What does a waitress do?
Waitresses are responsible for ensuring that guests are given proper attention during their visit to the restaurant. They guide guests to their table, provide menu boards, answer any questions the guests may have, take the guests' order, and communicate the order to the kitchen. Once the order is ready, waitresses collect the food from the kitchen and serve it to the guests. They then give guests time to finish their meal. Upon the guests' request, waitresses bring them their bill and wait for them to finish paying up. Once the guests leave, waitresses are responsible for ensuring that the table is ready for the next guests.
Waitress responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real waitress resumes:
- Manage a recurring book of business of top VIP clients secure through networking.
- Relay orders to bar and kitchen by quickly and accurately recording guest selections and keying them into the POS computer system.
- wait tables, handle money, exceed guest expectations, serve food and drinks, micros, clean, side work.
- Increase store sales by upselling merchandise.
- Enter order/payment information into micros system, deliver receipt and change to the customer.
- Bring wine selections to tables with appropriate glasses, and pour the wines for customers.
- Prepare hot, cold, and mix drinks for patrons, and chill bottles of wine.
- Oversee front wait-staff for scheduling and carrying out opening and closing responsibilities of restaurant and bartending duties.
- Greet guest, take orders in a prompt and accurate manner while upselling to increase restaurant sales.
- Cook, waitress, hostess, bartend and dish wash at fine dining, full service supper club.
- Handle all aspects of bar service which include general bartending services, bar restocking and end of night balancing.
- Train new employees including servers and dishwashers while maintaining the daily operation of the dining room and dish room.
- Operate large-volume cooking equipment such as grills, deep-fat fryers, and griddles, while working on multiple orders simultaneously.
- Process several transactions using POS system efficiently.
- Perform preventative and regular maintenance on dishwashers and ovens.
Waitress skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Waitresses are proficient in Food Orders, Food Preparation, and Customer Orders. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Customer-service skills, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Waitresses that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Food Orders, 13%
Take detailed orders and deliver prepared food orders to consumers expediently.
- Food Preparation, 9%
Prepared food quickly and efficiently, ensuring proper food preparation and sanitary procedures were maintained.
- Customer Orders, 8%
Received and processed customer orders, Maintained food quality assurance, and provided excellent customer service.
- POS, 7%
Operated POS system and telephone system Maintained timely/professional service to customers in all situations Formed strong work relationships
- Drink Orders, 5%
Processed food and drink orders electronically.
- Customer Service, 5%
Provided high-quality customer service by monitoring and maintaining guest amenities, including guest mini-fridges and bars and formal/traditional place settings.
"food orders," "food preparation," and "customer orders" are among the most common skills that waitresses use at work. You can find even more waitress responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a waitress to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "waiters and waitresses must listen to customers, ask questions as needed, and relay information to the kitchen staff so that orders are prepared to the customers’ satisfaction." Additionally, a waitress resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "stock server stations take care of guests effective communication skills"
Customer-service skills. Another essential skill to perform waitress duties is customer-service skills. Waitresses responsibilities require that "waiters and waitresses are frontline workers for their restaurant." Waitresses also use customer-service skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "prepare operating equipment for customer service, set tables for guests, take food and drink orders and check on customer satisfaction"
Detail oriented. This is an important skill for waitresses to perform their duties. For an example of how waitress responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "waiters and waitresses must record customers’ orders accurately." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a waitress: "created detailed lists and menus outlining food allergies and dietaryconcerns with reference to menu items. ".
Physical strength. waitress responsibilities often require "physical strength." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "waiters and waitresses need to be able to lift and carry trays of food or other items." This resume example shows what waitresses do with physical strength on a typical day: "interacted professionally with customers and staff; cleaned and prepared tables for opening; strengthened the quality of food service. "
The three companies that hire the most waitresss are:
- Buffalo Wild Wings107 waitresses jobs
- Red Lobster77 waitresses jobs
- Sodexo Management, Inc.61 waitresses jobs
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Compare different waitresses
Waitress vs. Food runner
Food Runners are responsible for assisting waitstaff on serving customers at a restaurant or similar establishment. Among their duties include maintaining cleanliness in particular areas, setting tables, refilling drinks, assisting customers with everything that they need, and coordinating with the workforce in and out of the kitchen. Furthermore, Food Runners need to ensure that all deliveries are accurate according to what is ordered by a customer. It is essential to stay presentable and helpful at all times as the main priority is customer satisfaction.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, waitress responsibilities require skills like "waiter," "sales taxes," "computer system," and "order slips." Meanwhile a typical food runner has skills in areas such as "cleanliness," "wine," "culinary," and "food handling." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Food runners tend to make the most money working in the hospitality industry, where they earn an average salary of $26,747. In contrast, waitresses make the biggest average salary, $25,414, in the hospitality industry.The education levels that food runners earn slightly differ from waitresses. In particular, food runners are 0.3% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a waitress. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Waitress vs. Customer service and serving
Also called food servers, restaurant servers perform food preparation, cleaning duties, and customer service in casual dining eateries and restaurants. The food servers stock supplies, handle credit cards and the cash register, and clean restaurant counters and tables. They provide assistance to restaurant patrons to take orders, deliver food, and answer customer questions. The skills they need include trustworthiness, organization, customer relations, and communication skills.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real waitress resumes. While waitress responsibilities can utilize skills like "waiter," "sales taxes," "bus tables," and "food stations," customer service and servings use skills like "strong customer service," "bartending," "professional attitude," and "new servers."
Customer service and servings earn similar levels of education than waitresses in general. They're 1.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Waitress vs. Restaurant server
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.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from waitress resumes include skills like "waiter," "bus tables," "food stations," and "customers food," whereas a restaurant server is more likely to list skills in "wine," "kids," "exceptional dining," and "cleanliness. "
Restaurant servers make a very good living in the agriculture industry with an average annual salary of $26,207. On the other hand, waitresses are paid the highest salary in the hospitality industry, with average annual pay of $25,414.When it comes to education, restaurant servers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to waitresses. In fact, they're 1.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Waitress vs. Food server
Types of waitress
Updated January 8, 2025
