What Does a Busser Do?

“bussers,” “bus tables,” and “communication” aren’t the only skills we found bussers list on their resumes. In fact, there’s a whole list of busser responsibilities that we found, including:

  • Communication skills can be considered to be the most important personality trait for a busser to have. According to a busser resume, “food and beverage serving and related workers must listen carefully to their customers’ orders and relay them correctly to the kitchen staff so that the orders are prepared to the customers’ request.” Bussers are able to use communication skills in the following example we gathered from a resume: “maintained constant communication between management and all other employees to provide smooth operations in an extreme high volume environment. “
  • Another commonly found skill for being able to perform busser duties is the following: customer-service skills. According to a busser resume, “food service establishments rely on good food and customer service to keep customers and succeed in a competitive industry.” Check out this example of how bussers use customer-service skills: “give bread and water to newly arrived customers, and take any drink orders they would like to put in. “
  • Another skill that is quite popular among bussers is physical stamina. This skill is very critical to fulfilling every day responsibilities as is shown in this example from a busser resume: “food and beverage serving and related workers spend most of their work time standing, carrying heavy trays, cleaning work areas, and attending to customers’ needs.” This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: “fast paced job requiring stamina, responsibility, patience, and communication with others in the work area. “
  • A thorough review of lots of resumes revealed to us that “physical strength” is important to completing busser responsibilities. This resume example shows just one way bussers use this skill: “food and beverage serving and related workers need to be able to lift and carry stock and equipment that can weigh up to 50 pounds.” Here’s an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical busser tasks: “strengthened customer service skills by being exposed to a dynamic mixture of people, while preforming physical acts. “
  • See the full list of busser skills.

    After discovering the most helpful skills, we moved onto what kind of education might be helpful in becoming a busser. We found that 24.7% of bussers have graduated with a bachelor’s degree and 0.9% of people in this position have earned their master’s degrees. While some bussers have a college degree, you may find it’s also true that generally it’s possible to be successful in this career with only a high school degree. In fact, our research shows that one out of every three bussers were not college graduates.

    The bussers who went onto college to earn a more in-depth education generally studied business and general studies, while a small population of bussers studied criminal justice and psychology.

    Once you’ve obtained the level of education you’re comfortable with, you might start applying to companies to become a busser. We’ve found that most busser resumes include experience from Darden Restaurants, Bloomin’ Brands, and Great Wolf Resorts. Of recent, Darden Restaurants had 791 positions open for bussers. Meanwhile, there are 652 job openings at Bloomin’ Brands and 409 at Great Wolf Resorts.

    But if you’re interested in companies where you might earn a high salary, bussers tend to earn the biggest salaries at Dell, University of California, Berkeley, and Lexington Country Club. Take Dell for example. The median busser salary is $49,322. At University of California, Berkeley, bussers earn an average of $40,988, while the average at Lexington Country Club is $38,654. You should take into consideration how difficult it might be to secure a job with one of these companies.

    View more details on busser salaries across the United States.