How to Write a Cover Letter for Waiter & Server Jobs

Use your best experience

Your cover letter for waiter and server positions needs to open with your best job history items first, no matter when they happened. If you worked as a server in a four-star restaurant 10 years ago, then make sure that information is placed prominently on your cover letter. If you want to impress restaurant managers, then you need to give them something impressive to read.

Use job history information that is pertinent 

If you are applying to a restaurant that prides itself on being very busy during lunch and dinner rushes, then make sure you highlight your lunch and dinner serving experience. Restaurants that rely on a more sophisticated approach will want to see what kind of experience you have dealing with that kind of clientele. Customize your resume so that you appeal directly to the needs of the restaurant.

Use all customer service experience

Many restaurants like to hire waiter and server personnel that have a broad range of experience in customer service positions, especially if that experience pertains to the kind of business the restaurant does. For example, if you are applying to a restaurant that has a lot of foot traffic, then your experience working in a busy call center would also be relevant. Offer the restaurant manager a complete picture and you will enhance your chances of getting the job.

Include point-of-sale software experience

Restaurant staff need to be proficient on the point-of-sale software the restaurant uses to generate accurate checks for each table quickly. Your cover letter needs to touch on all of the POS software systems you have used in your career and your level of expertise with each system. One server who is unfamiliar with a piece of software can slow down an entire night and the restaurant is more interested in servers who can keep the tables moving smoothly to help enhance revenue.

Highlight availability

If you worked your way into a shift you really liked at your old serving job, then you may be inclined to try and get that same shift at your new place of employment. When you are a new server at a restaurant, you take the shift you are given. If you want to enhance your cover letter for a server position, then indicate that you are willing to take any shift and work your way back into a position of being able to choose shifts again.

A good cover letter for waiter and server positions emphasizes the attributes required to perform a job in this industry. That means ensuring that you discuss your previous experience, your comfort in demanding restaurant environments and the hard knowledge that each hiring manager is looking for.