How to Hire a Food Runner

Why hire a food runner?

The need for new staff can affect both your existing team and bottom line. A great food runner hire can help your business by:

• Reviewing food and drink orders for accuracy and presentation before delivery
• Answering any questions and explaining the food and drink features as they’re presented
• Clearing dishes, refilling water and handling guests’ needs

What are the ranks of food runners?

In the restaurant industry, there are many jobs in the waitstaff. Each of these jobs fills a specific role in customer service. These positions include: 

• Floor manager: The floor manager is responsible for maintaining the waitstaff. They schedule employees, ensure the restaurant complies with safety regulations and answers customers’ requests or complaints. 
• Expeditor: Expeditors double-check orders to ensure they were fulfilled completely and correctly.
• Waiter: Waiters greet customers at their tables, take food and drink orders, refill drinks, bring food out to the tables and respond to customer concerns. 
• Bar back: A bar back helps the bartender by removing used glasses and restocking cups and alcohol. 
• Food runner: A food runner is primarily responsible for bringing food out to tables.
• Busboy: Busboys clear dirty dishes off empty tables, sanitize the surfaces and condiments and set up the table for the next group. 

Where to find food runners

To find the right food runner for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

• Promote from within. Some employees in other positions in your restaurant, such as busboys, may be interested in moving up to the food runner job. Set up meetings with these individuals to determine if they fit the job. 
• Hang help wanted signs. Help wanted signs are especially effective for entry-level positions such as food runners. By posting flyers, you can increase awareness of the job and attract potential candidates.
• Ask around the community. Ask the members of the community if they know any teenagers or young adults who may be interested in taking a food runner position. 
• Post your job online. Try posting your food runner job on Indeed to find and attract quality food runner candidates.

What are the ranks of food runners?

In the restaurant industry, there are many jobs in the waitstaff. Each of these jobs fills a specific role in customer service. These positions include: 

• Floor manager: The floor manager is responsible for maintaining the waitstaff. They schedule employees, ensure the restaurant complies with safety regulations and answers customers’ requests or complaints. 
• Expeditor: Expeditors double-check orders to ensure they were fulfilled completely and correctly.
• Waiter: Waiters greet customers at their tables, take food and drink orders, refill drinks, bring food out to the tables and respond to customer concerns. 
• Bar back: A bar back helps the bartender by removing used glasses and restocking cups and alcohol. 
• Food runner: A food runner is primarily responsible for bringing food out to tables.
• Busboy: Busboys clear dirty dishes off empty tables, sanitize the surfaces and condiments and set up the table for the next group. 

Writing a food runner job description

A thoughtful description is important to finding qualified food runner candidates. A food runner job description includes a compelling summary of the role, a detailed list of duties and responsibilities and the required and preferred skills for the position.

When writing your food runner job description, consider including some or all of the following keywords to improve the visibility of your job posting. These are the most popular search terms leading to clicks on food runner jobs, according to Indeed data:

• Restaurant
• Busser
• Server
• Food runner
• Teen
• Hiring immediately
• Food service
• Waitress
• Hostess
• Country club

Interviewing food runner candidates

Strong candidates for food runner positions will be confident answering questions regarding:

• Maintaining order integrity and accuracy
• Assisting and supporting regular wait and bar staff
• Finding ways to enhance customer experience

Need help coming up with interview questions? See our list of food runner interview questions for examples (with sample answers).