Different types of service

Staff Positions and Duties: All restaurants have specific positions for their staff. The family restaurants will have fewer positions and a more casual approach to service. Most restaurants will have a general manager, a dining room manager, hosts, servers, bussers, and expediters. A fine dining establishment will also have a sommelier and a captain.

General Manager Oversees the entire operation of the restaurant, from the dining room, to public relations and marketing.

Dining Room Manager This position takes care of the dining room, its customers and servers. This individual must ensure that costs are kept to a minimum, and is often in charge of hiring and firing of staff. It is the dining room manager's duty to train, or ensure training, for all front room staff, including servers, bussers, and expediters.

Captain This position is found usually only in a fine dining establishment and the duties include service in a specific section of tables. This individual may take orders and assist servers in that section. This individual rarely leaves the floor because all responsibility for the section is his or hers.

Host/ess The host greets the customer, seats them appropriately, and provides a menu. This individual will also take reservations over the phone. The host/ess is responsible for filling service stations, informing servers of changes in the menu and/or specials, and helps to seat large parties.

Sommelier The wine steward helps to create the wine list, takes care of the wine inventory, recommends wine to customers, according to their tastes and the meal they have chosen, and serving the bottle of wine.

Head Waiter Also known as the maître d, ensures a pleasant dining experience by the patrons. This individual is responsible for teaching the serving staff the nightly menu specials, preparation methods, supervises the serving staff and appearance, and handles clean-up and closing.

Server Waiter or waitress. This individual is responsible for taking orders from the customer and serving the customer with high quality service that start with a friendly greeting and query for immediate needs. The server provides the patrons with menu information, preparation methods, specials, wine pairings, takes orders – both food and drink, interacts with the kitchen staff, serves the food and beverages, performs side duties as needed.

Busser These individuals assist the servers by keeping the service area clean and tidy. The busser can be the server's best friend. While the server is busy, the bus person will keep normal beverage glasses filled, handle requests for additional utensils and napkins, and handle any accidents that might occur. The busser also takes care of the clean up of the table between courses, and when the table departs. The busser is often responsible for cleaning the restrooms.

Types of Service: English Service As indicated above, this is often called host service. All the dishes are stacked in front of the host or hostess, who then proceeds to serve the individual plates from the platters and bowls placed in front of him or her. Most Americans have seen this form of service at home on Thanksgiving, where the husband will carve the turkey, and the wife will prepare the plates to be passed around the table to their guests

Types of Service: French Service – This is the most formal table service available, which is used in clubs, hotels, and restaurants. In French service, there is a side table that is wheeled to the table where your guests are seated. All the food is on the side table, arranged beautifully on platters, tureens, or chafing dishes, and generally presented to the guests for inspection prior to the dish being prepared, then placed on the table. Each guest is then served from the side table.

Types of Service: Russian Service – This is the most common form of service used in restaurants today, where the plates are brought to the table already plated, garnished and ready to serve. Each guest is presented with the plate that he or she ordered. There is no table-side service in Russian service.

Types of Service: Buffet Service – Most people are familiar with buffet service, especially if you have ever visited a restaurant that offers the salad bar or dessert bar. The patrons must leave the table, go to the buffet offering, select a plate, and serve themselves from the variety of foods offered.

Types of Service: Family Style Service – This is a modification of American service. All food preparation is done in the kitchen. The food is then served on large platters, or in bowls, and then passed around the table, with each guest serving themselves from the platter or bowl. This form of service is a derivative of the service that most Americans use in their own homes, and there is very minimal server activity in this form of service.