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What does a formal waiter/waitress do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read
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Formal waiter/waitress responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real formal waiter/waitress resumes:

  • Set up, work in, and manage the private room events as both bartender and waiter.
  • Develop expertise in wine recommendations and pairings base on extensive winereserves.
  • Operate large volume cooking equipment like buger grills, fryers, and/or griddles.

Formal waiter/waitress skills and personality traits

We break down the percentage of Formal Waiter/Waitresses that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Wine, 78%

    Directed weekly food and wine pairing with staff for further agreements,.

  • Fine Dining, 22%

    Provide a fine dining experience with detailed service and professional behavior in a fast paced and demanding environment

Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a formal waiter/waitress to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "waiters and waitresses must listen to customers, ask questions as needed, and relay information to the kitchen staff so that orders are prepared to the customers’ satisfaction." Formal waiter/waitresses often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "establish customer relations through verbal communication, table service, taking orders, running food and drinks. "

Customer-service skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling formal waiter/waitress duties is customer-service skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "waiters and waitresses are frontline workers for their restaurant." According to a formal waiter/waitress resume, here's how formal waiter/waitresses can utilize customer-service skills in their job responsibilities: "resolved any customer complaints and fixed any errors in their orders. "

Detail oriented. This is an important skill for formal waiter/waitresses to perform their duties. For an example of how formal waiter/waitress responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "waiters and waitresses must record customers’ orders accurately." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a formal waiter/waitress: "maintained a high level of customer satisfaction through attention to detail in defining needs. ".

Physical strength. A big part of what formal waiter/waitresses do relies on "physical strength." You can see how essential it is to formal waiter/waitress responsibilities because "waiters and waitresses need to be able to lift and carry trays of food or other items." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical formal waiter/waitress tasks: "strengthened and established management skills by resolving customer complaints. "

All formal waiter/waitress skills

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Formal Waiter/Waitress Resume
Formal Waiter/Waitress Resume
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Compare different formal waiter/waitresses

Formal waiter/waitress vs. Server

A server is a restaurant employee assigned to the main dining area of the restaurant to primarily attend to the customer's needs. Servers assist guests to their tables, wait for the guests to be ready with their orders, and take the guests' orders. They should be knowledgeable about the restaurant's offerings since they should be able to answer any questions asked by the guests regarding the menu. They communicate the guests' orders to the kitchen crew and serve the orders once they are ready. Once the guests are finished eating, servers provide their bills upon their request and clean up the table when they leave. Servers should have excellent customer service skills and hospitality management skills.

The annual salary of servers is $4,093 higher than the average salary of formal waiter/waitresses.While their salaries may differ, the common ground between formal waiter/waitresses and servers are a few of the skills required in each roleacirc;euro;trade;s responsibilities. In both careers, employee duties involve skills like wine, fine dining, and customer complaints.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, formal waiter/waitress responsibilities require skills like "customer service guidelines," "customer payments," "quality standards," and "event space." Meanwhile a typical server has skills in areas such as "customer service," "guest satisfaction," "cleanliness," and "cash handling." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Servers tend to make the most money working in the hospitality industry, where they earn an average salary of $28,027. In contrast, formal waiter/waitresses make the biggest average salary, $27,329, in the real estate industry.servers tend to reach similar levels of education than formal waiter/waitresses. In fact, servers are 2.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Formal waiter/waitress vs. Server manager

As the name entails, server managers are responsible for managing and overseeing the serving areas in restaurants. This role is associated with several tasks, including checking the appearance of servers, checking a server's knowledge of the restaurant's daily specials and menu items, and greeting the customers. Additional tasks may include assisting new serving crews and evaluating their self-reliance and capabilities, managing the schedule of servers, and organizing staff training. The skills needed for this position may include excellent customer service skills, leadership skills, and communication skills.

On average, server managers earn a $35,831 higher salary than formal waiter/waitresses a year.Only some things about these jobs are the same. Take their skills, for example. Formal waiter/waitresses and server managers both require similar skills like "fine dining," "customer complaints," and "customer orders" to carry out their responsibilities.

While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that formal waiter/waitress responsibilities requires skills like "wine," "customer service guidelines," "customer payments," and "quality standards." But a server manager might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "payroll," "pos," and "food orders."

In general, server managers achieve similar levels of education than formal waiter/waitresses. They're 3.9% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Formal waiter/waitress vs. Shift leader and server

A server and certified trainer is a wait staff position who takes orders and serves food and beverages to customers dining in the restaurant. Often known as the lead server, a server and certified trainer provides training to new server trainees to serve customers and handle payments. A server and a certified server should maintain a professional attitude in order to ensure guest satisfaction. He/She or she should also be highly knowledgeable about anything related to the computer system.

An average shift leader and server eans a lower salary compared to the average salary of formal waiter/waitresses. The difference in salaries amounts to shift leader and servers earning a $994 lower average salary than formal waiter/waitresses.By looking over several formal waiter/waitresses and shift leader and servers resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "fine dining," "customer complaints," and "customer orders." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, formal waiter/waitresses are more likely to have skills like "wine," "customer service guidelines," "customer payments," and "quality standards." But a shift leader and server is more likely to have skills like "customer service," "pos," "new servers," and "guest satisfaction."

Shift leader and servers typically earn similar educational levels compared to formal waiter/waitresses. Specifically, they're 2.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Formal waiter/waitress vs. Server and certified trainer

Server and certified trainers average a higher salary than the annual salary of formal waiter/waitresses. The difference is about $4,615 per year.While their salaries may vary, formal waiter/waitresses and server and certified trainers both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "fine dining," "customer complaints," and "customer orders. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between formal waiter/waitresses and server and certified trainers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a formal waiter/waitress might have more use for skills like "wine," "customer service guidelines," "customer payments," and "quality standards." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of server and certified trainers require skills like "customer service," "new servers," "pos," and "guest satisfaction. "

The average resume of server and certified trainers showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to formal waiter/waitresses. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 2.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.2%.

Types of formal waiter/waitress

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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