Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between server assistants and food servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a server assistant has an average salary of $25,654, which is higher than the $25,209 average annual salary of a food server.
The top three skills for a server assistant include cleanliness, reservations and service stations. The most important skills for a food server are beverage orders, wine, and cleanliness.
| Server Assistant | Food Server | |
| Yearly salary | $25,654 | $25,209 |
| Hourly rate | $12.33 | $12.12 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 194,248 | 125,455 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | High School Diploma, 36% |
| Average age | 39 | 42 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A server assistant, also known as a busser, is a restaurant employee who assists food servers in providing prompt and polite service to their guests. Server assistants are responsible for the preparation of tables for their arriving guests at the same time to help deliver food to tables when the food servers are busy. Aside from entertaining guests, server assistants must ensure that beverages are refilled, menus are sanitized, and process payments. Server assistants must also possess excellent communication and customer service skills.
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.
Server assistants and food servers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Server Assistant | Food Server | |
| Average salary | $25,654 | $25,209 |
| Salary range | Between $19,000 And $33,000 | Between $18,000 And $34,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Los Angeles, CA |
| Highest paying state | Maine | Vermont |
| Best paying company | Pioneer High School | Gettysburg College |
| Best paying industry | Hospitality | Retail |
There are a few differences between a server assistant and a food server in terms of educational background:
| Server Assistant | Food Server | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | High School Diploma, 36% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between server assistants' and food servers' demographics:
| Server Assistant | Food Server | |
| Average age | 39 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 59.2% Female, 40.8% | Male, 36.0% Female, 64.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 7.7% White, 59.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | 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 | 6% | 7% |