How To Become A Banquet Captain: What It Is and Career Path

What is a banquet captain and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The banquet captain is in charge of directing the other members of the banquet team, helping ensure smooth service during the entire meal and optimum satisfaction of guests. Usually, they are senior members of the banquet team with at least a few years of experience under their belt.

The duties of a banquet captain revolve around delegating tasks to subordinate staff, monitoring the execution of the banquet, and training new staff members. They also relay updates, memos, or policy changes to all members of the staff and are responsible for keeping an open line of communication between all employees.

The typical requirements for this role are a high school diploma and adequate work experience in a banquet or other foodservice application. Furthermore, one must have good grooming, a great sense of leadership, and excellent customer service skills to become an attractive candidate for the job.

As for the salary, the average banquet captain makes around $15 an hour or $31,000 per year.

ScoreBanquet CaptainUS Average

Salary

2.7

Avg. Salary $34,428

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

9.1

Growth Rate 10%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.00%

Asian 6.46%

Black or African American 9.91%

Hispanic or Latino 19.35%

Unknown 5.46%

White 57.82%

Gender

female 45.87%

male 54.13%

Age - 34

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 34

Stress Level

9.1

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

5.0

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

3.5

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a banquet captain

Explore banquet captain education requirements

Most common banquet captain degrees

Bachelor's

49.8 %

Associate

23.4 %

High School Diploma

16.1 %

Start to develop specific banquet captain skills

Skills	Percentages
Customer Service	11.35%
Cleanliness	8.94%
Food Service	8.23%
Beverage Service	7.84%
Banquet Functions	5.33%

Complete relevant banquet captain training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New banquet captains learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a banquet captain based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real banquet captain resumes.

Gain additional banquet captain certifications

Banquet captain certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific banquet captain certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for banquet captains include Food Safety Manager Certification and Certified Food Manager (CFM).

More About Certifications

Research banquet captain duties and responsibilities

Manage department service standards, POS system, schedules and labor / beverage costs.
Supervise functions, delegate service staff, working closely with group contacts and culinary staff to ensure maximum possible guest experience.
Assist management of daily operations for FOH.
Supervise, plan, and execute in-room cater events.

Prepare your banquet captain resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your banquet captain resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a banquet captain resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Banquet Captain Resume templates

Build a professional Banquet Captain resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Banquet Captain resume.

Apply for banquet captain jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a banquet captain job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

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