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Food and drink service and personal assistance workers

How to become a Restaurant Server

Also called: Waiter, Waitress, Floor staff

Deals directly with customers at restaurants and other eating places, serving food and providing service.

Main tasks

Workers in this job say high school is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.

How to become one

No particular education or qualification is required to start. You can work without experience, but people with customer service experience have an advantage. After joining, staff complete some training before working on the floor. At restaurant chains with many outlets, a server role is sometimes treated as the first step in training future managers. People hired mid-career often have experience in the restaurant industry. No special knowledge is needed to start; you sharpen your customer service skills while gaining experience in the restaurant. You begin with support tasks and gradually step up. Some go on to roles such as supervisor, restaurant manager and area manager overseeing several outlets, and then take on head office roles suited to their abilities. Gaining the 'restaurant service skills' certificate under the ginou kentei (national trade skills test) set by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare gives recognition of your customer service skills. You handle food and serve customers, so you must keep clean and be careful and polite in how you carry and set down dishes, how you move and how you speak. Customer service skills and attentiveness are important, for example watching how a meal is going and telling the kitchen when to send the next dish. You also need the stamina to stand for long hours and to respond calmly and steadily to customers' requests.

Ways in

Pay · Job openings · AI and this job

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Questions people ask

How do I become a Restaurant Server?

No particular education or qualification is required to start. You can work without experience, but people with customer service experience have an advantage. After joining, staff complete some training before working on the floor. At restaurant chains with many outlets, a server role is sometimes treated as the first step in training future managers. People hired mid-career often have experience in the restaurant industry. No special knowledge is needed to start; you sharpen your customer service skills while gaining experience in the restaurant. You begin with support tasks and gradually step up. Some go on to roles such as supervisor, restaurant manager and area manager overseeing several outlets, and then take on head office roles suited to their abilities. Gaining the 'restaurant service skills' certificate under the ginou kentei (national trade skills test) set by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare gives recognition of your customer service skills. You handle food and serve customers, so you must keep clean and be careful and polite in how you carry and set down dishes, how you move and how you speak. Customer service skills and attentiveness are important, for example watching how a meal is going and telling the kitchen when to send the next dish. You also need the stamina to stand for long hours and to respond calmly and steadily to customers' requests.

How much does a Restaurant Server earn in Japan?

Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥3,709,800 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare). The figure is for the wage survey group Food and drink servers, which covers several jobs.

Do you need a degree to become a Restaurant Server?

Usually not. In this job's census occupation group, only 15% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: National trade skills test (技能検定).

Will AI change the work of a Restaurant Server?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成

Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.

Updated 4 October 2026