What does a Sommelier do?
Sommelier responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real sommelier resumes:
- Manage sales and inventory for premier wine destination restaurant.
- Wine, spirits and fine products sale.
- Direct guest interaction and up-sell of wine and spirits.
- Inventory, purchasing and cost control monitoring, transaction reconciliation, POS programming, payroll, sommelier work.
- Purchase wines for one of the largest menu varieties in NYC.
- Market wine selections with sales team through upselling or pouring wine product samples for testing.
- Ensure and enforce HACCP safe laws & procedures; maintain sanitation standards for both FOH and BOH.
- Train FOH staff daily on all wines to maximize sales potential and create opportunities for upsell opportunities.
- Introduce and maintain monthly inventory through POS Jonas system and reformat from traditional book menus to iPad (Tastevin).
- Partner with culinary team to create a unify food and beverage vision while promoting concept and remaining current with leading trends.
- Work extensively with chefs and restaurateurs to create gastronomically balance and menu appropriate wine selections.
- Maintain effective communication with peers and senior leadership to ensure optimal results and promote opportunities for repeat/referral business.
- Provide leadership and implementation of management/owner goals as a current member of both trainee orientation and safety committees.
- Prepare all bon voyage (last day at sea) gifts for VIP guests.
- Prepare all cabin decorations for VIP guests.
Sommelier skills and personality traits
We calculated that 44% of Sommeliers are proficient in Wine, Fine Dining, and POS. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Detail oriented, and Physical strength.
We break down the percentage of Sommeliers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Wine, 44%
Worked extensively with chefs and restaurateurs to create gastronomically balanced and menu appropriate wine selections.
- Fine Dining, 13%
Trained highly diverse staff in Fine Dining, Casual Dining, and Room Service procedures and standards.
- POS, 5%
Introduced and maintained monthly inventory through POS Jonas system and reformatted from traditional book menus to iPad (Tastevin).
- Culinary, 5%
Partnered with culinary team to create a unified food and beverage vision while promoting concept and remaining current with leading trends.
- Spirits, 4%
Innovated wine and spirits program outperforming revenue budget by 15% Instituted daily P&L system to effectively manage cost control
- Sommeliers, 3%
Headed a team of six sommeliers and curated one of the deepest cellars in the United States.
Common skills that a sommelier uses to do their job include "wine," "fine dining," and "pos." You can find details on the most important sommelier responsibilities below.
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a sommelier to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "waiters and waitresses must listen to customers, ask questions as needed, and relay information to the kitchen staff so that orders are prepared to the customers’ satisfaction." Sommeliers often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "participated in food preparation provided interpretive services in spanish to aid in the communication between residents and staff"
Detail oriented. Another essential skill to perform sommelier duties is detail oriented. Sommeliers responsibilities require that "waiters and waitresses must record customers’ orders accurately." Sommeliers also use detail oriented in their role according to a real resume snippet: "developed and implemented staff trainings, to include new product and specific details of wine. "
Physical strength. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of sommeliers is physical strength. This skill is critical to many everyday sommelier duties, as "waiters and waitresses need to be able to lift and carry trays of food or other items." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "strengthened leadership, customer service, and sales skills by; training new staff on systems and best practices. "
Customer-service skills. A big part of what sommeliers do relies on "customer-service skills." You can see how essential it is to sommelier responsibilities because "waiters and waitresses are frontline workers for their restaurant." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical sommelier tasks: "shop duties as wine and spirits associate: identification of customer's needs and advice. "
The three companies that hire the most sommeliers are:
- MMGM Resorts International10 sommeliers jobs
- CCarl's Jr. India10 sommeliers jobs
- GGoodwin Recruiting9 sommeliers jobs
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Compare different sommeliers
Sommelier vs. Waitress
Waitresses are responsible for ensuring that guests are given proper attention during their visit to the restaurant. They guide guests to their table, provide menu boards, answer any questions the guests may have, take the guests' order, and communicate the order to the kitchen. Once the order is ready, waitresses collect the food from the kitchen and serve it to the guests. They then give guests time to finish their meal. Upon the guests' request, waitresses bring them their bill and wait for them to finish paying up. Once the guests leave, waitresses are responsible for ensuring that the table is ready for the next guests.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, sommelier responsibilities require skills like "wine," "culinary," "spirits," and "sommeliers." Meanwhile a typical waitress has skills in areas such as "food orders," "food preparation," "customer orders," and "drink orders." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Waitresses really shine in the hospitality industry with an average salary of $25,414. Comparatively, sommeliers tend to make the most money in the hospitality industry with an average salary of $39,275.waitresses tend to reach lower levels of education than sommeliers. In fact, waitresses are 7.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Sommelier vs. Cocktail waitress
A cocktail waitress, or often called a cocktail server, is a female server who serves alcoholic beverages and food to patrons in nightclubs and bars. Cocktail waitresses are required to interact with customers by taking their food orders, serving them food and drinks, and then processing payments. To serve proper alcoholic drinks to customers, cocktail waitresses must be well informed about the drinks they serve, such as wine, beer, and cocktails. They also assist in checking identification to ensure that customers are of legal age to buy alcoholic drinks.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real sommelier resumes. While sommelier responsibilities can utilize skills like "wine," "culinary," "spirits," and "sommeliers," cocktail waitresses use skills like "customer service," "drink orders," "non-alcoholic beverages," and "beverage orders."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Cocktail waitresses tend to reach lower levels of education than sommeliers. In fact, they're 7.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Sommelier vs. Bartender, cook, and waitress
A bartender, cook, and waitress are employees who work in the food services industry and usually deal with customer orders and food preparations. Bartenders usually prepare alcoholic or non-alcoholic drinks for bar and restaurant patrons and assess the customers' needs. On the other hand, cooks assist chefs in the preparation of food and manage food stations when needed. Lastly, waitresses interact with restaurant customers by taking food orders and serving them appropriately to the customers.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a sommelier is likely to be skilled in "wine," "fine dining," "culinary," and "spirits," while a typical bartender, cook, and waitress is skilled in "food orders," "customer orders," "food preparation," and "customer service."
Bartender, cook, and waitresses typically earn lower educational levels compared to sommeliers. Specifically, they're 7.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Sommelier vs. Caterer/server
Types of sommelier
Updated January 8, 2025
