Waiter/waitress to restaurant host/restaurant hostess
A waiter/waitress already meets 72% of what the restaurant host/restaurant hostess role asks for. The move turns on 4 required skills not yet in the profile.
27.6/ 100
1 How much of what a restaurant host/restaurant hostess is expected to do is already part of a waiter/waitress’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the restaurant host/restaurant hostess role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.
Why this move works
A restaurant host/restaurant hostess role treats 9 of its required skills as things a waiter/waitress already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- arrange tables
- assist VIP guests
- assist customers
- check dining room cleanliness
- comply with food safety and hygiene
- maintain customer service
What stands in the way is 4 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 15 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A restaurant host/restaurant hostess role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of a waiter/waitress background worth leading with.
- already held welcome restaurant guests assisting and caring
- already held present menus communication, collaboration and creativity
- already held check dining room cleanliness information skills
- already held arrange tables assisting and caring
- already held assist VIP guests assisting and caring
- already held advise guests on menus for special events communication, collaboration and creativity
All 15 carried skills, including the 9 the restaurant host/restaurant hostess role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 5 missing skills fall into 3 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.
- still to learn seat customers according to the waiting list required
- still to learn accommodate special seating required
- still to learn assist guest departure required
- still to learn handle customer complaints required
- optional, not held devise special promotions optional
Table 4 · Where to start
The 3 entries a restaurant host/restaurant hostess role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
- 01 seat customers according to the waiting list practise this
- 02 accommodate special seating practise this
- 03 assist guest departure practise this
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 15 skills that carry over
- already held arrange tables skill
- already held assist VIP guests skill
- already held assist customers skill
- already held check dining room cleanliness skill
- already held comply with food safety and hygiene skill
- already held maintain customer service skill
- already held present menus skill
- already held process reservations skill
- already held welcome restaurant guests skill
- already held advise guests on menus for special events skill
- already held assist clients with special needs skill
- already held clean surfaces skill
- already held maintain relationship with customers skill
- already held take food and beverage orders from customers skill
- already held work in a hospitality team skill
1 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held devise special promotions optional
28 held skills the restaurant host/restaurant hostess role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role alcoholic beverage products knowledge
- not needed by the target role apply foreign languages in hospitality skill
- not needed by the target role attend to detail regarding food and beverages skill
- not needed by the target role decant wines skill
- not needed by the target role detect drug abuse skill
- not needed by the target role dietary regimes knowledge
- not needed by the target role educate customers on coffee varieties skill
- not needed by the target role educate customers on tea varieties skill
- not needed by the target role food and beverages on the menu knowledge
- not needed by the target role identify customer's needs skill
- not needed by the target role laws regulating serving alcoholic drinks knowledge
- not needed by the target role local area tourism industry knowledge
- not needed by the target role maintain incident reporting records skill
- not needed by the target role maintain personal hygiene standards skill
- not needed by the target role measure customer feedback skill
- not needed by the target role prepare alcoholic beverages skill
- not needed by the target role prepare flambeed dishes skill
- not needed by the target role prepare hot drinks skill
- not needed by the target role prepare service trolleys skill
- not needed by the target role prepare the restaurant for service skill
- not needed by the target role process payments skill
- not needed by the target role recommend wines skill
- not needed by the target role serve beverages skill
- not needed by the target role serve food in table service skill
- not needed by the target role serve wines skill
- not needed by the target role sparkling wines knowledge
- not needed by the target role supervise food quality skill
- not needed by the target role use food cutting tools skill
Other moves recorded from waiter/waitress
- sommelier 51% covered · moderate
- quick service restaurant crew member 46% covered · moderate
- hotel concierge 44% covered · moderate
- barista 40% covered · substantial
- club host/club hostess 40% covered · substantial
- bartender 38% covered · substantial
- hotel butler 36% covered · substantial
- head waiter/head waitress 35% covered · substantial
Common questions about this move
Can a waiter/waitress become a restaurant host/restaurant hostess?
Yes, and it is an adjacent move. A waiter/waitress already covers 72% of what a restaurant host/restaurant hostess is expected to do: 15 skills carry over, 9 of which the restaurant host/restaurant hostess role treats as required.
What skills does a waiter/waitress need to become a restaurant host/restaurant hostess?
4 required skills are missing, plus 1 optional ones. They fall into 3 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by assisting and caring. The single most important is seat customers according to the waiting list.
How hard is the move from waiter/waitress to restaurant host/restaurant hostess?
Its learning distance is 27.6 out of 100, which is the adjacent band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.
How this record was compiled
Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.