What does an opener do?
Openers are those who serve as the front line of different establishments. The duties and responsibilities of these professionals include opening stores, cleaning and managing display cases, and promptly assisting customers. They are in charge of handling money on drive-thru and counter registers. It is part of their job to perform routine food service activities for operational procedures and policies. Also, they encourage professionalism, take orders and phone calls, and maintain quality communication.
Opener responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real opener resumes:
- Handle money on front counter and drive-thru registers.
- Provide exceptional customer service by preparing all smoothies, juice bar, and food items in an accurate and timely manner.
- Cashier, clean lobby work drive-thru.
- Ensure the cleanliness of the store prior to daily openings.
- Make sure areas and slicers are keep clean and sanitize.
- Train new team members in FOH operations, serving, cash register.
- Operate POS cash register, handle money, accurately and carefully type out credit card numbers for over the phone orders.
- Ring up groceries, make sure that everything the is on sale rings up on sale if it's on sale.
- Wait on customers, bag groceries, face aisles and end caps, dust, clean counters, run lotto machine.
- Run shift effectively by demonstrating leadership abilities consistently.
- Experience shift lead/manager professional with strong leadership and relationship-building skills.
- Advance to increasingly responsible positions, culminating in management role with oversight for a full-service restaurant.
- Demonstrate effective communication by effectively inputting any turnover into the management system for the next shift leader.
- Perform register close out procedures and monitor checkout stations.
Opener skills and personality traits
We calculated that 25% of Openers are proficient in Cleanliness, Good Time Management, and Taking Care. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Near vision, and Dexterity.
We break down the percentage of Openers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Cleanliness, 25%
Handled money Prepared food Maintained cleanliness of store
- Good Time Management, 21%
Learned good time management by keeping track of call volume.
- Taking Care, 14%
Stay at home mom (3/04 - 5/07) Raising girls and taking care of household responsibilities.
- Food Orders, 9%
Help manager open store Prepare food back-ups Make food orders Clean kitchen/bathroom/dining room Cashier
- Store Opening, 7%
Stocked and replenished specialty items before store opening.
- Customer Service, 4%
Retail and customer service-Quick service restaurant-Baking-Dish washing-Inventory and stocking-4am shift proved too difficult to manage
Most openers use their skills in "cleanliness," "good time management," and "taking care" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential opener responsibilities here:
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for an opener to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "cashiers must pay attention to customers’ questions and explain pricing." Openers often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "demonstrated effective communication by effectively inputting any turnover into the management system for the next shift leader. "
Near vision. Another essential skill to perform opener duties is near vision. Openers responsibilities require that "cashiers need to see well enough to scan items and process transactions accurately." Openers also use near vision in their role according to a real resume snippet: "install garage doors and openers with little or no supervision. "
Dexterity. openers are also known for dexterity, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to opener responsibilities, because "cashiers use their hands to operate registers and scan purchases." An opener resume example shows how dexterity is used in the workplace: "frequentlywashed and sanitized hands, food areas and food preparation tools. "
Customer-service skills. For certain opener responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "customer-service skills." The day-to-day duties of an opener rely on this skill, as "cashiers must be courteous and friendly when helping customers." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what openers do: "worked on front register and drive-thru receiving and inputting customers' orders placed food into the fryers cleaned the store. "
The three companies that hire the most openers are:
- Carrols Restaurant Group1,266 openers jobs
- Chipotle Mexican Grill370 openers jobs
- McDonald's272 openers jobs
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Compare different openers
Opener vs. Front end associate
A front end associate is responsible for processing payment transactions and handling the cash register for the customers. Front end associates inspect the quality of the items, including the labeling, and call for a replacement for any defects immediately. They also respond to the customers' inquiries and concerns, escalate high-level complaints, and issue refunds as necessary. A front end associate verifies the sales reports within the cash register and resolves balance discrepancies before submitting to the attending supervisor.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of an opener are more likely to require skills like "good time management," "taking care," "dependability," and "food orders." On the other hand, a job as a front end associate requires skills like "front end," "kids," "customer transactions," and "groceries." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that front end associates earn slightly differ from openers. In particular, front end associates are 0.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than an opener. Additionally, they're 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Opener vs. Service counter cashier
Cashier/overnight stockers are employees usually working in a retail establishment who are given the dual role of a cashier and an overnight stocker. As cashiers, they are responsible for managing cash boxes, point of sales machines, or cash registers, scanning customers' items for checkout, getting customers' payment, providing change when needed, and ensuring that the cash register's records are accurate. As overnight stockers, they are responsible for stocking store shelves and arranging items on shelves after store hours. They are also responsible for managing and updating the store's inventory, receiving stock deliveries, and notifying managers if there are any items that are low in quantity. They are expected to be physically fit, have organizational skills, and work with integrity.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, opener responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "good time management," "dependability," "store opening," and "front desk." Meanwhile, a service counter cashier has duties that require skills in areas such as "front end," "food preparation," "safety standards," and "computer system." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Service counter cashiers tend to reach similar levels of education than openers. In fact, they're 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Opener vs. Cashier/overnight stock
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, openers are more likely to have skills like "cleanliness," "good time management," "taking care," and "dependability." But a cashier/overnight stock is more likely to have skills like "store shelves," "stock shelves," "pallet jack," and "groceries."
Most cashiers/overnight stock achieve a similar degree level compared to openers. For example, they're 0.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Opener vs. Cashier/deli clerk
Even though a few skill sets overlap between openers and cashier/deli clerks, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, an opener might have more use for skills like "cleanliness," "good time management," "taking care," and "dependability." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of cashier/deli clerks require skills like "sanitation guidelines," "slicers," "hot food," and "groceries. "
The average resume of cashier/deli clerks showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to openers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 0.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.1%.Types of opener
Updated January 8, 2025
