Food and Beverage Server Job Description Sample, Duties and Responsibilities

Food and Beverage Server Job Description Sample, Duties and Responsibilities

If you like working with people and making them happy, or love being surrounded by delicious foods and drinks, you might be ready for a server job.

What Does a Food and Beverage Server Do?

Servers are the people in the front lines of food and beverage customer service; they take orders, deliver food, clean up and reset the table afterwards. Be it a casual dining place or a service restaurant, servers are the smiling, aproned agents of deliciousness.

According to Medium, a good food and beverage server will ensure exceptional customer service to their organization’s patrons by been polite, respectful, and attentive in taking their orders correctly. They will strive tto make each customer feel special and ensure they leave with a positive impression of their organization.

The food and beverage server job description includes making sure the orders are right, the food comes out as quickly as possible, each person has enough wet-naps, and you can roll a mean fork, as well as spoon and knife in a napkin, though these at times can depend on the type of responsibilities you get.

In some server jobs, you get paid a flat rate and also earn tips from customers; in this case, the monies are either kept by the individual or pooled and divided equally by all of the servers working.

The average income of servers depends on situations like country or location. For example, in the United States, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) confirmed that in 2010 alone, the average pay for waiters and waitresses was $8.81 an hour, tips included, totaling $18,330 a year.

As an entry level server, no education is required to start and much of your earnings will be done on-the-job.

You must be 18 and/or older to serve alcohol; this also depends on state or location. In some higher end restaurants, you would have to undergo more training, whilst you can also seek other relevant training at restaurant associations or trade schools to advance your career.

Food and Beverage Server Job Description Sample

Here is a sample of a food and beverage server job description, listing important duties, tasks, and responsibilities normally performed by most people who work as servers.

• Greet customers, make suggestions, answer and present the menu
• Answer all questions about beverages and the food
• Take orders and send them to kitchen staff through the POS system
• Ensure quality service in the dining room and serve meals
• Prepare and serve dessert
• Prepare the bills for beverages and meals ordered, take the cash and make change, and then balance daily transactions
• Take reservations and greet the take-out counter customers
• Use sales techniques to retain customers and attract more
• Apply health regulations relating to cleanliness
• Apply safety regulations
• Comply with equipment usage guidelines
• Comply with maintenance guidelines for the restaurant
• Ensure your work area is clean
• Organize your work and work area professionally
• Clean and clear the dining room tables
• Do all other tasks as required by the supervisor.

Download job description template.

Making Food and Beverage Server Resume

A resume for seeking a job as a server of food and beverage can be made by utilizing the job description example provided above in writing the professional experience part of the resume.

Requirements – Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities – for the Post of Food and Beverage Server

The following skills, abilities, and knowledge are usually required that individuals vying for the position of servers in restaurants should possess before they are considered for the job by employers.

These qualities have been proven to aid servers to be effective on the job of serving foods and beverages.

• Ability to tell customers about specials
• Ability to listen to the customer’s order and relay it to the cooks
• Great listening and speaking skills for creating a great dining experience for customers
• Customer service skills
• Ability to remember food and drink specials in situations where big and complicated orders happen
• A good memory to help remember various kinds of orders
• A good stamina and ability to stand for long hours while serving customers
• Being a team player is essential
• Must be clean, for no one wants their food delivered by a slob.

Food and Beverage Server Employment

According to Zippia, the number of food and beverage servers currently employed in the United States is 1,378,736.

Women have the larger number of food and beverage servers in employment ( 965,115) while men are 413,621.

By race grouping, Whites have the largest number of food and beverage servers in employment, followed by Hispanics, Blacks, and Asians, at 707,292, 301,943,   154,418, and 122,708 employments respectively.

The industries with the highest employments for food and beverage servers include hospitality, 978,903, and media, 68,937.

Food and Beverage Servers Salary

According to a 2023 salary report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, food and beverage servers and other related job titles earned $14.29 per hour and $29,710 per year on the average.

Servers may also earn tips from patrons, which can help in boosting their salaries.

The best industries for food and beverage servers in the United States in 2023 included healthcare and social assistance and educational services; state, local, and private, which paid averagely $16.17 and $16.04 per hour respectively.

References:

bls.gov, medium.com, zippia.com

Resources for Food and Beverage Servers

We have provided useful resources to help improve your knowledge of the hospitality industry and develop your food and beverage server career:

Professional Organizations

Useful Blogs

Valuable Books