How To Become A Head Server: What It Is and Career Path

What is a head server and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Head servers are the food serving workers at full-service restaurants and other food service establishments. You will train and coordinate junior staff, assign new opening and closing duties, and monitor them through the completion of their shift to make sure customers walk away satisfied. Your duties also include interacting with customers and answering questions regarding ingredients, preparation techniques, and available substitution. Plus, you need to engage customers in a friendly way and deliver the proper food to the right customer. For effectiveness, you should know the menu and make suggestions where it is required. Plus, you will need to prepare checks that itemize and total meal costs and sales taxes.

There is no basic requirement for this job position but some restaurants prefer to hire a high school graduate. You should listen attentively to determine the desires of customers, maintain positivity when dealing with rude customers. You earn an average annual salary of $57,332.

ScoreHead ServerUS Average

Salary

7.9

Avg. Salary $111,194

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.2

Growth rate 10%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.81%

Asian 9.26%

Black or African American 10.99%

Hispanic or Latino 18.65%

Unknown 5.63%

White 54.66%

Gender

female 65.63%

male 34.37%

Age - 25

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 25

Stress level

6.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.1

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

10.0

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a head server

Explore head server education requirements

Most common head server degrees

Bachelor's

49.2 %

High School Diploma

20.6 %

Associate

20.4 %

Start to develop specific head server skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	32.89%
New Servers	8.50%
POS	6.20%
Fine Dining	5.36%
Bartending	3.59%

Complete relevant head server training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New head servers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a head server based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real head server resumes.

Research head server duties and responsibilities

Train and manage all BOH employees.
Manage all servers' end of night cash out and prepare host and bartending tip out.
Manage opening and closing duties, including restocking items and insuring the FOH are clean and shut down correctly.
Manage technical support, business analysis, project management, application development and support, training, and facilitation.

Prepare your head server resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your head server resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a head server resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable head server resume templates

Build a professional head server resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your head server resume.