Description
Quick service restaurant crew members prepare, cook and serve food and beverages in a quick service operation.
Duties
Quick service restaurant crew members typically do the following:
- Greet customers, record orders, and serve food and beverages with a consistently positive and helpful attitude, including answering questions about the menu.
- Input orders into a point-of-sale system and accept payment using a credit card reader or cash register, calculating change accurately and quickly as required.
- Work together with the kitchen team to prepare foods such as sandwiches, pizza, soups, and salads while following cooking instructions, safety procedures, and sanitary requirements.
- Use specific kitchen machinery such as ice cream dispensers, blenders, and espresso machines to create customized hot and cold beverages to customers’ preferences.
- Ensure restaurant cleanliness daily by clearing tables, returning trays to the kitchen, sweeping and mopping floors, washing and sanitizing kitchen utensils, and servicing restrooms.
- Communicate effectively with team members and management to create work schedules, train new employees, and resolve any interpersonal issues as needed.
- Handle guests’ concerns and complaints professionally and calmly to resolve problems according to restaurant policy.
- Maintain a neat and tidy appearance by wearing a uniform and adhering to a corporate dress code.
Other titles
The following job titles also refer to quick service restaurant crew member:
fast food crew member
quick service crew member
snack maker
fast-food crew member
crepes maker
fast food worker
pancakes maker
Working conditions
Quick service restaurant crew members spend most of their shift on their feet. They carry trays of food, dishes, or glassware, which are often heavy. During busy dining periods, they are under pressure to serve customers quickly and efficiently.
Injuries and Illnesses
Food preparation and serving areas in restaurants often have potential safety hazards, such as hot ovens and slippery floors. Common injuries include slips, cuts, and burns. To reduce these risks, workers may wear gloves, aprons, or nonslip shoes.
Work Schedules
Part-time work is common for food and beverage serving and related workers. Because restaurants and other eating places typically have extended dining hours, work shifts often include early mornings, late evenings, weekends, and holidays.
Work may be seasonal. Quick service restaurant crew members may not work or may have limited hours during certain times of the year. For example, those in school cafeterias may work only during the school year, usually 9 to 10 months.
In addition, business hours in restaurants allow for flexible schedules that appeal to teenagers. Quick service restaurant crew members employs more 16- to 19-year-olds than any other occupation.
Minimum qualifications
This position has no formal education requirements and, in fact, the industry employs many students still in the process of earning their high school diplomas or college degrees.
While some restaurants prefer to hire workers with experience, many are willing to provide on-the-job training.
ISCO skill level
ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:
- the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
- the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
- the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.
Quick service restaurant crew member is a Skill level 1 occupation.
Quick service restaurant crew member career path
Similar occupations
These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to quick service restaurant crew member.
kitchen assistant
pizzaiolo
linen room attendant
kitchen porter
doorman/doorwoman
Long term prospects
These occupations require some skills and knowledge of quick service restaurant crew member. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of quick service restaurant crew member with a significant experience and/or extensive training.
barista
quick service restaurant team leader
restaurant host/restaurant hostess
grill cook
waiter/waitress
Essential skills and competences
These skills are necessary for the role of quick service restaurant crew member.
- Maintain personal hygiene standards: Preserve impeccable personal hygiene standards and have a tidy appearance.
- Comply with food safety and hygiene: Respect optimal food safety and hygiene during preparation, manufacturing, processing, storage, distribution and delivery of food products.
- Prepare orders: Make food and drinks orders ready in order to be served to the customers.
- Greet guests: Welcome guests in a friendly manner in a certain place.
- Upsell products: Persuade customers to buy additional or more expensive products.
- Dispose waste: Dispose waste in accordance with legislation, thereby respecting environmental and company responsibilities.
- Clean surfaces: Disinfect surfaces in accordance with sanitary standards.
- Take food and beverage orders from customers: Accept orders from customers and record them into the Point of Sale system. Manage order requests and communicate them to fellow staff members.
- Maintain customer service: Keep the highest possible customer service and make sure that the customer service is at all times performed in a professional way. Help customers or participants feel at ease and support special requirements.
- Work in a hospitality team: Function confidently within a group in hospitality services, in which each has his own responsibility in reaching a common goal which is a good interaction with the customers, guests or collaborators and their contentment.
- Use reheating techniques: Apply reheating techniques including steaming, boiling or bain marie.
- Prepare ready-made dishes: Get ready for serving snacks and sandwiches or heat up ready-made bar products if requested.
- Present menus: Hand out menus to guests while assisting guests with questions using your mastery of the menu.
- Process payments: Accept payments such as cash, credit cards and debit cards. Handle reimbursement in case of returns or administer vouchers and marketing instruments such as bonus cards or membership cards. Pay attention to safety and the protection of personal data.
- Execute opening and closing procedures: Apply standard opening and closing procedures for a bar, a store, a restaurant or a marketplace.
- Use cooking techniques: Apply cooking techniques including grilling, frying, boiling, braising, poaching, baking or roasting.
- Check deliveries on receipt: Control that all order details are recorded, that faulty items are reported and returned and that all paperwork is received and processed, according to the purchasing procedures.
Optional skills and competences
These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of quick service restaurant crew member. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.
- Educate customers on tea varieties: Instruct customers about origins, characteristics, differences in flavours and blends of tea products.
- Receive kitchen supplies: Accept the delivery of ordered kitchen supplies and make sure everything is included and in good condition.
- Monitor stock level: Evaluate how much stock is used and determine what should be ordered.
- Prepare sandwiches: Make filled and open sandwiches, paninis and kebabs.
- Educate customers on coffee varieties: Instruct customers about origins, characteristics, differences in flavours and blends of coffee products.
- Store kitchen supplies: Keep delivered kitchen supplies for future use safely and hygienically according to guidelines.
- Take drive-through orders: Accept drive-through orders for food and drinks and prepare, pack and hand items to customers.
- Devise special promotions: Develop promotion activities to stimulate sales.
ISCO group and title
9411 – Fast food preparers
References
- Quick service restaurant crew member – ESCO
- Food and Beverage Serving and Related Workers : Occupational Outlook Handbook – U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- Fast Food Worker Job Description: Salary, Skills, & More – Liveabout
- Food Service Crew Member Job Description Examples | Livecareer
- Featured image: Photo by Ozan Safak on Unsplash