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The differences between restaurant associates and food servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a restaurant associate has an average salary of $29,195, which is higher than the $25,209 average annual salary of a food server.
The top three skills for a restaurant associate include food service, customer service and customer orders. The most important skills for a food server are beverage orders, wine, and cleanliness.
| Restaurant Associate | Food Server | |
| Yearly salary | $29,195 | $25,209 |
| Hourly rate | $14.04 | $12.12 |
| Growth rate | 14% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 64,419 | 125,455 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | High School Diploma, 36% |
| Average age | 37 | 42 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A restaurant associate is responsible for ensuring that the guests receive the highest satisfaction for their dining experience. Restaurant associates entertain and greet guests, assist the dining staff in processing orders, respond to inquiries and concerns, and escalate complaints to the supervisor. They also help management in identifying opportunities that would attract customers by researching current industry trends to develop additional services for generating more revenues. A restaurant associate monitors the stock inventory, create purchase requests, and negotiate with trusted suppliers.
A Food Server specializes in helping customers attain a pleasant dining experience while ensuring to meet all food handling and health regulation standards. Most of the responsibilities revolve around greeting customers and directing them to comfortable seats, responding to their inquires and taking their orders, and courteously suggesting options. Aside from serving meals, Food Servers must also accept payments, organize order receipts, replenish stocks in food containers and drinking stations, and clean tables for the new customers.
Restaurant associates and food servers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Restaurant Associate | Food Server | |
| Average salary | $29,195 | $25,209 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $37,000 | Between $18,000 And $34,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Los Angeles, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | Vermont |
| Best paying company | - | Gettysburg College |
| Best paying industry | - | Retail |
There are a few differences between a restaurant associate and a food server in terms of educational background:
| Restaurant Associate | Food Server | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 37% | High School Diploma, 36% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between restaurant associates' and food servers' demographics:
| Restaurant Associate | Food Server | |
| Average age | 37 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 49.2% Female, 50.8% | Male, 36.0% Female, 64.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.1% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 21.5% Asian, 6.6% White, 54.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.4% Asian, 8.7% White, 60.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 7% |