Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between food servers and line servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a line server has an average salary of $28,300, 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 line server are customer service, quality customer service, and exceptional guest.
| Food Server | Line Server | |
| Yearly salary | $25,209 | $28,300 |
| Hourly rate | $12.12 | $13.61 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 14% |
| Number of jobs | 125,455 | 246,165 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 36% | High School Diploma, 49% |
| 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.
A line server is responsible for assisting the guests with their needs to ensure an overall satisfying dining experience with the highest quality service. Line servers take and verify guests' orders, provide recommendation for orders, respond to the guests' inquiries regarding the menu, manage the food preparation and serving, assist guests with additional requests, and ensure strict adherence to the sanitary standards and hygienic procedures at all times. Line servers must have excellent communication and time-management skills to interact with different guests and identify their dining needs.
Food servers and line servers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Food Server | Line Server | |
| Average salary | $25,209 | $28,300 |
| Salary range | Between $18,000 And $34,000 | Between $21,000 And $36,000 |
| 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 line server in terms of educational background:
| Food Server | Line Server | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 36% | High School Diploma, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between food servers' and line servers' demographics:
| Food Server | Line Server | |
| Average age | 42 | 23 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 36.0% Female, 64.0% | Male, 33.7% Female, 66.3% |
| 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% |