Food and Beverage Serving and Related Workers

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Annual Earnings Percentiles

Skill Scores

  • social icon 34

    Social

  • purpose icon 14

    Purpose

  • analytical icon 4

    Analytical

  • creative icon 2

    Creative

  • supported icon 0

    Supported

Curious about our data? Learn more about our methodology .

College Majors

  • Hosts and hostesses, restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop
  • Counter attendants, cafeteria, food concession, and coffee shop
  • Food servers, nonrestaurant
  • Miscellaneous food preparation and serving related workers, including dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers
  • Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food

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    What Food and Beverage Serving and Related Workers Do

    Food and beverage serving and related workers perform a variety of customer service, food preparation, and cleaning duties in restaurants, cafeterias, and other eating and drinking establishments.

    Work Environment

    Food and beverage serving and related workers are employed in restaurants, schools, hospitals, cafeterias, and other dining places. Work shifts often include early mornings, late evenings, weekends, and holidays. Many food and beverage serving and related workers worked part time in 2014.

    How to Become a Food and Beverage Serving or Related Worker

    Most food and beverage serving and related workers learn their skills on the job. No formal education or previous work experience is required.

    Job Outlook

    Employment of food and beverage serving and related workers is projected to grow 10 percent from 2014 to 2024, faster than the average for all occupations. Job opportunities in most dining establishments will be excellent because many workers leave the occupation each year, resulting in numerous job openings.

    Job Trends for Food and Beverage Serving and Related Workers

    Curious about our data? Learn more about our methodology .

    This occupation supported 4,438,100 jobs in 2012 and 4,731,799 jobs in 2014, reflecting an increase of 6.6%. In 2012, this occupation was projected to increase by 11.8% in 2022 to 4,961,299 jobs. As of 2014, to keep pace with prediction, the expected number of jobs was 4,542,700, compared with an observed value of 4,731,799, 4.2% higher than expected. This indicates current employment trends are better than the 2012 trend within this occupation. In 2014, this occupation was projected to increase by 10.2% in 2024 to 5,183,700 jobs. Linear extrapolation of the 2012 projection for 2022 results in an expected number of 5,065,900 jobs for 2024, 2.3% lower than the 2014 projection for 2024. This indicates expectations for future employment trends are better than the 2012 trend within this occupation.