Waiter Job Description

Job description of a Waiter in hospitality industry. Learn more about working as a Waiter – Waitress.

Entry Requirements

There are no specific entry requirements for waiting staff; experience will count for more particularly if you have experience in a hospitality environment where you are serving customers.

You may also have experience in telesales, marketing or retail where you will have gained transferable skills such as customer communications, sales and working quickly to get jobs done as efficiently as possible. This will be a good basis to start a career as a Waiter or Waitress.

Job Description

Waiting staff at a restaurant, café or a bar will typically take orders from customers and service them at the table. They will take drink and food orders at the table and generally look after them if it’s a restaurant, asking if everything’s ok with their meal and taking any extra drinks orders.

As a waiter or waitress, you will also prepare tables and eating areas and be able to advise customers on menu choices. When customers are ready to leave, you will be expected to prepare bills and take payment for bills.

In a restaurant, you may also be required to provide silver service which is serving main dishes to customers at the table.

Related: Waitress Cover Letter

Working Hours

Waiting staff are usually required during peak times such as lunchtimes and weekends, but this will vary according to the establishment. Part time hours are widely available. For full time staff, 35 hours a week is fairly common and there are usually shift patterns that change according to a rota.

Skills and Training Development

Specialist training is available for silver service and this is a good way to progress in your career as a waiter or waitress.

You will need to be patient, calm under pressure and able to multi task because you will typically be looking after a number of customers in the same time period. You will also need good listening skills because customers may have multiple orders, and you will need to be able to work with the rest of the staff to communicate orders.

You will also need great customer service skills because you will be looking after a wide range of different people each day, and responding to their queries and complaints with diplomacy.

Salary

The starting salary for a waiter or waitress will be around £12,000 and £16,000. Typically there will be the opportunity to earn tips from customers on top of this. For experienced staff, you can expect to earn around £22,000. Opportunities for promotion to a more senior level of staff will bring increased wages, possibly to around £26,000 a year.