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Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop Career, Salary and Skills

Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop have a BLS-reported national median annual wage of $31,200 based on the 2025 OEWS dataset, with reported national employment of 432,690. Wage data is published for 435 locations.

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Occupation description

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

O*NET code

35-9031.00

Job zone

2

Typical education

Less than a High School Diploma

Experience

None

National salary and employment

Median annual

$31,200

Hourly median

$15.00

Employment

432,690

Data year

2025

National salary distribution

$22,340
10th
$27,570
25th
$31,200
Median
$36,250
75th
$43,990
90th

Top skills

SkillImportanceLevel
Active Listening3.502.88
Service Orientation3.123.00
Speaking3.122.88
Social Perceptiveness3.002.88
Reading Comprehension2.882.12
Monitoring2.882.38
Coordination2.882.88
Critical Thinking2.752.62
Active Learning2.622.00
Persuasion2.622.62
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Typical tasks

  • Greet guests and seat them at tables or in waiting areas.
  • Maintain contact with kitchen staff, management, serving staff, and customers to ensure that dining details are handled properly and customers' concerns are addressed.
  • Assign patrons to tables suitable for their needs and according to rotation so that servers receive an appropriate number of seatings.
  • Speak with patrons to ensure satisfaction with food and service, to respond to complaints, or to make conversation.
  • Inspect dining and serving areas to ensure cleanliness and proper setup.
  • Supervise and coordinate activities of dining room staff to ensure that patrons receive prompt and courteous service.
  • Answer telephone calls and respond to inquiries or transfer calls.
  • Provide guests with menus.
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Technology

  • Avenista Table Reservations
  • Facebook
  • GuestBridge Reserve
  • Hospitality Control Solutions Aloha Point-of-Sale
  • iMagic Restaurant Reservation
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Windows
  • OpenTable
  • Reservation software
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Hosts and Hostesses, Restaurant, Lounge, and Coffee Shop salary by location

Areas with the highest reported employment for this occupation.

All 435 locations →

Related careers

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Career and skills data: O*NET 31.0 (onetcenter.org). Salary and employment data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS, 2025 (bls.gov/oes). Figures are published survey estimates, not real-time market data.