Sommelier vs shift leader and server

The differences between sommeliers and shift leader and 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 $24,814 average annual salary of a shift leader and server.

The top three skills for a sommelier include wine, fine dining and POS. The most important skills for a shift leader and server are customer service, POS, and food preparation.

Sommelier vs shift leader and server overview

	Sommelier	Shift Leader And Server
Yearly salary	$40,584	$24,814
Hourly rate	$19.51	$11.93
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	1,802	145,084
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Average age	28	28
Years of experience	-	-

Sommelier vs shift leader and server salary

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

	Sommelier	Shift Leader And Server
Average salary	$40,584	$24,814
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $68,000	Between $19,000 And $31,000
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 shift leader and server education

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

	Sommelier	Shift Leader And Server
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 64%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Sommelier vs shift leader and server demographics

Here are the differences between sommeliers' and shift leader and servers' demographics:

	Sommelier	Shift Leader And Server
Average age	28	28
Gender ratio	Male, 68.3% Female, 31.7%	Male, 32.3% Female, 67.7%
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, 12.0% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 8.3% White, 54.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between sommelier and shift leader and 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.

Shift leader and server example responsibilities.

Provide customers with a great dining experience while serving or bartending.
Accommodate individual needs such as food allergies, drink preferences, and make suggestions.
Coach server team in upselling techniques to maximize ticket totals / high service standards.
Cater to their dining and bartending needs, while suggestively selling new items on the menu.
Recognize for exceeding sales goals on a consistent basis by upselling, suggestively selling and cross-selling.
Create delicious tasting food items and be responsible for knowing how to run the (POS) system.

Sommelier vs shift leader and server skills

Common sommelier skills

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

Common shift leader and server skills

Customer Service, 27%
POS, 7%
Food Preparation, 5%
New Servers, 5%
Customer Complaints, 5%
Guest Satisfaction, 4%

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Sommelier
Sommelier vs Shift Leader And Server

Updated January 8, 2025

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