Restaurant wait staff and hosts and hostesses ensure dining customers have a satisfying experience. Waiters and waitresses, also called servers, take orders and serve food and beverages to customers in dining establishments. Restaurant hosts and hostesses greet customers and manage reservations and waiting lists. Servers may meet with supervisors to learn details about the menu and discuss food safety concerns. When serving alcohol, servers check customers’ identification to verify their age. In casual-dining restaurants, fast, efficient, courteous service is the priority, while in fine-dining establishments, servers and host staff emphasize personal, attentive treatment at a more leisurely pace. Some servers work in places other than restaurants. They may deliver meals to hotel or hospital rooms or even bring orders to customers in parked cars. Wait staff and hosts and hostesses are on their feet most of the time, and may carry heavy trays and hot plates. Even during fast-paced times, they must ensure that customers receive prompt service. Part-time work is very common, often with morning or evening shifts, including weekends and holidays. Some establishments are only open seasonally. In some restaurants, host staff are required to wear formal attire, and wait staff wear uniforms. Wait staff typically learn through on-the-job training with experienced servers, and in most cases, there are no specific education or experience requirements. Some states require safety training for staff who handle food.
What they do:
Serve food to individuals outside of a restaurant environment, such as in hotel rooms, hospital rooms, residential care facilities, or cars.
On the job, you would:
Examine trays to ensure that they contain required items.
Place food servings on plates or trays according to orders or instructions.
Monitor food distribution, ensuring that meals are delivered to the correct recipients and that guidelines, such as those for special diets, are followed.
Knowledge
Arts and Humanities
English language
Business
customer service
Skills
Basic Skills
keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements
listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
Social
looking for ways to help people
Abilities
Verbal
listen and understand what people say
communicate by speaking
Hand and Finger Use
keep your arm or hand steady
Personality
People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.
They do well at jobs that need:
Integrity
Cooperation
Social Orientation
Self Control
Dependability
Stress Tolerance
Technology
You might use software like this on the job:
Data base user interface and query software
CBORD Nutrition Service Suite
Picis CareSuite Dietary Manager
Enterprise resource planning ERP software
Capital Codeworks MenuMax
Office suite software
Microsoft Office
Education
no high school diploma/GED or high school diploma/GED usually needed
Job Outlook
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.