-service skills: "greet guests in a timely manner, suggestive sell and menu knowledge was extremely important as well as cocktail knowledge. "
  • Dining room servers are also known for physical strength, which can be critical when it comes to performing their duties. An example of why this skill is important is shown by this snippet that we found in a dining room server resume: "food and beverage serving and related workers need to be able to lift and carry stock and equipment that can weigh up to 50 pounds." We also found this resume example that details how this skill is put to the test: "assisted in providing the elderly a pleasant dining experience * tended to residents' dietary and physical needs additional experience"
  • See the full list of dining room server skills.

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    What Waitstaffs Do

    The waitstaff takes responsibility for tasks like recommending dishes based on the tastes and preferences of guests, accepting payments, and taking orders. Waitstaff delivers food to tables, ensures outstanding guest experience, and accepts payments. They work with diligence to get outstanding service quality and work with the other staff. It is part of their job to show customers their seats and provide menu options. They attend to tables for food service and guarantee cleanliness standard compliance.

    We looked at the average dining room server annual salary and compared it with the average of a waitstaff. Generally speaking, waitstaffs receive $4,436 lower pay than dining room servers per year.

    While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both dining room servers and waitstaffs positions are skilled in fine dining, food service, and cleanliness.

    There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a dining room server responsibilities require skills like "senior care," "meal service," "basic math," and "bars." Meanwhile a typical waitstaff has skills in areas such as "good communication," "room service," "groceries," and "reset tables." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

    Waitstaffs receive the highest salaries in the health care industry coming in with an average yearly salary of $26,991. But dining room servers are paid more in the hospitality industry with an average salary of $29,758.

    On average, waitstaffs reach similar levels of education than dining room servers. Waitstaffs are 0.2% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    What Are The Duties Of a Bus Boy?

    The job of busboys is to assist other staff members at a restaurant by doing varied tasks. These include greeting customers, cleaning and resetting tables, and removing dishes after customers leave. Other tasks include cleaning furniture, fixtures, and kitchen equipment, and tidying up any spills and mopping the floors. Busboys are also responsible for ensuring the availability of clean dining materials such as flatware and glasses. The requirements needed for this role may include a high school diploma, previous work experience, and excellent communication and customer service skills.

    Now we're going to look at the bus boy profession. On average, bus boys earn a $5,108 lower salary than dining room servers a year.

    Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Dining room servers and bus boys both include similar skills like "food service," "food orders," and "customer service" on their resumes.

    But both careers also use different skills, according to real dining room server resumes. While dining room server responsibilities can utilize skills like "fine dining," "cleanliness," "wine," and "beverage orders," some bus boys use skills like "clean linen," "ice water," "safety standards," and "clean environment."

    Bus boys may earn a lower salary than dining room servers, but bus boys earn the most pay in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $26,928. On the other side of things, dining room servers receive higher paychecks in the hospitality industry where they earn an average of $29,758.

    In general, bus boys study at similar levels of education than dining room servers. They're 0.9% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

    How a Busser Compares

    Busser, also known as dining room attendants or bartender helpers, is an entry-level position in the restaurant and dining industry. The bussers help in preparing the dining areas before guests arrive and decorating tables with a set of candles, napkins, linens, flowers, or other ornaments, especially if with a special theme for the day, usually when it's a national celebration or holidays. Also, they assist in cleaning the tables, clearing plates, used utensils, drinkware, and other dishes to the kitchen to be washed, refilling diners' glasses with water, and make the tables ready for the next set of service.

    Let's now take a look at the busser profession. On average, these workers make lower salaries than dining room servers with a $5,429 difference per year.

    Using dining room servers and bussers resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "fine dining," "food service," and "cleanliness," but the other skills required are very different.

    There are many key differences between these two careers as shown by resumes from each profession. Some of those differences include the skills required to complete responsibilities within each role. As an example of this, a dining room server is likely to be skilled in "beverage orders," "senior care," "meal service," and "culinary," while a typical busser is skilled in "work ethic," "tip," "bus tubs," and "sanitation policies."

    Interestingly enough, bussers earn the most pay in the hospitality industry, where they command an average salary of $25,199. As mentioned previously, dining room servers highest annual salary comes from the hospitality industry with an average salary of $29,758.

    When it comes to education, bussers tend to earn similar education levels than dining room servers. In fact, they're 1.1% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

    Description Of a Cafeteria Worker

    A cafeteria worker is responsible for taking and processing customer orders, ensuring the correct foods are served, providing them the satisfaction of their dining experience. Cafeteria workers maintain the cleanliness and orderliness of the facilities, manage the adequacy of inventory stock supplies, coordinate with suppliers for deliveries, process payments, and help out the customers with their inquiries and concerns. A cafeteria worker should also assist the management in developing marketing techniques to boost revenues and increase profitability.

    Now, we'll look at cafeteria workers, who generally average a lower pay when compared to dining room servers annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $5,075 per year.

    While their salaries may vary, dining room servers and cafeteria workers both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "food handling," "food preparation," and "food orders. "

    Each job requires different skills like "fine dining," "food service," "cleanliness," and "wine," which might show up on a dining room server resume. Whereas cafeteria worker might include skills like "kitchen equipment," "nutritious meals," "spoons," and "slicers."

    Cafeteria workers earn a higher salary in the hospitality industry with an average of $29,244. Whereas, dining room servers earn the highest salary in the hospitality industry.

    Cafeteria workers reach similar levels of education when compared to dining room servers. The difference is that they're 1.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree less, and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.