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The differences between food servers and food service/cashiers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a food service/cashier has an average salary of $28,481, 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 food service/cashier are food service, POS, and cleanliness.
| Food Server | Food Service/Cashier | |
| Yearly salary | $25,209 | $28,481 |
| Hourly rate | $12.12 | $13.69 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 14% |
| Number of jobs | 125,455 | 247,779 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 36% | High School Diploma, 48% |
| Average age | 42 | 23 |
| 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.
Foodservice/cashiers are often employed at food restaurants and played various roles. Their duties include recording orders from customers and making sure their payments are collected. They are responsible for managing financial transactions and creating financial reports at the end of the day, making sure that order receipts correlate to the amount of money collected. They could also function as service members, welcoming customers and taking their orders politely, packaging them, and ensures that they are delivered promptly, taking in and resolving customer's queries and complaints. They can also be tasked to stock supplies and may help in cooking if the needs arise.
Food servers and food service/cashiers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Food Server | Food Service/Cashier | |
| Average salary | $25,209 | $28,481 |
| Salary range | Between $18,000 And $34,000 | Between $22,000 And $35,000 |
| Highest paying City | Los Angeles, CA | Montclair, NJ |
| Highest paying state | Vermont | New Hampshire |
| Best paying company | Gettysburg College | Aspen School District |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Retail |
There are a few differences between a food server and a food service/cashier in terms of educational background:
| Food Server | Food Service/Cashier | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 36% | High School Diploma, 48% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between food servers' and food service/cashiers' demographics:
| Food Server | Food Service/Cashier | |
| Average age | 42 | 23 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 36.0% Female, 64.0% | Male, 28.3% Female, 71.7% |
| 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, 9.6% Unknown, 6.9% Hispanic or Latino, 18.6% Asian, 6.5% White, 57.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 8% |