Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers
Facilitate food service. Clean tables; remove dirty dishes; replace soiled table linens; set tables; replenish supply of clean linens, silverware, glassware, and dishes; supply service bar with food; and serve items such as water, condiments, and coffee to patrons.
Most important skills
- Active Listening
- Coordination
- Service Orientation
- Speaking
- Monitoring
- Social Perceptiveness
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Customer and Personal Service
- Food Production
- English Language
- Sales and Marketing
- Administration and Management
- Personnel and Human Resources
- Public Safety and Security
- Production and Processing
What the work involves
- Wipe tables or seats with dampened cloths or replace dirty tablecloths.
- Set tables with clean linens, condiments, or other supplies.
- Scrape and stack dirty dishes and carry dishes and other tableware to kitchens for cleaning.
- Clean up spilled food or drink or broken dishes and remove empty bottles and trash.
- Perform serving, cleaning, or stocking duties in establishments, such as cafeterias or dining rooms, to facilitate customer service.
- Maintain adequate supplies of items, such as clean linens, silverware, glassware, dishes, or trays.
- Serve ice water, coffee, rolls, or butter to patrons.
- Fill beverage or ice dispensers.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (74% of respondents)
- Related experience
- None (40.6%)
- On-the-job training
- Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (81.9%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very high | Higher on contact with others than 82% of occupations compared | 80% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 71% of occupations compared | 61% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 83% of occupations compared | 71% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 96% of occupations compared | 42% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Very low | Lower on time pressure than 96% of occupations compared | — |
| Conflict situations | Moderate | Higher on conflict situations than 58% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very high | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 85% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Consequence of error | Very low | Lower on consequence of error than 95% of occupations compared | — |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: very low
- Conflict situations: moderate
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
- Consequence of error: very low
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 0.32%
- Contact with others about half the time: 3.51%
- Contact with others most of the time: 15.84%
- Constant contact with others: 80.33%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 14.79%
- Fairly important: 3.51%
- Important: 16.02%
- Very important: 4.22%
- Extremely important: 61.46%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 0%
- Important: 8.73%
- Very important: 20.38%
- Extremely important: 70.89%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 38.8%
- Limited freedom: 14.82%
- Some freedom: 41.98%
- A lot of freedom: 4.4%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Time pressure
- Never: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Once a year or more but not every month: 0.32%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 23.63%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0%
- Every day: 34.81%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Conflict situations
- Never: 18.29%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1.4%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 54.23%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 18.66%
- Every day: 7.41%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 10.22%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 3.9%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.61%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 53.54%
- Every day: 13.73%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Fairly serious: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Serious: 10.54%
- Very serious: 0%
- Extremely serious: 4.91%
n = 17, Incumbent 08/2021
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O*NET-SOC 35-9011.00 · SOC 35-9011 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8