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The differences between lead servers and cocktail waitresses can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a lead server has an average salary of $28,677, which is higher than the $26,819 average annual salary of a cocktail waitress.
The top three skills for a lead server include customer service, new servers and fine dining. The most important skills for a cocktail waitress are customer service, drink orders, and non-alcoholic beverages.
| Lead Server | Cocktail Waitress | |
| Yearly salary | $28,677 | $26,819 |
| Hourly rate | $13.79 | $12.89 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 123,215 | 77,429 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 49% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 28 | 28 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A lead server is responsible for assisting the guests' needs, responding to their inquiries, and immediately addressing their dining concerns. Lead servers ensure the timely and accurate serving of orders, offering promotional menus and other additional services. Lead servers must have excellent communication skills to interact with the guests, as well as time-management and multitasking skills to perform duties in the fast-paced environment. They also help in developing strategic procedures and food menu recommendations by researching on the latest food trends in the industry to generate revenues and attract more customers.
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.
Lead servers and cocktail waitresses have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Lead Server | Cocktail Waitress | |
| Average salary | $28,677 | $26,819 |
| Salary range | Between $11,000 And $70,000 | Between $19,000 And $36,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | - |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | - |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | - |
| Best paying industry | Hospitality | - |
There are a few differences between a lead server and a cocktail waitress in terms of educational background:
| Lead 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 lead servers' and cocktail waitresses' demographics:
| Lead Server | Cocktail Waitress | |
| Average age | 28 | 28 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 37.5% Female, 62.5% | Male, 5.7% Female, 94.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 19.7% Asian, 8.7% White, 53.7% 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% |