One specific resume challenge you may face as a food server is adequately conveying your customer service skills and ability to work in a fast-paced environment. Our guide will provide you with targeted advice on how to highlight these crucial skills to make your application stand out to potential employers.
- Format your food server resume to ensure that it balances professionalism with creativity, and follows the best practices.
- Match the food server job requirements by including industry keywords on your resume.
- Use various resume sections to showcase your skills and achievements to answer why you're the best candidate for the food server role.
Take inspiration from leading food server resume examples to learn how to tailor your experience.
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Professional food server resume format advice
Achieving the most suitable resume format can at times seem like a daunting task at hand.
Which elements are most important to recruiters?
In which format should you submit your resume?
How should you list your experience?
Unless specified otherwise, here's how to achieve a professional look and feel for your resume.
- Present your experience following the reverse-chronological resume format . It showcases your most recent jobs first and can help recruiters attain a quick glance at how your career has progressed.
- The header is the must-have element for your resume. Apart from your contact details, you could also include your portfolio and a headline, that reflects on your current role or a distinguishable achievement.
- Select relevant information to the role, that should encompass no more than two pages of your resume.
- Download your resume in PDF to ensure that its formatting stays intact.
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List your educational qualifications and certifications in reverse chronological order.
Don't forget to include these six sections on your food server resume:
- Header and summary for your contact details and to highlight your alignment with the food server job you're applying for
- Experience section to get into specific technologies you're apt at using and personal skills to deliver successful results
- Skills section to further highlight how your profile matches the job requirements
- Education section to provide your academic background
- Achievements to mention any career highlights that may be impressive, or that you might have missed so far in other resume sections
What recruiters want to see on your resume:
- Previous experience in food service or a related customer service role.
- Knowledge of food safety and handling procedures.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills for interacting with customers.
- Ability to multitask and handle high-volume work environments efficiently.
- Flexibility with work hours and ability to work in a team-based setting.
Guide to your most impressive food server resume experience section
When it comes to your resume experience , stick to these simple, yet effective five steps:
- Show how your experience is relevant by including your responsibility, skill used, and outcome/-s;
- Use individual bullets to answer how your experience aligns with the job requirements;
- Think of a way to demonstrate the tangible results of your success with stats, numbers, and/or percentages ;
- Always tailor the experience section to the food server role you're applying for - this may sometimes include taking out irrelevant experience items;
- Highlight your best (and most relevant) achievements towards the top of each experience bullet.
You're not alone if you're struggling with curating your experience section. That's why we've prepared some professional, real-life food server resume samples to show how to best write your experience section (and more).
- Efficiently managed a team of 4 junior servers, improving overall service speed by 20% through meticulous scheduling and shift planning.
- Pioneered a customer feedback system at The Cheesecake Factory, leading to an enhanced dining experience and a 15% increase in repeat customers.
- Developed a training module for new menu items that increased staff members' upselling effectiveness, contributing to a revenue boost of 10%.
- Mastered the use of POS systems and digital order tracking, resulting in a 30% decrease in order errors at Olive Garden.
- Coordinated large party reservations, ensuring seamless service for groups up to 50 people and enhancing overall event satisfaction.
- Performed daily inventory assessments to minimize waste by 25%, directly affecting the restaurant’s cost-efficiency metrics.
- Implemented a novel tableside payment process at Red Lobster, which reduced table turnover time by 15% and increased customer convenience.
- Cultivated a culture of teamwork by leading a peer-mentoring program, which improved employee retention by 20% over two years.
- Engaged in weekly meetings with the management team to strategize on enhancing dining ambiance and overall customer experience.
- Played a key role in a promotional campaign at Outback Steakhouse, which lifted sales of featured steaks by an average of 35% month-over-month.
- Drove a wine pairing initiative that saw a 50% increase in wine sales by educating guests on suitable wine choices for their meals.
- Implemented sustainable service practices, reducing the use of single-use plastics by 40% and supporting the restaurant's eco-friendly brand image.
- Spearheaded a customer loyalty program at Buffalo Wild Wings, garnering a 25% loyalty sign-up rate among diners within its first quarter.
- Collaborated closely with the kitchen staff to streamline order processes, slashing average wait times by 10 minutes.
- Leveraged social media platforms to promote weekly specials, directly influencing a 20% uplift in orders for promoted items.
- Orchestrated a seasonal menu rollout at Chili's Grill & Bar, elevating customer engagement by featuring farm-to-table concepts and drawing in a 30% increase in foot traffic.
- Facilitated a partnership with local food bloggers that augmented online visibility and translated to a 20% growth in weekday dinner service.
- Introduced bilingual menu descriptions, improving service to non-English speaking customers and contributing to a broader customer base.
- Expertly balanced multiple roles, including server and host, at Texas Roadhouse, accommodating over 200 guests per shift while maintaining high customer service standards.
- Co-developed a staff incentive program that led to a 15% improvement in cross-selling appetizers and desserts, directly boosting average ticket values.
- Volunteered to organize weekly staff training sessions on guest service techniques, fostering a team environment and enhancing the dining experience.
- Enabled a smooth transition to a paperless order management system at Applebee's, cutting order processing time by 20% and improving kitchen efficiency.
- Designed a themed dinner event schedule that attracted a diverse clientele and saw a 25% increase in reservations during typically slow mid-week evenings.
- Provided dietary-specific menu consultations, significantly heightening guest satisfaction and compliance with dietary restrictions.
Quantifying impact on your resume
- Include the average number of tables you manage per shift to demonstrate your ability to handle volume and multitask efficiently.
- Specify the average guest check size or total sales you generate on a typical night to show your contribution to revenue.
- State the percentage by which you increased upselling of desserts or beverages to highlight your salesmanship and persuasiveness.
- Mention the number of regular customers you have cultivated to prove your skill in building customer loyalty and repeat business.
- List any cost-cutting suggestions you implemented that led to a percentage decrease in waste or overhead costs.
- Reference the number of menu items you can accurately describe, including ingredients and preparation methods, to demonstrate product knowledge.
- Document any training or mentoring you provided, quantifying how many new staff members you helped onboard.
- Detail specific customer service accolades or recognition you've received, noting any quantifiable impacts such as improved customer satisfaction scores.
Action verbs for your food server resume
Guide for food server professionals kicking off their career
Who says you can't get that food server job, even though you may not have that much or any experience? Hiring managers have a tendency to hire the out-of-the-blue candidate if they see role alignment. You can show them why you're the best candidate out there by:
- Selecting the functional skill-based or hybrid formats to spotlight your unique value as a professional
- Tailoring your food server resume to always include the most important requirements, found towards the top of the job ad
- Substituting the lack of experience with other relevant sections like achievements, projects, and research
- Pinpoint both achievements and how you see yourself within this specific role in the food server resume objective.
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Always remember that your food server certifications can be quantified across different resume sections, like your experience, summary, or objective. For example, you could include concise details within the expertise bullets of how the specific certificate has improved your on-the-job performance.
Bringing your food server hard skills and soft skills to the forefront of recruiters' attention
Hard skills are used to define the technological (and software) capacities you have in the industry. Technical skills are easily defined via your certification and expertise.
Soft skills have more to do with your at-work personality and how you prosper within new environments. People skills can be obtained thanks to your whole life experience and are thus a bit more difficult to define.
Why do recruiters care about both types of skills?
Hard skills have more to do with job alignment and the time your new potential employers would have to invest in training you.
Soft skills hint at how well you'd adapt to your new environment, company culture, and task organization.
Fine-tune your resume to reflect on your skills capacities and talents:
- Avoid listing basic requirements (e.g. "Excel"), instead substitute with the specifics of the technology (e.g. "Excel Macros").
- Feature your workplace values and ethics as soft skills to hint at what matters most to you in a new environment.
- Build a separate skills section for your language capabilities, only if it makes sense to the role you're applying for.
- The best way to balance food server hard and soft skills is by building a strengths or achievements section, where you define your outcomes via both types of skills.
There are plenty of skills that could make the cut on your resume.
That's why we've compiled for you some of the most wanted skills by recruiters, so make sure to include the technologies and soft skills that make the most sense to you (and the company you're applying for):
Top skills for your food server resume:
Food and Beverage Knowledge
Point of Sale (POS) System Operation
Order Taking
Table Setting and Clearing
Food Safety Compliance
Payment Processing
Menu Memorization
Beverage Service Techniques
Tray Carrying
Basic Accounting
Active Listening
Effective Communication
Customer Service
Problem-Solving
Multitasking
Teamwork
Stress Management
Adaptability
Patience
Attention to Detail
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If the certificate you've obtained is especially vital for the industry or company, include it as part of your name within the resume headline.
Food Server-specific certifications and education for your resume
Place emphasis on your resume education section . It can suggest a plethora of skills and experiences that are apt for the role.
- Feature only higher-level qualifications, with details about the institution and tenure.
- If your degree is in progress, state your projected graduation date.
- Think about excluding degrees that don't fit the job's context.
- Elaborate on your education if it accentuates your accomplishments in a research-driven setting.
On the other hand, showcasing your unique and applicable industry know-how can be a literal walk in the park, even if you don't have a lot of work experience.
Include your accreditation in the certification and education sections as so:
- Important industry certificates should be listed towards the top of your resume in a separate section
- If your accreditation is really noteworthy, you could include it in the top one-third of your resume following your name or in the header, summary, or objective
- Potentially include details about your certificates or degrees (within the description) to show further alignment to the role with the skills you've attained
- The more recent your professional certificate is, the more prominence it should have within your certification sections. This shows recruiters you have recent knowledge and expertise
At the end of the day, both the education and certification sections hint at the initial and continuous progress you've made in the field.
And, honestly - that's important for any company.
Below, discover some of the most recent and popular Food Server certificates to make your resume even more prominent in the applicant pool:
The top 5 certifications for your food server resume:
- ServSafe Food Handler (SFH) - National Restaurant Association
- TIPS (Training for Intervention ProcedureS) Certification - Health Communications, Inc.
- Certified Food & Beverage Executive (CFBE) - American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute
- Food Safety Manager Certification (FSMC) - National Registry of Food Safety Professionals
- First Aid, CPR & AED Certification - American Red Cross or American Heart Association
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If you happen to have some basic certificates, don't invest too much of your food server resume real estate in them. Instead, list them within the skills section or as part of your relevant experience. This way you'd ensure you meet all job requirements while dedicating your certificates to only the most in-demand certification across the industry.
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The ideal food server candidate resume summary or objective
You may have heard that your resume top one-third plays an important part in your application.
It basically needs to show strong alignment with the job advert, your unique skill set, and your expertise.
Both the resume summary and resume objective could be used to ensure you've shown why you're the best candidate for the role.
Use the:
- Resume objective to pinpoint your current successes, that are applicable to the field, and your vision for your career. Remember to state how you see yourself growing within this new career opportunity.
- Resume summary as an instrument to pinpoint what is most applicable and noteworthy form your professional profile. Keep your summary to be no more than five sentences long.
At the end of the day, the resume summary or objective is your golden opportunity to shine a light on your personality as a professional and the unique value of what it's like to work with you.
Get inspired with these food server resume examples:
Resume summaries for a food server job
- With over eight years of experience in fine dining establishments in bustling New York City, I am adept at balancing customer service with high-volume table management. Possessing fluent knowledge of wine pairings and a track record of increasing guest check averages through strategic upselling techniques, I have successfully led a team to achieve the "Best Service" award in a prestigious local guide.
- Bringing a solid five-year background from the energetic Miami restaurant scene, I have honed skills in expedited service delivery with particular expertise in mixology and local cuisine. Known for meticulously maintaining cleanliness and organization, I have consistently received commendations for my ability to create memorable dining experiences while managing sections of up to 20 tables.
- Transitioning from a career in theater production, I have developed a strong sense of presence and client engagement that I am eager to apply to the restaurant industry. My talent for improvisation and story-telling ensures an exceptional and personalized guest experience, and I am keen to leverage my fast-paced multitasking skills in a dynamic food service environment.
- As a former retail manager with over six years of experience in providing exceptional customer service, my ability to handle diverse customer needs and maintain poise under pressure will be an asset in a fast-paced food service setting. My strong organizational skills and detail-oriented approach will ensure the delivery of high-quality service and support to the culinary team.
- Seeking to bring my enthusiasm and fresh perspective to the bustling world of food service, I am committed to learning and excelling in all aspects of dining room operations. As someone with stamina and a quick learning curve, I am poised to contribute to team success and create enjoyable dining experiences while I work toward mastering menu knowledge and service procedures.
- Eager to embrace the opportunity to cultivate a career in food service, I am dedicated to gaining practical experience and delivering outstanding customer interactions. My objective is to apply my people-first approach and problem-solving skills to meet the demands of busy restaurant environments and contribute positively to a welcoming dining atmosphere.
More relevant sections for your food server resume
Perhaps you feel that your current resume could make use of a few more details that could put your expertise and personality in the spotlight.
We recommend you add some of these sections for a memorable first impression on recruiters:
- Projects - you could also feature noteworthy ones you've done in your free time;
- Awards - showcasing the impact and recognition your work has across the industry;
- Volunteering - the social causes you care the most about and the soft skills they've helped you sustain and grow;
- Personality resume section - hobbies, interests, favorite quote/books, etc. could help recruiters gain an even better understanding of who you are.
Key takeaways
We've reached the end of our food server resume guide and hope this information has been useful. As a summary of our key points:
- Always assess the job advert for relevant requirements and integrate those buzzwords across various sections of your food server resume by presenting tangible metrics of success;
- Quantify your hard skills in your certificates and skills section, while your soft skills in your resume achievements section;
- Ensure you've added additional relevant experience items, such as extracurricular activities and projects you've participated in or led;
- Use both your resume experience and summary to focus on what matters the most to the role: including your technical, character, and cultural fit for the company.
