Sommelier vs banquet server

The differences between sommeliers and banquet servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a sommelier has an average salary of $40,584, which is higher than the $29,017 average annual salary of a banquet server.

The top three skills for a sommelier include wine, fine dining and POS. The most important skills for a banquet server are wine, cleanliness, and food service.

Sommelier vs banquet server overview

	Sommelier	Banquet Server
Yearly salary	$40,584	$29,017
Hourly rate	$19.51	$13.95
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	1,802	125,381
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 41%
Average age	28	28
Years of experience	-	-

Sommelier vs banquet server salary

Sommeliers and banquet servers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Sommelier	Banquet Server
Average salary	$40,584	$29,017
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $68,000	Between $20,000 And $40,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	New York	Massachusetts
Best paying company	Del Frisco's Restaurant Group	Endicott College
Best paying industry	Hospitality	Professional

Differences between sommelier and banquet server education

There are a few differences between a sommelier and a banquet server in terms of educational background:

	Sommelier	Banquet Server
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 41%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Sommelier vs banquet server demographics

Here are the differences between sommeliers' and banquet servers' demographics:

	Sommelier	Banquet Server
Average age	28	28
Gender ratio	Male, 68.3% Female, 31.7%	Male, 37.5% Female, 62.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 21.5% Asian, 9.0% White, 51.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 19.7% Asian, 7.9% White, 54.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between sommelier and banquet server duties and responsibilities

Sommelier example responsibilities.

Manage sales and inventory for premier wine destination restaurant.
Wine, spirits and fine products sale.
Direct guest interaction and up-sell of wine and spirits.
Inventory, purchasing and cost control monitoring, transaction reconciliation, POS programming, payroll, sommelier work.
Purchase wines for one of the largest menu varieties in NYC.
Market wine selections with sales team through upselling or pouring wine product samples for testing.

Banquet server example responsibilities.

Provide professional bartending and hospitality services to optimize customer service experiences for private, corporate, and public events.
Create PowerPoint food presentations for training purposes.
Gain skills in customer dining service, hospitality and compassion.
Analyze BEOs to ensure rooms are prepare each day for schedule events.
Organize and run every event book through cold calling or past guests.
Review BEOs in order to ensure proper room setup and A/V requests are meet.

Sommelier vs banquet server skills

Common sommelier skills

Wine, 44%
Fine Dining, 13%
POS, 5%
Culinary, 5%
Spirits, 4%
Sommeliers, 3%

Common banquet server skills

Wine, 12%
Cleanliness, 10%
Food Service, 9%
Customer Service, 6%
Professional Appearance, 5%
Beverage Service, 5%

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Sommelier vs Banquet Server

Updated January 8, 2025

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