How To Become A Fast Food Server: What It Is and Career Path

What is a fast food server and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a fast food server. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.55 an hour? That's $30,266 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 14% and produce 775,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFast Food ServerUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,266

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.0

Growth rate 14%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.85%

Asian 6.49%

Black or African American 9.64%

Hispanic or Latino 18.63%

Unknown 6.92%

White 57.47%

Gender

female 54.60%

male 45.40%

Age - 21

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 21

Stress level

7.0

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

5.7

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.7

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a fast food server

Explore fast food server education requirements

Most common fast food server degrees

High School Diploma

61.5 %

Diploma

16.9 %

Associate

8.6 %

Start to develop specific fast food server skills

Skills	Percentages
Cleanliness	32.98%
Food Orders	24.50%
Food Handling	8.63%
Safety Standards	8.00%
Drive-Thru	6.73%

Complete relevant fast food server training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New fast food servers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a fast food server based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real fast food server resumes.

Research fast food server duties and responsibilities

Describe menu items and daily specials in detail and provide recommendations including wine pairing options.
Preform equipment maintenance to ensure proper tolerances for precise mowing conditions.

Prepare your fast food server resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your fast food server resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a fast food server resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable fast food server resume templates

Build a professional fast food server resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your fast food server resume.