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The differences between head servers and cocktail waitresses can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a head server has an average salary of $111,194, which is higher than the $26,819 average annual salary of a cocktail waitress.
The top three skills for a head server include customer service, new servers and POS. The most important skills for a cocktail waitress are customer service, drink orders, and non-alcoholic beverages.
| Head Server | Cocktail Waitress | |
| Yearly salary | $111,194 | $26,819 |
| Hourly rate | $53.46 | $12.89 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 64,405 | 77,429 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 28 | 28 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A head server is primarily in charge of supervising waiters in a restaurant or similar setting, ensuring customer satisfaction. Aside from leading a team of servers, they also assist customers by offering menus, taking and serving orders, even providing suggestions when needed. Moreover, they usually delegate tasks, manage schedules, respond to inquiries, and address issues and concerns, giving corrective measures. As a head server, it is also essential to lead and encourage the team, all while implementing the restaurant's policies and health standards.
A cocktail waitress, or often called a cocktail server, is a female server who serves alcoholic beverages and food to patrons in nightclubs and bars. Cocktail waitresses are required to interact with customers by taking their food orders, serving them food and drinks, and then processing payments. To serve proper alcoholic drinks to customers, cocktail waitresses must be well informed about the drinks they serve, such as wine, beer, and cocktails. They also assist in checking identification to ensure that customers are of legal age to buy alcoholic drinks.
Head servers and cocktail waitresses have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Head Server | Cocktail Waitress | |
| Average salary | $111,194 | $26,819 |
| Salary range | Between $51,000 And $238,000 | Between $19,000 And $36,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | - |
| Highest paying state | - | - |
| Best paying company | - | - |
| Best paying industry | - | - |
There are a few differences between a head server and a cocktail waitress in terms of educational background:
| Head Server | Cocktail Waitress | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between head servers' and cocktail waitresses' demographics:
| Head Server | Cocktail Waitress | |
| Average age | 28 | 28 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 34.4% Female, 65.6% | Male, 5.7% Female, 94.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 18.7% Asian, 9.3% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 21.6% Asian, 7.8% White, 53.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |