Food Servers, Nonrestaurant
Serve food to individuals outside of a restaurant environment, such as in hotel rooms, hospital rooms, residential care facilities, or cars.
Also Known As:
Food Server
Food Service Worker
Kitchen Runner
Room Server
Room Service Server
Tray Server
Wages
Annual wages for Food Servers, Nonrestaurant in United States
Job Outlook
Average
New job opportunities are likely in the future
United States
2033 Projected Employment
292,200
5% Change From 2023
Explore Waiters and Waitresses video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Stock service stations with items, such as ice, napkins, or straws.
- Total checks, present them to customers, and accept payment for services.
- Carry food, silverware, or linen on trays or use carts to carry trays.
- Monitor food preparation or serving techniques to ensure that proper procedures are followed.
- Clean or sterilize dishes, kitchen utensils, equipment, or facilities.
- Determine where patients or patrons would like to eat their meals and help them get situated.
- Take food orders and relay orders to kitchens or serving counters so they can be filled.
- Record amounts and types of special food items served to customers.
- Prepare food items, such as sandwiches, salads, soups, or beverages.
- Remove trays and stack dishes for return to kitchen after meals are finished.
- Monitor food distribution, ensuring that meals are delivered to the correct recipients and that guidelines, such as those for special diets, are followed.
- Load trays with accessories, such as eating utensils, napkins, or condiments.
- Place food servings on plates or trays according to orders or instructions.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")