Also called: Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants
Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers build coordination, service orientation and judgment and decision making skills that carry over to other work. Below are 25 careers ranked by how closely their skills match, with pay from BLS May 2025. The closest match is Fast Food and Counter Workers (91%).
Updated October 2026 · Data: O*NET 31.0 and BLS OEWS May 2025 · How we match careers
Sorted by skill match.
| # | Career | Skill match | Median pay | Pay change | Extra education |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fast Food and Counter Workers | 91% | $31,200 | −8% | None |
| 2 | Food Servers, Nonrestaurant | 89% | $35,360 | +4% | None |
| 3 | Waiters and Waitresses | 87% | $35,230 | +4% | None |
| 4 | Baristas | 85% | $31,200Pay for the broader BLS group “Fast Food and Counter Workers” | Not compared | None |
| 5 | Food Preparation Workers | 84% | $35,320 | +4% | None |
| 6 | Bartenders | 84% | $34,340 | +1% | None |
| 7 | Maids and Housekeeping Cleaners | 83% | $35,510 | +5% | None |
| 8 | Cooks, Fast Food | 81% | $30,890 | −9% | None |
| 9 | Cooks, Short Order | 81% | $35,880 | +6% | None |
| 10 | Stockers and Order Fillers | 77% | $37,330 | +10% | None |
Compared with Dining Room and Cafeteria Attendants and Bartender Helpers, median $33,980. Skill match is our estimate (0–99) from O*NET 31.0 skills, knowledge, work activities and interests, adjusted for preparation and big pay drops. Pay: BLS OEWS May 2025, national median.
How important each skill is in work as dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers (O*NET importance, scale 1–5).
The gaps that show up most often across your top 10 matches.
Free and low-cost training: use the CareerOneStop training finder below.
A concrete first step, the skills to add, and the hard parts of each job, from O*NET 31.0 education, training and work context data.
91% skill match · $31,200 · −8% pay
89% skill match · $35,360 · +4% pay
Technology Design · Time Management · Operations Analysis
87% skill match · $35,230 · +4% pay
Service Orientation · Persuasion · Complex Problem Solving
If you want to stay close to what you do now, these roles are the nearest.
The closest matches are Fast Food and Counter Workers (91% skill match, median $31,200), Food Servers, Nonrestaurant (89% skill match, median $35,360) and Waiters and Waitresses (87% skill match, median $35,230), based on O*NET 31.0 data and BLS May 2025 pay.
Among the 25 matches, 18 pay more than dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers at the median. The biggest increases: Food Service Managers (+104%, $69,390), Flight Attendants (+87%, $63,580) and First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers (+30%, $44,080).
25 of the 25 matches usually need no more education than you have now, based on O*NET Job Zones.
We compare the importance of skills, knowledge, work activities and interests in O*NET 31.0 for your job and every other career, then adjust for extra preparation and big pay drops. The full method is on our Methodology page.