Sommelier vs beverage server

The differences between sommeliers and beverage 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 $25,886 average annual salary of a beverage server.

The top three skills for a sommelier include wine, fine dining and POS. The most important skills for a beverage server are drink orders, guest service, and beverage orders.

Sommelier vs beverage server overview

	Sommelier	Beverage Server
Yearly salary	$40,584	$25,886
Hourly rate	$19.51	$12.45
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	1,802	79,100
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 32%
Average age	28	28
Years of experience	-	-

Sommelier vs beverage server salary

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

	Sommelier	Beverage Server
Average salary	$40,584	$25,886
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $68,000	Between $20,000 And $33,000
Highest paying City	New York, NY	-
Highest paying state	New York	-
Best paying company	Del Frisco's Restaurant Group	-
Best paying industry	Hospitality	-

Differences between sommelier and beverage server education

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

	Sommelier	Beverage Server
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 32%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Sommelier vs beverage server demographics

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

	Sommelier	Beverage Server
Average age	28	28
Gender ratio	Male, 68.3% Female, 31.7%	Male, 13.6% Female, 86.4%
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, 11.5% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 19.3% Asian, 8.3% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between sommelier and beverage 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.

Beverage server example responsibilities.

Open and close the register, provide credit card and cash reports, and batches on POS.
Learned more about different liquor, cocktails and wine, drink mixes and special drink of the month.
Work with large amounts of cash as well as credit cards, and knowledge of the POS system.
Present menus to guest, answer and give information about menu items such as wine selections to pair with meal.
Maintain cleanliness in assign section utilizing a silent service approach.
Supervise daily operations to ensure food safety, product preparation, cleanliness standards are maintain.

Sommelier vs beverage server skills

Common sommelier skills

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

Common beverage server skills

Drink Orders, 10%
Guest Service, 9%
Beverage Orders, 8%
Exceptional Guest, 6%
Guest Satisfaction, 5%
Professional Appearance, 5%

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Sommelier
Sommelier vs Beverage Server

Updated January 8, 2025

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