What does a Catering Assistant do?

A catering assistant is responsible for supporting catering operations, especially on outdoor gatherings and social events. Catering assistants prepare the buffet area and ensure the adequacy of foods and beverages, and provide the best customer service for the guests' satisfaction. Catering assistants must have excellent communication skills, responding to the guests' inquiries and concerns about the dish, and resolving immediate complaints. They maintain the cleanliness of the buffet station, strictly adhering to the sanitary standards and hygienic regulations.
Catering assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real catering assistant resumes:
- Manage and prioritize restaurant reservations.
- Monitor patients who cannot receive anything by mouth (NPO) or on liquid diets.
- Assist dieticians with monitoring of patients who are NPO, on liquid diets or need to have intake record.
- Run POS for student payments, including meal cards and cash.
- Comply with regulator agency standards, including federal, state and JCAHO.
- Adhere to HIPAA guidelines while processing menu orders with the patient information.
- Write meal tickets using information from print outs of patient information, following HIPPA standards.
- Create event layouts for customer seating, buffets, bars and any other stations deem necessary.
- Assemble, maintain and dismantle buffets for events servicing guests at both small and large cater functions.
- Oversee recipe development, inventory and purchasing, culinary training, food safety training, and exhibition cooking.
- Comply with regulations, policies, and procedures such a verifying patient information accurately for safety and confidentiality (HIPPA).
- Carry out dining service, culinary preparation, event hosting & bar-tending responsibilities
- Maintain confidentiality of all resident care information in accordance with HIPAA guidelines.
- Create unique menu items and standardize innovative production recipes to maintain consistent cuisine and guest satisfaction.
- Manage retail and retail production FOH and BOH.
Catering assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 25% of Catering Assistants are proficient in Patients, Food Service, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Listening skills, Dexterity, and Physical strength.
We break down the percentage of Catering Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 25%
Assisted to Nutritionists to prepare meals and educate patients and their Families on how to maintain a healthy life through diet.
- Food Service, 21%
Provided support in all areas of catering for busy food services department of major university
- Customer Service, 12%
Assisted with catering day-to-day operations and provided customer service, coordinated and completed orders, and handled order deliveries.
- Food Safety, 7%
Gained valuable food safety, handling and preparation experience while learning the operations of a successful catering company.
- Food Delivery, 6%
Contributed to food delivery and sorting inventory.
- Beverage Service, 4%
Provided guests in the catering department with the highest standards of food and beverage service on all functions.
"patients," "food service," and "customer service" are among the most common skills that catering assistants use at work. You can find even more catering assistant responsibilities below, including:
The three companies that hire the most catering assistants are:
- PPanera Bread22 catering assistants jobs
- LLive Nation Entertainment16 catering assistants jobs
- CCatholic Health Initiatives - Colorado11 catering assistants jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable catering assistant resume templates
Build a professional catering assistant resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your catering assistant resume.Compare different catering assistants
Catering assistant vs. Food runner
Food Runners are responsible for assisting waitstaff on serving customers at a restaurant or similar establishment. Among their duties include maintaining cleanliness in particular areas, setting tables, refilling drinks, assisting customers with everything that they need, and coordinating with the workforce in and out of the kitchen. Furthermore, Food Runners need to ensure that all deliveries are accurate according to what is ordered by a customer. It is essential to stay presentable and helpful at all times as the main priority is customer satisfaction.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between catering assistants and food runner. For instance, catering assistant responsibilities require skills such as "patients," "food safety," "beverage service," and "banquet event orders." Whereas a food runner is skilled in "cleanliness," "wine," "culinary," and "food handling." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Food runners really shine in the hospitality industry with an average salary of $26,747. Comparatively, catering assistants tend to make the most money in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $33,254.food runners tend to reach similar levels of education than catering assistants. In fact, food runners are 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Catering assistant vs. Food server
A Food Server specializes in helping customers attain a pleasant dining experience while ensuring to meet all food handling and health regulation standards. Most of the responsibilities revolve around greeting customers and directing them to comfortable seats, responding to their inquires and taking their orders, and courteously suggesting options. Aside from serving meals, Food Servers must also accept payments, organize order receipts, replenish stocks in food containers and drinking stations, and clean tables for the new customers.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, catering assistant responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patients," "food service," "food safety," and "food delivery." Meanwhile, a food server has duties that require skills in areas such as "beverage orders," "wine," "cleanliness," and "guest service." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Food servers earn a lower average salary than catering assistants. But food servers earn the highest pay in the retail industry, with an average salary of $27,445. Additionally, catering assistants earn the highest salaries in the manufacturing with average pay of $33,254 annually.food servers earn similar levels of education than catering assistants in general. They're 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Catering assistant vs. Room service server
A room service server is an employee employed in a hotel or lodging to provide various services to the room occupants in the hotel. They often deliver ordered food, drinks, or movies to the occupants' rooms. Their duties and responsibilities include delivery of ordered foods or drinks, taking orders, collecting dirty dishes from rooms, and maintaining supplies and orders.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a catering assistant is likely to be skilled in "patients," "food safety," "banquet event orders," and "event planning," while a typical room service server is skilled in "guest rooms," "beverage orders," "in-room," and "cash handling."
Room service servers earn the highest salary when working in the hospitality industry, where they receive an average salary of $26,687. Comparatively, catering assistants have the highest earning potential in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $33,254.Most room service servers achieve a similar degree level compared to catering assistants. For example, they're 0.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Catering assistant vs. Food service worker
Foodservice workers are employees at restaurants, food trucks, or any outlet that provides food to customers. They may be assigned to welcome customers, take food orders, prepare food orders in the kitchen, serve food, handle customer payments, clean up the tables once the guests leave, or maintain the whole store's cleanliness. They may also be assigned to manage inventories, handle stocks and deliveries, and other activities related to the restaurant's successful operations. Foodservice workers must always be hygienic and maintain the sanitation of the area to ensure food safety.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between catering assistants and food service workers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a catering assistant might have more use for skills like "food safety," "food delivery," "beverage service," and "banquet event orders." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of food service workers require skills like "food handling," "safety standards," "pet," and "cash control. "
Food service workers enjoy the best pay in the retail industry, with an average salary of $30,177. For comparison, catering assistants earn the highest salary in the manufacturing industry.food service workers reach similar levels of education compared to catering assistants, in general. The difference is that they're 0.9% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of catering assistant
Updated January 8, 2025