Sommelier vs server manager

The differences between sommeliers and server managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a server manager has an average salary of $61,639, which is higher than the $40,584 average annual salary of a sommelier.

The top three skills for a sommelier include wine, fine dining and POS. The most important skills for a server manager are customer service, payroll, and POS.

Sommelier vs server manager overview

	Sommelier	Server Manager
Yearly salary	$40,584	$61,639
Hourly rate	$19.51	$29.63
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	1,802	153,999
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	28	39
Years of experience	-	4

Sommelier vs server manager salary

Sommeliers and server managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Sommelier	Server Manager
Average salary	$40,584	$61,639
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $68,000	Between $23,000 And $162,000
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 server manager education

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

	Sommelier	Server Manager
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Sommelier vs server manager demographics

Here are the differences between sommeliers' and server managers' demographics:

	Sommelier	Server Manager
Average age	28	39
Gender ratio	Male, 68.3% Female, 31.7%	Male, 34.3% Female, 65.7%
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, 10.7% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 17.1% Asian, 8.6% White, 58.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage	6%	10%

Differences between sommelier and server manager 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.

Server manager example responsibilities.

Manage operations of a successful restaurant/hotel business including leadership of client and supplier relationships.
Manage technical support, business analysis, project management, application development and support, training, and facilitation.
Supervise all areas within the restaurant and train all FOH staff in policies and procedures.
Monitor food distribution and restaurant maintenance of FOH and BOH -Handling of financial duties and perform administrative activities
Provide server duties by seating, taking orders and serving guests food and beverage orders using a POS computer service.
General serving and bartending responsibilities.

Sommelier vs server manager skills

Common sommelier skills

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

Common server manager skills

Customer Service, 21%
Payroll, 7%
POS, 6%
Customer Complaints, 6%
Fine Dining, 4%
Food Orders, 3%

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Sommelier vs Server Manager

Updated January 8, 2025

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