Food Server Overview
Working as a Food Server
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a food server. For example, did you know that they make an average of $10.24 an hour? That's $21,293 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 14% and produce 775,300 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Food Server Do
There are certain skills that many food servers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, customer-service skills and physical stamina.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a food server, we found that a lot of resumes listed 18.2% of food servers included beverage orders, while 14.1% of resumes included guest service, and 9.6% of resumes included customer service. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the food server job title. But what industry to start with? Most food servers actually find jobs in the hospitality and retail industries.
How To Become a Food Server
If you're interested in becoming a food server, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 29.6% of food servers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.5% of food servers have master's degrees. Even though some food servers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a food server. When we researched the most common majors for a food server, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on food server resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a food server. In fact, many food server jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many food servers also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or server.
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Food Server Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of housekeeper you might progress to a role such as personal assistant eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title account manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Food Server
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Peopleready Food Server Food Server | Peopleready Peopleready | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $20,87001/29/2021 $20,870 |
Peopleready Food Server Food Server | Peopleready Peopleready | 01/29/2021 01/29/2021 | $27,13101/29/2021 $27,131 |
Lamont Elementary School District Food Service Server Food Service Server | Lamont Elementary School District Lamont Elementary School District | 01/28/2021 01/28/2021 | $29,55201/28/2021 $29,552 |
Mariposa County Unified School District and Coe Food Server (Woodland Elementary) Food Server (Woodland Elementary) | Mariposa County Unified School District and Coe Mariposa County Unified School District and Coe | 01/22/2021 01/22/2021 | $29,21801/22/2021 $29,218 |
Pact Charter School Food Service-Lunch Server Food Service-Lunch Server | Pact Charter School Pact Charter School | 01/19/2021 01/19/2021 | $21,03701/19/2021 $21,037 |
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Food Server Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Food Server. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Food Server Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Food Server resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Food Server
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 18.2% of food servers listed beverage orders on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and customer-service skills are important as well.
- Beverage Orders, 18.2%
- Guest Service, 14.1%
- Customer Service, 9.6%
- Communication, 7.5%
- POS, 6.0%
- Other Skills, 44.6% See All Food Server Skills
Best States For a Food Server
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a food server. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, New York, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. Food servers make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $34,244. Whereas in New York and Pennsylvania, they would average $26,489 and $25,583, respectively. While food servers would only make an average of $25,170 in Minnesota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Wyoming
$23,179
Avg. Salary
2. Alabama
$23,385
Avg. Salary
3. Pennsylvania
$25,583
Avg. Salary
Top Food Server Employers
Food Server Videos
