Restaurant Team Member Job Description
Use this template to recruit reliable front-of-house team members who deliver friendly service and help keep service running smoothly. It covers typical duties, essential requirements and clear advert copy you can adapt for your restaurant.
What does a Restaurant Team Member professional do?
Front-of-house staff who welcome guests, take and serve orders, handle payments and maintain a clean, safe dining environment alongside kitchen and bar colleagues.
Restaurant Team Member job description template
Use this employer-ready example as a starting point, then replace the placeholders and adjust the content so it accurately reflects your vacancy.
Restaurant Team Member — [insert location] — [full/part time]
About the role
We’re recruiting Restaurant Team Members to join [insert restaurant name] in [insert location]. You’ll welcome and seat guests, take and serve food and drinks, handle payments and keep service areas clean and safe. Shifts include evenings, weekends and occasional bank holidays. Previous hospitality experience is useful but not essential — on-the-job training is provided. To apply, send your CV and availability to [insert contact details].
Key responsibilities
- Greet and seat guests with a welcoming manner and manage bookings or waiting lists where required
- Take accurate food and drink orders and communicate them clearly to the kitchen and bar
- Serve dishes and beverages, check guest satisfaction and manage basic complaints or queries
- Operate tills and process payments accurately, including handling contactless and card payments
- Clear and reset tables, clean front-of-house areas and maintain presentation standards
- Follow food hygiene, allergen and safety procedures and log issues to management
- Support stock rotation, basic food preparation and front-of-house stock checks
- Work closely with kitchen and bar staff to ensure timely service during busy periods
Essential skills and experience
- Right to work in the UK
- Good communication and customer service skills
- Availability to work flexible hours including evenings, weekends and bank holidays
- Basic numeracy to handle transactions accurately
- Ability to stand and move for the duration of a shift and lift moderate loads safely
Desirable
- Previous experience in hospitality, retail or other customer-facing roles
- Level 2 Food Safety (basic food hygiene) certificate
- Experience using tills and taking card payments
- Knowledge of allergen basics and safe handling procedures
- Additional language skills relevant to the local customer base
What we offer
- Statutory holiday entitlement (plus any additional employer-provided holiday)
- Pension scheme to meet auto-enrolment requirements
- Discounted or free staff meals during shifts
- On-the-job training and progression opportunities
- Flexible shift patterns (subject to business needs)
- Uniform provided or allowance
How to apply
Apply with your CV and any additional information requested. Make the interview process, closing date and any assessment stages clear where known.
Use this as a starting point rather than a final advert. The strongest version will reflect the real role, salary, location, systems, responsibilities, benefits and working arrangements.
What is a Restaurant Team Member role?
Restaurant Team Members form the front-of-house team in cafés, pubs and restaurants. They are responsible for greeting guests, taking and delivering orders, handling payments and maintaining cleanliness and presentation. The role requires strong customer service, the ability to work as part of a team and flexibility to cover evenings, weekends and busy service periods. Good awareness of food safety and allergen procedures is important.
Core duties
Greeting guests, taking orders, serving food and drinks, clearing tables and operating tills.
Shifts & availability
Work patterns commonly include early evenings, weekends and bank holidays; flexibility is often essential.
Teamwork
Close coordination with kitchen and bar staff ensures smooth service during busy periods.
Training & progression
Many employers offer on-the-job training, food safety courses and internal promotion to supervisory roles.
Typical Restaurant Team Member responsibilities
Responsibilities should reflect the real scope of the vacancy rather than every task someone in this profession might ever complete.
Greet
Greet and seat guests with a welcoming manner and manage bookings or waiting lists where required
Take accurate food
Take accurate food and drink orders and communicate them clearly to the kitchen and bar
Serve dishes
Serve dishes and beverages, check guest satisfaction and manage basic complaints or queries
Operate tills
Operate tills and process payments accurately, including handling contactless and card payments
Clear
Clear and reset tables, clean front-of-house areas and maintain presentation standards
Follow food hygiene
Follow food hygiene, allergen and safety procedures and log issues to management
Support stock rotation
Support stock rotation, basic food preparation and front-of-house stock checks
Work closely with kitchen
Work closely with kitchen and bar staff to ensure timely service during busy periods
Restaurant Team Member skills and experience to look for
Keep the essential list focused on what the person really needs to perform the role. Move useful-but-trainable experience into desirable criteria.
Usually worth prioritising
- Right to work in the UK
- Good communication and customer service skills
- Availability to work flexible hours including evenings, weekends and bank holidays
- Basic numeracy to handle transactions accurately
- Ability to stand and move for the duration of a shift and lift moderate loads safely
Useful where relevant
- Previous experience in hospitality, retail or other customer-facing roles
- Level 2 Food Safety (basic food hygiene) certificate
- Experience using tills and taking card payments
- Knowledge of allergen basics and safe handling procedures
- Additional language skills relevant to the local customer base
See our guide to what to include in a job advert before publishing.
How to write a Restaurant Team Member job advert
Small role-specific details can make the advert much easier for suitable candidates to assess.
Be specific about shifts
List typical shift times, nights and weekend requirements so candidates know if their availability fits before applying.
Clarify essential vs desirable
Reserve the essential box for legal or safety needs and basic skills; list experience or certificates as desirable where appropriate.
Describe the working environment
Note whether the venue is a relaxed café, busy city restaurant or late-night venue to set accurate expectations.
Mention training and progression
Highlight any training, food safety support or chances to move into supervisory roles — these attract candidates without prior experience.
State tips/service charge policy
Candidates want to know how tips or service charges are distributed; include a short policy summary if you have one.
Restaurant Team Member salary considerations
Pay for restaurant front-of-house roles varies. Employers should set salaries based on local market rates, required shift patterns and the level of responsibility expected. Describe how other pay elements — such as tips, service charge distribution, bonus schemes or unsocial-hours supplements — are handled.
depending on experience
- Use a genuine range
- Separate variable pay
- Avoid “competitive” alone
- Match salary to seniority
What Restaurant Team Member candidates will want to know
Practical details can influence whether a suitable candidate applies, even when the title and salary are attractive.
What are the typical shift patterns and weekly hours?
Candidates want exact shift times, usual weekly hours and whether rota flexibility or guaranteed hours are offered.
How are tips and service charges handled?
Explain whether tips are pooled, shared with kitchen staff, included in salary or distributed differently.
Is prior hospitality experience required?
State if you will train applicants without experience or if prior service work is expected for faster onboarding.
Do you provide food safety or other training?
Candidates often want to know if the employer pays for Level 2 Food Safety and other relevant training courses.
Is a uniform provided or is there a dress code?
Clarify whether the employer supplies uniform, provides an allowance or requires staff to follow a dress policy.
Can applicants under 18 apply?
If minors are accepted, note any restrictions on hours, tasks (for example, serving alcohol) and compliance with child employment law.
Where to post a Restaurant Team Member job
Recruitment for restaurant team roles works best across a mix of channels: advertise on national job boards for reach, hospitality-specialist sites and local community boards to attract nearby candidates, and use social media or college job pages for entry-level applicants. Consider targeted ads to reach people available for evening and weekend shifts and local talent pools such as hospitality students or nearby communities.
Related hospitality & catering job descriptions
Recruiting for a slightly different role? These templates may be a closer fit.
Restaurant Team Member job description FAQs
How long should the advert be?
Keep the advert concise: a short paragraph describing the role and location, followed by clear responsibilities, essential requirements and practical details about shifts and benefits.
Should I ask candidates for a CV or an application form?
Requesting a CV and short note of availability is common and efficient for front-of-house roles. An application form can help with standardised information if you expect many applicants.
Do candidates need a food hygiene certificate?
A basic food hygiene certificate is desirable but not always essential for front-of-house roles. If the role involves handling or preparing food, consider offering training as part of induction.
What pre-employment checks are typical?
Standard checks include right-to-work verification and references. Criminal record checks are usually only needed for roles with specific safeguarding responsibilities.
How should I advertise shift patterns?
Be explicit about start and finish times, weekend and bank-holiday expectations and whether rotas are fixed or flexible; this reduces unsuitable applications.
Ready to hire your next team member?
Use the advert text and requirements above to create a clear vacancy, then promote it on a mix of national and hospitality-specific channels to reach candidates available for evenings and weekends.
