Food Server Resume Skills (With Templates And Examples)

Food servers communicate with customers at eateries to understand their dietary requests and offer fast service. Suggesting dishes based on their food preferences and offering expert customer service are resume skills that can help you get a job as a server. Understanding important food server skills can help you create an effective resume. In this article, we discuss common skills food servers have, provide ways to improve and demonstrate them at the workplace and explain how to highlight them in your resume.

What Are Food Server Resume Skills?

Food server resume skills describe your capabilities as a server taking orders and providing customers with a memorable dining experience. As a food server, you may connect with customers and solve their queries about the menu. This may include explaining the preparation style of a dish or talking about how the restaurant sources and cooks the ingredients. You may also be responsible for maintaining hygiene on tables and chairs.

Additional skills food servers usually have are:

• Multitasking to assist customers, managers and kitchen staff

• Attention to detail when taking orders

• Team working etiquette for setting tables according to the number of guests

• Problem-solving to suggest beverage or dessert pairings for customers with limited taste preferences

• Stamina for transferring food from the kitchen to the table and assisting the additional hotel staff

• Basic maths for delivering and collecting bills in cash or through card machines

• Quality communication while noting special preparation requests

Related: Careers In Hotel Management: Skills, Jobs And Salaries

How To Add Food Server Skills To Your Resume

Following these steps can help to highlight your food server skills on your resume:

1. Review the job description

Studying the job description carefully may inform you of the best-suited skills to perform well during your employment. Look at the job's responsibilities and understand how you can contribute through your education and past work experience. Some food serving positions might require a high level of expertise in interacting with customers, while other opportunities may demand table-setting skills. Based on the requirement, you can decide whether to focus on your communication skills as a food server or highlight your knowledge of placing cutlery, serving dishes expertly or folding and positioning table napkins.

2. Highlight skills in your professional summary section

Use the professional summary section to explain which part of your skill set applies to the job role. Be clear and highlight the skills most suitable for the job description. Try explaining to the employer how you plan to apply these skills to meet the job's demands. Since this section is your first chance to mention your skills in a job application, keep it only two to three sentences long. Briefly mention what skills your prior education and jobs taught you. Talk about your intention to adapt these skills to display a high performance during your tenure.

Related: What Does A Caterer Do? (And How To Become One)

3. Mention how you used your skills in the work experience section

The work experience section can help elaborate on how your skills assisted a company's operations and convinced customers to revisit the restaurant. Use bulletins to state your contributions as a food server, whether in the kitchen or around tables. You can focus on how your skills simplified the manager's task and improved the experience of the hospitality team and customers. For example, talk about your proficiency in explaining to customers the constituents of a dish, generating and collecting bills and offering a premium dining experience through your hospitality skills.

4. Add them to the skills section

Job candidates can use the skills section to highlight their technical and soft skills. Use the technical skills section to mention your food ordering and reservation software proficiency. This can convince the employer of your ability to adapt to software updates and leverage the advantages of digitising the customer's hospitality experience. Adding soft skills ensures the employer can trust your capability to register customer opinions on dishes and transfer this information to chefs. As this section requires very brief descriptions, adding accurate keywords might help your resume appear in search engines and attract the attention of multiple employers.

Related: How To Become A Waiter: A Guide With Duties And Skills

Template Of A Food Server Resume

[First name] [Last name], [Degree or certification if applicable]

[Phone number] | [Email address] | [City], [State]

Professional Summary

[Two to three sentences that highlight years of experience, relevant skills, education or certifications and achievements as a professional.]

Experience

(For the most recent role, list 5 experience items. For previous roles, list 3.)

[Job Title] | [Employment dates]

[Company Name] | [City], [State]

• (strong verb) + what you did (more detail) + reason, outcome or quantified results.

• [job duty]

• [job duty]

• [job duty]

• [job duty]

[Job Title] | [Employment dates]

[Company Name] | [City], [State]

• (strong verb) + what you did (more detail) + reason, outcome or quantified results.

• [job duty]

• [job duty]

Skills

[Category]: [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill]

[Category]: [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill] | [Skill]

Education

[Degree and major], [Name of school or university]

[Certification name], [Host organisation] - [Year completed or expiration date]

Related: Types Of Restaurant Jobs (With Salaries And Duties)

Examples Of Food Server Skills On A Resume

Here are example resumes to highlight your food server skills in the work experience and skills section:

Example of a food server resume for entry-level candidates

Here is an example resume for a new food server:

Mit Shah, BBA in Hospitality, Travel and Tourism

+91-9876597975| m.shah@email.com |Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Professional Summary

Looking to secure a job as a food server and apply my hospitality skill set which I developed over the past four years of experience while working in multiple restaurants. Skilled in customer service, knowledge of food safety regulations and suggesting pairings of beverages and meals based on the customer's dietary palette.

Education

BBA, Hospitality, Travel and Tourism | 2017, May

Dravid School of Hospitality Application and Innovation

Intermediate Hospitality Training Certification, Teach For Growth - 2018

Experience

Junior Food Server | 2019, July - 2021, April

Tasties Foodhall | Mumbai, Maharashtra

• Managed customer orders in the air-conditioned section

• Recommended customers on suitable dishes

• Improved customer satisfaction rates by reducing the average delivery time from the kitchen to the table

• Collected customer feedback and assisted the kitchen staff in menu iterations

• Guided interns on table setups based on different meals

Food Runner | 2018, May - 2019, June

Mighty House of Delights | Mandi, Himachal Pradesh

• Implemented dish presentation methods on the table

• Updated signboards on offers based on timings

• Delivered food from the kitchen to the customer's table

Skills

Technical skills: Point of sales systems | Generating and calculating bills | Software for updating digital menus | Managing devices for transferring orders to kitchen staff | Reservation systems

Soft skills: Effective communication | Multilingual | Basic mathematics | Problem-solving | Attention to detail

Related: How To Become A Hotel Receptionist: A Complete Guide

Example of a food server resume for experienced candidates

Dave Sandhu, Masters in International Hospitality

782-785-9919 | d.sandhu@email.com | Chennai, Tamil Nadu

Professional Summary

Searching for a food server's job in a 5-star hotel serving luxury-class customers in India. Skilled in managing kitchen staff and offering premium on-table hospitality to customers from the luxury class.

Experience

Food Serving Head | 2021, May - 2022, June

Scarlton Chain of Hotels | Nagpur, Maharashtra

• Communicated with chefs for personalised food requests

• Managed 11 food serving experts on different schedules

• Designed country-specific menus for displays

• Served customers from 20+ countries

• Ideated new table setup configurations for 6-course meals

Table Setting Specialist | 2020, August - 2021, April

Yama Luxury Hotel | Darjeeling, West Bengal

• Decorated tables with lines, glasses and silverware

• Escorted premium customers to tables

• Privatised tables for special occasions

Skills

Technical skills: Food allergy awareness | Fire safety regulations | Resolving QR code issues | Billing software | Card machine expertise

Soft skills: Upselling | Guest relations | Service recovery | Multilingual | Problem-solving

Education

Masters in International Hospitality | Blue Sea University

Bachelors in Hospitality Management | Lord School of Hospitality and Management Education

Expert Hospitality Management Certification, Serving For Growth - 2016