Free Hostess Job Description Templates
Free hostess and restaurant host job description templates: standard, gender-neutral, fine dining, fast-casual, and lead. Download as DOCX.
Hostess Job Description Templates
5 free templates for restaurants. Download as DOCX or copy-paste.
The host stand is the smallest station in the restaurant and the one that touches every single guest. If a restaurant owner asked me which job posting to rewrite first, I would point to the host's. The hostess job description templates below describe the role as it really works, so your posting draws applicants who can run the door.
A good hostess turns a 40-minute Friday wait into a managed experience instead of a walkout, keeps server sections balanced so the floor does not melt down, and answers the phone call that becomes a 12-top booking. Yet most hostess job postings are three generic lines, which is why they attract applicants who think the job is standing at a podium.
At FirstHR, we build for small businesses that hire without an HR department, and restaurants are the heart of that group: the owner or general manager (GM) writes the posting between services. The five templates cover the real versions of the door role: standard hostess, the gender-neutral restaurant host, fine dining, fast-casual, and the lead hostess who runs the team.
What Does a Hostess Do?
A hostess greets guests at the door, seats them across server sections, manages the waitlist and reservations, answers the phone, and keeps the entry presentable. O*NET, the federal occupational database, describes the role as welcoming patrons, seating them, and helping ensure the quality of facilities and service.
The O*NET profile for hosts and hostesses lists the full task set, from recording dining reservations to staying in contact with the kitchen and serving staff. The same profile names the job titles employers report, including greeter, host, hostess, seater, host coordinator, dining coordinator, and private dining coordinator.
The reality behind the task list is that the host runs the room's traffic. Seating decisions determine whether servers get buried or starved, wait time quotes determine whether guests stay, and the phone determines whether tonight's reservations exist at all. A posting that treats the job with that weight attracts a different applicant than one that describes greeting and smiling.
The SHRM Job Description Guide, from the Society for Human Resource Management, defines a job description as an outline of the tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a position that clarifies expectations for employees and managers. For hourly hospitality roles, a good job description sets those expectations in plain, honest language, and that honesty doubles as your best turnover prevention.
Hostess Duties and Responsibilities
Hostess duties center on greeting and seating guests, managing the waitlist and reservations, handling phones and guest questions, and supporting the front of house with pacing coordination and entry upkeep. The mix shifts by restaurant type, but the categories hold from diners to fine dining. These are the responsibilities grouped the way the templates use them.
A good posting picks 6 to 10 specific duties from these categories and names your actual systems and pace: manage reservations in your booking platform, quote waits on Friday nights, handle the to-go counter. In fast-casual and family spots, expect the list to extend to the point-of-sale (POS) system and table resets.
Host vs Hostess: Is There a Difference?
No. Host and hostess are the same job: hostess is the traditionally feminine form, and the federal classification covers both under one occupation. The practical question for your posting is which title to use, and the answer is the neutral one.
| Factor | Host / Hostess | Server |
|---|---|---|
| Station | The door, host stand, and phones | Assigned table section |
| Core duty | Greet, seat, manage waitlist and reservations | Take orders, serve, handle checks |
| Guest relationship | First and last impression of the visit | The whole meal in between |
| Typical pay structure | Hourly, sometimes tip share | Tipped wage plus tips |
| Experience needed | Often none; trainable in a week | Usually some service experience |
Post under Host or Host/Hostess. A gendered title narrows your applicant pool and can read as a preference for one gender, which sits poorly against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission rules on job advertisements that prohibit expressing preferences based on protected characteristics. Applicants still search both words, but the posting itself should welcome everyone; the gender-neutral template below is written for exactly that.
Which Template Should You Use?
Pick the template that matches your restaurant type and the weight of the role. The core structure is the same across all five, but the duties, tone, and requirements shift from a fast-casual counter to a fine dining book. Use this guide to choose.
5 Free Hostess Job Description Templates
Download all five as separate Word files in one ZIP, or copy individual templates. Each one covers the job summary, key responsibilities, qualifications, schedule and pay, and how to apply, with the schedule expectations stated plainly. The Standard template also adds a restaurant overview. Fill in the brackets before you post.
Template 1: Standard Hostess
The universal baseline for casual and family restaurants: greeting, seating rotation, waitlist, phones, and the host stand, with the schedule reality built in.
Template 2: Restaurant Host (Gender-Neutral)
The same role posted under the inclusive title with welcoming language. The version most small restaurants should default to for the wider applicant pool.
Template 3: Fine Dining Hostess
For upscale rooms: reservation software fluency, guest notes and VIP recognition, pacing coordination with captains and the kitchen, and standards to match the room.
Template 4: Fast-Casual / Family Restaurant Host
The versatile counter version: seating plus to-go orders, POS and phones, table resets, and a we-train framing that attracts reliable first-job applicants.
Template 5: Lead / Senior Hostess
For restaurants with a host team: training and scheduling, owning the reservation book and floor plan, making the busy-night calls, and a growth path toward FOH management.
Skills and Qualifications to Include
Host hiring rewards minimal requirements and sharp screening. Almost everything procedural (the seating chart, the waitlist app, the phone script) trains in a week, so the qualifications section should center on the things that do not train. The difference shows in how the bullets are written.
| Weak requirement | Strong requirement |
|---|---|
| Friendly personality | Warm, professional presence with guests, even during a full-lobby rush |
| Good communication | Clear, polite phone manner; takes reservations and to-go orders accurately |
| Able to multitask | Stays organized juggling the door, the phone, and the waitlist at once |
| Restaurant experience | Prior experience preferred, not required; we train on our systems in week one |
| Flexible schedule | Available evenings, weekends, and holidays, stated up front |
For fine dining, it is fair to raise the bar: reservation platform experience, polish, and discretion with regulars are real requirements there. Everywhere else, keep the list short and screen in person. Physical requirements (standing for full shifts, lifting up to 25 pounds) belong in the posting plainly, since they reflect the genuine demands of the job.
How to Write a Hostess Job Description
Writing a hostess job description comes down to five steps: pick the template that fits your room, add a neutral title and a warm summary, list specific duties, state the schedule and pay plainly, and keep requirements minimal. The templates follow this process, so once you settle the title, the schedule, and the rate, a strong hostess posting takes about 15 minutes.
Hostess Salary
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), restaurant hosts and hostesses earned a median of $15.00 per hour, about $31,200 per year (BLS occupational wage data for hosts and hostesses). BLS employment projections count about 444,200 host jobs in 2025, 93 percent of them in accommodation and food services, the sector that includes restaurants.
Set your hourly rate from that federal figure as a baseline, then adjust for your market, restaurant type, and whether hosts share the tip pool. Host pay sits in a narrow band compared to most roles, which makes the visible perks (meals, tip share, flexibility) a real part of the offer.
Host pay tracks close to that wider serving group, but location moves it meaningfully: BLS state wage data for May 2025 puts the host median at $17.92 per hour in Washington and $10.57 in Mississippi, and fine dining rooms pay toward the top of the band.
Whatever your market, publish the range. In hourly hospitality hiring, the million-plus annual openings across the serving group mean your applicants compare postings side by side, and the one with the visible number and named perks wins the walk-ins.
Hiring a Host for a Small Restaurant
A small restaurant fills its host role without the backup a chain has. Chain restaurants hire hosts with a recruiting team, a training department, and a bench of cross-trained staff, while at an independent restaurant the owner or GM fits the posting in around service and trains the new host personally. Here is how to write the posting for that reality.
From Hiring to Onboarding
The job description is step one. Once a candidate accepts, the same document becomes the basis for the written offer and a short, structured onboarding: paperwork including the I-9 and tax forms, the handbook, a tour, and training shifts on the seating chart, the reservation system, and the phone script.
Restaurants feel early turnover harder than almost any industry. According to the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (2025 annual averages), accommodation and food services had the highest quits rate of any industry: an average of 4.2 percent of workers quit each month, against 2.2 percent across the private sector.
The difference between a host who stays and one who quits in month one is usually whether the first week was organized or improvised. Plan that first week with the restaurant employee onboarding checklist, which lays out the full sequence for front-of-house hires, and give the new host the house rules in writing with the restaurant employee handbook template.
When you are ready to make the offer, an offer letter template handles that step, and the employee onboarding template structures the first weeks. With FirstHR, the offer letter and the handbook acknowledgment are e-signed, and the onboarding workflow runs in the same system, from pre-boarding to the first solo shift.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a hostess do?
A hostess runs the front door of a restaurant. The job covers welcoming each party, choosing tables based on availability and whose turn it is in the server rotation, keeping the waitlist and the reservation book, picking up the phone, and keeping the entrance tidy. Day to day, that makes the host the traffic controller of the dining room: spreading tables evenly so no server is swamped, giving wait estimates guests can trust so they do not walk out, and pacing seating with the kitchen when the night gets busy. The host also shapes how every visit starts and ends. At fast-casual and smaller places, the duties usually stretch to the to-go counter, the POS, and helping reset tables during a rush.
What are the main duties and responsibilities of a host?
Host duties fall into four areas. Greeting and seating means welcoming each guest right away, rotating tables fairly among servers, and fitting in walk-ins. The waitlist and reservations side is about keeping the list moving, quoting accurate waits, and running the reservation book. On the phone, the host answers questions about hours, menus, and parties, and takes reservations or to-go orders. Front-of-house support covers the rest: a presentable host stand, pacing with servers and the kitchen, and a hand with table resets in a rush. For your posting, choose 6 to 10 concrete duties across those areas and name the tools the host will really use, such as your reservation software.
Is there a difference between a host and a hostess?
No. It is one job under two names: hostess is the traditionally feminine version of the title, host is the neutral version, and the federal occupational classification counts both as a single role. When you write the posting, title it Host or Host/Hostess. A neutral title draws from a wider pool of applicants and avoids signaling that you prefer one gender, which equal opportunity rules forbid in job advertising. Many guests and applicants still search the word hostess, yet the posting itself should make clear that everyone is welcome, and the gender-neutral template on this page was written to do exactly that.
What skills should a hostess job description require?
The core skills are warmth that survives a Friday rush; clear communication in person and on the phone; the organization to handle the door, the waitlist, and the phone at once; quick, fair judgment on seating; and the physical stamina to stand for full shifts. Keep formal requirements minimal: federal occupational data shows host and other serving jobs typically require no degree or prior experience, and the strongest predictor is how the applicant treats people under pressure. List reservation software experience as preferred rather than required, since systems can be taught in days. Fine dining is the exception that justifies a higher bar: there, fluency with a reservation platform, a polished manner, and discretion with regulars and VIPs are fair to require.
How much does a hostess make?
Hosts and hostesses earn about $15 an hour at the median. The Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for May 2025 puts restaurant, lounge, and coffee shop hosts at $15.00 per hour, or roughly $31,200 a year, slightly below the $15.24 median for the broader food and beverage serving group. Pay moves with the state, the kind of restaurant, and whether hosts get a cut of the tip pool. The BLS state median for hosts is $17.92 an hour in Washington against $10.57 in Mississippi, fine dining pays near the top of the range, and entry-level roles in casual spots sit near minimum wage plus perks. Publish your hourly range and name the extras like shift meals and tip share; in hourly hiring, the posting with the visible number wins the applicants.
Do hostesses need experience?
Usually not. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that food and beverage serving workers, hosts included, typically need no prior work experience and learn their skills on the job. Hosting is one of the classic first jobs in hospitality, and most casual and fast-casual restaurants train new hosts within a week on the seating chart, waitlist system, and phone script. What you cannot train is reliability, warmth with strangers, and composure when the lobby is full, so screen for those instead: ask about the busiest customer-facing moment they have handled, and watch how they interact with your staff when they drop off an application. The exceptions are fine dining, where reservation platform experience and polish are reasonable requirements, and lead host roles, which need real front-of-house experience.
How do I write a hostess job description for a small restaurant?
Describe the role honestly and specifically. Name the restaurant type and pace, list the actual duties including the unglamorous ones like phones and table resets, state the schedule reality of evenings, weekends, and holidays up front, and put a real hourly range with the perks you offer, such as shift meals or tip share. Use a gender-neutral title to widen the pool, keep requirements minimal, and if you train new hosts, say so, because that line attracts the reliable first-job applicants who often become your best hosts. The templates on this page take about ten minutes to customize; pick the one matching your restaurant type.
What happens after I hire a hostess?
Onboarding starts, and the job description you posted becomes the blueprint for the offer letter and for the first days on the job. Keep that onboarding short and structured: the I-9 and tax paperwork, the employee handbook, a walk-through of the restaurant, and training shifts that cover the seating chart, the server rotation, the booking system, and how to handle the phone. Turnover hits restaurants harder than almost any other industry, and federal turnover data for 2025 shows accommodation and food services with the highest quit rate of any industry. The first week is when an hourly hire decides whether to stay, so a written checklist beats relying on the memory of a busy manager. FirstHR handles the e-signed offer letter and handbook acknowledgment, keeps completed forms in the employee file, and runs the onboarding workflow in one place, so a small restaurant can take a host from accepted offer to confident first solo shift without an HR department.