Career profile for Restaurant Host

What does a Restaurant Host do?

Restaurant Hosts welcome patrons, seat them at tables or in lounge, and help ensure quality of facilities and service.

What kind of tasks does a Restaurant Host perform regularly?

Restaurant Hosts are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

Assign patrons to tables suitable for their needs and according to rotation so that servers receive an appropriate number of seatings.
Provide guests with menus.
Greet guests and seat them at tables or in waiting areas.
Answer telephone calls and respond to inquiries or transfer calls.
Operate cash registers to accept payments for food and beverages.
Speak with patrons to ensure satisfaction with food and service, to respond to complaints, or to make conversation.
Take and prepare to-go orders.
Maintain contact with kitchen staff, management, serving staff, and customers to ensure that dining details are handled properly and customers' concerns are addressed.
Receive and record patrons' dining reservations.
Inspect dining and serving areas to ensure cleanliness and proper setup.
Inform patrons of establishment specialties and features.
Inspect restrooms for cleanliness and availability of supplies and clean restrooms when necessary.
Assist other restaurant workers by serving food and beverages, or by bussing tables.

The above responsibilities are specific to Restaurant Hosts. More generally, Restaurant Hosts are involved in several broader types of activities:

Activities	Importance	Details
Performing for or Working Directly with the Public		Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates		Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events		Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships		Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
Getting Information		Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

Performing for or Working Directly with the Public

Performing for people or dealing directly with the public. This includes serving customers in restaurants and stores, and receiving clients or guests.

Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.

Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events

Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships

Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

Getting Information

Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

What is a Restaurant Host salary?

The median salary for a Restaurant Host is $23,880, and the average salary is $24,800. Both the median and average roughly describe the middle of the Restaurant Host salary range, but the average is more easily affected by extremely high or low salaries.

Many Restaurant Hosts earn significantly more or less than the average, due to several factors. About 10% of Restaurant Hosts earn less than $17,780 per year, 25% earn less than $19,670, 75% earn less than $28,170, and 90% earn less than $32,360.

Between the years of 2020 and 2030, the number of Restaurant Hosts is expected to change by 25.2%, and there should be roughly 95,200 open positions for Restaurant Hosts every year.

Median annual salary: $23,880
Typical salary range: $17,780 - $32,360
Projected growth (2020 - 2030): 25.2%

What personality traits are common among Restaurant Hosts?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Restaurant Host are usually higher in their Enterprising and Social interests.

Restaurant Hosts typically have very strong Enterprising interests. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Also, Restaurant Hosts typically have moderate Social interests. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Restaurant Host tend to value Relationships, Support, and Achievement.

Most importantly, Restaurant Hosts strongly value Relationships. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to provide service to others and work with co-workers in a friendly non-competitive environment.

Second, Restaurant Hosts somewhat value Support. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees.

Lastly, Restaurant Hosts somewhat value Achievement. Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Restaurant Hosts must consistently demonstrate qualities such as cooperation, stress tolerance, and self-control.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Restaurant Hosts, ranked by importance:

Demands	Importance	Details
Cooperation		Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
Stress Tolerance		Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.
Self-Control		Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
Dependability		Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
Social Orientation		Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.

Cooperation

Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

Stress Tolerance

Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations.

Self-Control

Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.

Dependability

Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.

Social Orientation

Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.

What education and training do Restaurant Hosts need?

Working as a Restaurant Host usually requires a high school diploma.

Restaurant Hosts need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with this occupation.

Educational degrees among Restaurant Hosts

10.7% did not complete high school or secondary school
32.5% completed high school or secondary school
27.2% completed some college coursework
11.1% earned a Associate's degree
15.3% earned a Bachelor's degree
2.5% earned a Master's degree
0.7% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Restaurant Hosts

Restaurant Hosts may benefit from understanding of specialized subject areas, such as customer and personal service, food production, or sales and marketing knowledge.

The list below shows several areas in which most Restaurant Hosts might want to build proficiency, ranked by importance.

Knowledge areas	Importance	Details
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.
Food Production		Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
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.
Mathematics		Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
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.

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.

Food Production

Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

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.

Mathematics

Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

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.

Important Abilities needed by Restaurant Hosts

Restaurant Hosts must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Restaurant Hosts need abilities such as oral comprehension, oral expression, and speech recognition in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Restaurant Hosts, ranked by their relative importance.

Abilities	Importance	Details
Oral Comprehension		The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
Oral Expression		The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
Speech Recognition		The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
Speech Clarity		The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
Near Vision		The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Oral Comprehension

The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Oral Expression

The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Speech Recognition

The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

Speech Clarity

The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

Near Vision

The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Critical Skills needed by Restaurant Hosts

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Restaurant Hosts frequently use skills like active listening, speaking, and social perceptiveness to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Restaurant Hosts, ranked by their relative importance.

Skills	Importance	Details
Active Listening		Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking		Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Social Perceptiveness		Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
Service Orientation		Actively looking for ways to help people.
Coordination		Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

Active Listening

Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Speaking

Talking to others to convey information effectively.

Social Perceptiveness

Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Service Orientation

Actively looking for ways to help people.

Coordination

Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

If you have any questions or suggestions about this information, please send a message.

Career profile Restaurant Host

Restaurant Host

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