As a restaurant manager or owner of a food business, it’s your responsibility to hire the best staffers for your team. From kitchen staff like chefs and line cooks to front-of-house workers like hosts, servers, and bartenders, finding the right team members for your restaurant, cafe, or bar is vital. If you’re looking for new servers for your restaurant, it’s worth setting out the server responsibilities in a clear job description.
Writing a server job description involves listing the skills, qualifications, certifications, and experience required for the role. This will ensure job seekers know what to expect from their time as a server in your business.
To help you, we’re doing a deep dive into server responsibilities to show you what servers do and don’t do, with tips and tricks to help you narrow down your server duties. You’ll also find a server job description template you can use when writing your job listing.
A server is a front-of-house (FOH) team member in a restaurant, bar, cafe, or other food and drink business. Server responsibilities can vary from restaurant to restaurant, but most people consider them the main point of contact between the back-of-house (BOH) kitchen team and the customers.
Servers are, in short, the principal members of your wait staff team.
Server responsibilities can differ depending on the type of restaurant you run and the number of FOH employees working in your dining room. If you have food runners in addition to servers, your server responsibilities won’t involve carrying food orders out to tables. But if you have a smaller team with a limited FOH, this type of food service will be a primary server responsibility.
Other server responsibilities include:
Taking customer orders
Engaging with guests in a friendly manner
Table setting
Answering questions about menu items
Running condiments to customers
Taking drink orders to customers
Organizing checks
Taking payments
As you can see, server responsibilities are focused on ensuring a positive customer experience and helping out with anything a guest needs.
Servers have a variety of tasks, but they aren’t responsible for preparing or cooking food, making drinks, or washing up. These responsibilities belong to the chefs, bartenders, and pot washers, respectively.
In some smaller restaurants, responsibilities may blend a little — for example, with bartenders carrying drinks to tables — but these roles are usually kept separate. Think clearly about the kind of restaurant you operate and set out precise responsibilities for each team member.
Now that you better understand possible food server responsibilities, you might wonder what skills a server needs.
Principal server responsibilities are about improving the dining experience for customers. Here is a list of some of the primary skills needed to do this:
Excellent customer service skills
Teamwork
Clear communication skills
A positive attitude
The ability to work in a fast-paced environment
A good memory
Technological aptitude — the ability to use new technology
These are the skills to keep an eye out for when hiring new servers. You should list anything relevant in your job description to attract people with the right skills and qualities.
The hiring process isn’t always easy, so here are three tips to help you find the best servers for your restaurant business.
Hiring managers often specify that new staffers must be qualified to a certain level to get a serving job — and many people believe that those with more advanced qualifications (like a college degree) are better suited to serving roles.
However, solid work experience could be worth more in the hospitality industry. People with server experience might need less training than someone with no experience but a college degree.
Consider whether it’s more important in your business to hire staffers with advanced qualifications or to choose workers with experience. A high school diploma is more than sufficient in most cases if somebody has the expertise and aptitude necessary for the job.
Fine-dining restaurants need high-quality service. Servers who can cope with the demands of a fine-dining environment are likely to be more experienced — they’re probably looking at service as a career. On the other hand, FOH staffers in a quick-service restaurant or casual eatery might consider their role as side work while they study or look for a full-time job.
The type of restaurant you run will significantly impact the server responsibilities in your business. List your priorities and consider the role you want your servers to play.
A clear job description is so important when looking for new hires, but setting out clear job responsibilities is also crucial for existing servers. Writing a detailed service manual for each team member is a good idea. You can include your standard operating procedures and specify the process for taking food orders in your restaurant.
By providing a clear list of server responsibilities, you can rest assured that every team member knows what they’re doing, when, and how.
If you want to write a job posting to appear on job boards and help you search for new servers, use this template to help you create the perfect server job description. We’ve given you sample text that you can use, but feel free to change it up so it fits your restaurant’s needs and brand.
Job title: Food server
Company name: Example Restaurant in Your City
Introduction: We’re looking for a friendly and dynamic food server to join the team at Example Restaurant. This is an excellent opportunity to join an established food-service company with a community feel.
Our restaurant serves some of the best Italian food in the area, and we want to create a customer experience to match. We’re looking for servers with a can-do attitude and excellent interpersonal skills to help our guests have the best possible dining experience.
Server responsibilities:
Seating customers, and providing food and drink menus
Taking orders in a timely manner
Ringing up orders on POS software
Running food to tables
Responding to any special requests from customers
Keeping the dining area clean and tidy
Resetting tables between services with cutlery and napkins
Handling cash, contactless, and credit card payments
Essential requirements and skills:
Reliable, organized, and hard-working
Clear verbal communication skills
Teamwork
Detail-oriented
General math skills
Professionalism
Customer service
Passion for and knowledge of Italian food
Preferred requirements and skills:
Previous work experience as a server in a full-service restaurant
Experience working with POS software or cash register
Knowledge of food safety regulations (further training will be provided)
Benefits:
$15 per hour plus tips
11 days of PTO
Full training
50% discount on food and beverages at all Example Restaurant branches
Free shift meal
If you have a limited FOH team with only a handful of servers, it could be worth investing in a few tools to lighten the load or simplify tasks.
An effective point-of-sale system (POS system) is a great place to start. A POS lets your staffers process orders quickly and efficiently — you won’t need manual checks, as everything is managed on a simple device.
POS software works particularly well in restaurants that use a kitchen display screen (KDS). Install the KDS in your kitchen so that orders placed on the POS show up instantly. Your servers won’t need to carry paper tickets to the BOH team because your chefs will already know what orders they need to cook.
A self-service kiosk could also be an excellent addition to a busy restaurant or one with limited servers. Customers can place and pay for orders themselves, leaving your team free to focus on other things. Apps like KioskBuddy are easy to install and simple to use.
Establishing a clear set of server responsibilities can help your hiring manager find the best server for the job. By including your server responsibilities in your employee handbook, you can also help existing FOH staff know what you expect from them.
The right tools can also lighten your servers’ load. Use KioskBuddy to set up an easy self-ordering system in your restaurant. Customers can place and pay for orders on a tablet, leaving your servers free to focus on other elements of food service.
Sign up for KioskBuddy now and get a 30-day free trial.