8 Restaurant Resume Examples and Writing Tips for 2026
Written By Lauren MastroniCareer Expert & Digital Content Writer
Reviewed By Samuel JohnsSenior Content Editor & Certified Professional Resume Writer
Lauren Mastroni
Career Expert & Digital Content Writer
Lauren Mastroni is a Digital Content Writer dedicated to creating engaging content and providing actionable advice that empowers people in their job searches. An enthusiastic contributor to the Resume Genius...
On this page, you’ll find eight different restaurant resume examples, covering positions from servers and hosts to cooks and managers. Download the sample that matches your background and use it to learn how to highlight your skills, experience, and ability to thrive in a busy restaurant setting.
Restaurant resume examples by experience level
If you want a different design for your resume, select one from our library of resume templates.
Restaurant resume template (text format)
Use the example below for inspiration when you format your resume. You want a clear outline of your professional history, skills, and goals.
- Leadership
- Operational analysis
- Forecasting
- HACCP compliance
- POS
- Microsoft Office
- English (Native)
- Spanish (Fluent)
- Food safety and preparation
- Manage daily restaurant operations, focusing on seamless service delivery and customer satisfaction
- Analyze operational issues and develop plans of action to improve performance, services, and safety
- Streamline workflow procedures for over 40 staff members and minimize labor costs through effective scheduling and delegation
- Train staff to deliver high-level customer service, resulting in a 20% increase in sales
- Optimize inventory by forecasting food, liquor, wine, and other beverage consumption to determine ordering requirements
- Managed overall restaurant operations, including food cost, labor, and profit/losses to support the restaurant manager
- Oversaw daily activities of about 30 staff members while assisting them in meeting service and client satisfaction goals
- Aided in maintaining 92% positive customer feedback by proactively preventing and resolving customer complaints
- Regulated food preparation methods to ensure quality and compliance with policies and procedures
Restaurant resume examples by position
Looking for other types of work in the restaurant industry? We have additional examples for back and front of house.
Busser resume
Working as a busser requires an effective resume that shows employers what you’re capable of. Here’s an example:
Example highlight
- Food handler program: As a busser, this candidate will be primarily expected to clean tables, but they’ve included their food handler certification, which shows that they’re willing to go above and beyond the minimum requirements of the job. This shows hiring managers that they can be called upon to help out in other kitchen roles if needed.
Chef resume
If you’re applying for a job as a chef, you can model your resume off of this example:
Example highlights
- Cuisine-specific skills: This chef includes their areas of culinary expertise in the relevant skills section of their resume. This helps restaurant managers decide quickly whether their skills will be an asset to their restaurant.
- Strong resume summary: The resume summary at the top of this resume includes how many years of experience the chef has, as well as how many tables they typically serve in one evening.
Dishwasher resume
As a dishwasher, you’ll need a resume that highlights your strong dishwashing skills, like this example does:
Example highlights
- Long list of skills: This dishwasher includes all of their kitchen-related skills, illustrating the breadth of their experience and capabilities.
- Dollar amounts: In the professional experience section, this dishwasher explains how much money they saved their previous employer by repairing equipment by themself. This shows hiring managers what kind of contribution they can make if hired.
Fine dining resume
If you’re applying for a job as a fine dining server, look at this resume example for ideas to get you started:
Example highlight
- Broad range of experience: This fine dining server has worked in many different restaurants, and lists them in the professional experience section of their resume, illustrating their contributions to each with numbers to quantify their achievements.
Hostess resume
Base your own hostess resume off of the following example:
Example highlights
- Hostess-specific degree: This applicant lists their BA in Hospitality, showing employers that they have formal training in all areas of restaurant operations.
- High volume experience: This hostess includes her experience in high-volume restaurants, using numbers to quantify her impressive qualifications.
Line cook resume
If you’re creating a resume to apply for a job as a line cook, check out the following resume example:
Example highlights
- Certification: This line cook includes their certification as Certified Culinarian, proving to employers that they have achieved a high level of skill as a cook.
- Language skills: They also list their fluency in English and Spanish, which signals their ability to thrive in a bilingual or monolingual Spanish-speaking kitchen.
Prep cook resume
If it’s a position as a prep cook that you’re after, then check out the following prep cook resume example:
Example highlights
- Skills developed: This prep cook lists the skills that they’ve developed, as well as how they did so, which shows employers more about their capabilities and learning potential than simply listing their skills.
- Impressive education and certifications: They also have two certifications, as well as an associate’s degree in culinary arts, which they list proudly at the bottom of their resume. This can help them stand out from the crowd of other applicants.
How to write a restaurant resume
The restaurant industry includes a wide number of exciting and versatile career options. You can find success in the restaurant industry even if you’re just starting out in your career.
But with a low barrier of entry comes plenty of competition. So if you want to land a well-paying job, your restaurant resume needs to help you stand out and advertise your most valuable qualifications.
Whatever your level of experience, follow these tips to write a strong restaurant resume:
1. Highlight your relevant hard skills
If you have previous experience working in a restaurant, list the skills you’ve gained from these positions front and center in the skills section of your resume.
For example, the following hard skills are relevant to a variety of careers in the restaurant industry:
- POS (Point of Sale)
- Food handling techniques
- Food preparation
- Reservation scheduling
- Menu planning
- OpenTable
- Recordkeeping
- Inventory
- Culinary Software Services ChefTec
- Recipe and menu software
If you don’t have a lot of experience in the restaurant industry, don’t worry. Experience in a related industry like customer service or retail has likely left you with plenty of transferable skills to list on your restaurant resume, such as:
- Cash handling
- Inventory management
- Order processing
- Stock rotation
- Upselling techniques
2. Emphasize your soft skills
In addition to key hard skills, be sure to highlight a few relevant soft skills, such as your ability to remain calm under pressure or develop a rapport with customers. Nearly any restaurant job requires customer interaction and the ability to handle high-stress situations, making soft skills essential for success.
Here are some important restaurant-related soft skills to include on your resume:
- Communication skills
- Interpersonal skills
- Confidence
- People skills
- Customer service skills
- Positive attitude
- Good work ethic
- Organizational skills
- Problem-solving skills
- The ability to work well under pressure
- Attention to detail
To emphasize your skills, you should also include examples of how you put your expertise to work in your resume experience section.
For example, if you listed customer service skills in your resume skills section, you could add the following bullet to your work history:
- Handled phone, email, and in-person customer requests and complaints with empathy and respect, resulting in positive customer feedback and contributing to an average 4.5-star rating on Google and Yelp reviews
If you’re writing a resume with no experience, you can still include evidence of soft skills on your resume. For example, you may have picked up soft skills from volunteer work or internships listed on your resume.
3. Target your restaurant resume to the job post
One of the simplest ways to make sure your restaurant resume stands out is to adjust the content to address the needs of each restaurant you apply to work at.
To do this, scan through the job listing for the jobs you want. Take note of any required or desired skills and qualifications, and be sure to include them in your resume (as long as you have them). Doing this makes you appear more qualified than if you submit a generic resume to every restaurant you apply to.
In addition to qualifications that are specifically mentioned in the job description, do some research on the restaurant you’re applying to and gear your resume toward their customer-service approach and values.
For example, a family-owned restaurant may place more emphasis on making customers feel like family, while larger chain restaurants may focus more on your ability to work in a fast-paced environment.
4. Include relevant certifications and training
No matter what restaurant job you’re applying for, being able to show employers that you have the training necessary to contribute to giving customers the best experience possible will strengthen your application.
There are numerous restaurant certifications available and which one you should get depends on your role at the restaurant, but here are a few common ones to consider adding to your resume:
- ServSafe Food Handler Certification
- Training for Intervention Procedures (TIPS) Certification
- Certified Sommelier
- Certified Restaurant Manager
- ServSafe Allergens Certification
When adding certifications to your resume, list them in your skills section or create a separate section for them (if you have three or more).
If you’ve taken any courses or attended workshops related to menu development, hospitality and customer service, health and safety training, or specialized cooking techniques, include these on your restaurant resume as well.
Once you’ve finished your restaurant resume, take a look at our list of the best restaurant job boards to find your next job.
Resume examples for different industries
Not sure what your resume should look like? The best way to learn is by taking inspiration from resume examples written by other candidates in your industry.
