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The differences between food servers and dining room 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 $25,209 average annual salary of a food server.
The top three skills for a food server include beverage orders, wine and cleanliness. The most important skills for a dining room server are fine dining, food service, and cleanliness.
| Food Server | Dining Room Server | |
| Yearly salary | $25,209 | $29,540 |
| Hourly rate | $12.12 | $14.20 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 125,455 | 99,079 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 36% | Bachelor's Degree, 42% |
| Average age | 42 | 39 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A Food Server specializes in helping customers attain a pleasant dining experience while ensuring to meet all food handling and health regulation standards. Most of the responsibilities revolve around greeting customers and directing them to comfortable seats, responding to their inquires and taking their orders, and courteously suggesting options. Aside from serving meals, Food Servers must also accept payments, organize order receipts, replenish stocks in food containers and drinking stations, and clean tables for the new customers.
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.
Food servers and dining room servers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Food Server | Dining Room Server | |
| Average salary | $25,209 | $29,540 |
| Salary range | Between $18,000 And $34,000 | Between $23,000 And $37,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | Marysville, WA |
| Highest paying state | Vermont | Washington |
| Best paying company | Gettysburg College | Eastmont School District |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between a food server and a dining room server in terms of educational background:
| Food Server | Dining Room Server | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 36% | Bachelor's Degree, 42% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between food servers' and dining room servers' demographics:
| Food Server | Dining Room Server | |
| Average age | 42 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 36.0% Female, 64.0% | Male, 35.1% Female, 64.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.4% Asian, 8.7% White, 60.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 6% |