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The differences between food servers and fine dining servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a fine dining server has an average salary of $32,140, 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 fine dining server are wine, fine dining, and cleanliness.
| Food Server | Fine Dining Server | |
| Yearly salary | $25,209 | $32,140 |
| Hourly rate | $12.12 | $15.45 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 125,455 | 77,549 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 36% | Bachelor's Degree, 53% |
| Average age | 42 | 28 |
| 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.
Fine dining servers the people who make your stay at a restaurant enjoyable. They deliver well-written orders for the kitchen to prepare and bring your food and beverage. Being a fine dining server is no easy task, as certain skill sets need to be met in order to become an effective dining server. An efficient server is detail-oriented, observant to the needs of the diners, and intuitive. An extensive knowledge of wines and other specific food categories may be required depending on the restaurant.
Food servers and fine dining servers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Food Server | Fine Dining Server | |
| Average salary | $25,209 | $32,140 |
| Salary range | Between $18,000 And $34,000 | Between $21,000 And $47,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | - |
| Highest paying state | Vermont | - |
| Best paying company | Gettysburg College | - |
| Best paying industry | Retail | - |
There are a few differences between a food server and a fine dining server in terms of educational background:
| Food Server | Fine Dining Server | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 36% | Bachelor's Degree, 53% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between food servers' and fine dining servers' demographics:
| Food Server | Fine Dining Server | |
| Average age | 42 | 28 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 36.0% Female, 64.0% | Male, 39.6% Female, 60.4% |
| 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, 11.4% Unknown, 5.8% Hispanic or Latino, 19.6% Asian, 8.2% White, 54.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 6% |