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The differences between restaurant managers and servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a restaurant manager has an average salary of $52,202, which is higher than the $29,901 average annual salary of a server.
The top three skills for a restaurant manager include customer service, guest satisfaction and food handling. The most important skills for a server are wine, customer service, and guest satisfaction.
| Restaurant Manager | Server | |
| Yearly salary | $52,202 | $29,901 |
| Hourly rate | $25.10 | $14.38 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 225,340 | 162,734 |
| Job satisfaction | 1 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Average age | 39 | 28 |
| Years of experience | 4 | - |
A restaurant manager is responsible for handling the overall restaurant operations. These include monitoring revenues and daily restaurant sales, checking inventories and supplies, negotiating with third-party vendors, and managing customers' inquiries and complaints. Other duties include creating promotional offers, developing and improving sales strategies, organizing staff duties, maintaining the highest sanitary standards for everyone's strict compliance, and controlling operational expenses. A restaurant manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills and exceptional knowledge of food industry management.
A server is a restaurant employee assigned to the main dining area of the restaurant to primarily attend to the customer's needs. Servers assist guests to their tables, wait for the guests to be ready with their orders, and take the guests' orders. They should be knowledgeable about the restaurant's offerings since they should be able to answer any questions asked by the guests regarding the menu. They communicate the guests' orders to the kitchen crew and serve the orders once they are ready. Once the guests are finished eating, servers provide their bills upon their request and clean up the table when they leave. Servers should have excellent customer service skills and hospitality management skills.
Restaurant managers and servers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Restaurant Manager | Server | |
| Average salary | $52,202 | $29,901 |
| Salary range | Between $39,000 And $69,000 | Between $21,000 And $42,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New Hampshire | New York |
| Best paying company | Hillstone Restaurant Group | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Hospitality | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between a restaurant manager and a server in terms of educational background:
| Restaurant Manager | Server | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Cornell University | - |
Here are the differences between restaurant managers' and servers' demographics:
| Restaurant Manager | Server | |
| Average age | 39 | 28 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.5% Female, 45.5% | Male, 32.0% Female, 68.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.9% Asian, 9.4% White, 55.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 12.0% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 19.4% Asian, 8.2% White, 54.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 6% |