A restaurant food runner takes finished plates from the pass to the right seats while the food is still hot, checking each one against the ticket before leaving the kitchen. Runners deliver by seat number so guests aren't asked who ordered what, and they carry allergy plates on their own.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, full-service restaurants · BLS, May 2025
We're hiring Food Runners to get every plate from the kitchen to the right guest while it's hot. You'll take plates from the Expeditor, check them against the ticket, deliver by seat number so guests aren't asked who ordered what, carry allergy plates separately, and help servers with refills and clearing.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Take plates from the Expeditor and check each one against the ticket before you walk: right dish, right modifiers, clean rim.
Deliver food by seat number and name each dish as you set it down.
Carry allergy plates on their own, marked the way the kitchen marks them, and confirm the allergy with the guest.
Tell the Expeditor right away about missing items, wrong plates or a table that's waiting too long.
Bring sauces, extra utensils and condiments before guests have to ask.
Help clear and reset tables when the food is caught up.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Learn the day's specials and the table and seat numbering before service.
Stock the pass: plates, ramekins, sauces, side towels and trays.
Run food to every section as soon as the kitchen calls it.
Clean the pass, return trays and restock to-go supplies at close.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Time from window to table: [your target].
Plates delivered to the wrong seat: [your target].
Food handler card before your first solo shift, where your state or county requires one.
Can learn table numbers and seat positions in [time frame].
Can carry [three] plates or a full tray safely through a crowded room.
Speaks up when something is wrong with a plate.
Meet [minimum age your state sets for serving alcohol] if runners in your restaurant carry drinks.
6. Preferred Experience
Busser, server or kitchen experience.
Knows basic cooking and plating terms.
Interest in moving into a server or expo role.
7. Physical Requirements
Walk quickly between the kitchen and dining room for a full shift.
Carry trays of hot plates up to [25] pounds, using a towel for hot plates.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Dinner shifts, weekends and holidays, with peak hours from [time] to [time].
Hot pass under heat lamps, swinging kitchen doors and wet floors.
Work between the kitchen and front-of-house teams all shift.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new food runner gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
What's different about running food in a full-service restaurant
At a counter-service spot, staff call a number and guests walk up. When guests sit and order by course, the runner brings each course to the table, sets every plate in front of the right person and names it, often while the server is busy at another table.
Every seat has a number
In a dining room like this, the seats at each table are numbered from a fixed point, such as the chair closest to the front door. The server enters the order by seat, and the runner sets each plate down by that number without asking. Holding up a plate and calling out "Who had the salmon?" is what the seat numbers are there to stop.
Allergy plates travel alone
An allergy plate goes out on its own, marked the way the kitchen marks it, and the runner names the allergy as it's set down. When a guest mentions an allergy to the runner, it goes straight to the manager. Illinois law, for example, says a restaurant employee told of a guest's allergy must pass it on to the person in charge or the certified food protection manager on duty. Source: Illinois Compiled Statutes, 410 ILCS 625/3.08: Food allergy awareness.
Hot plates and heat lamps
Plates that sat under the heat lamps can burn hands and forearms. OSHA advises carrying hot plates with a waiter's cloth or hot pads, never a wet towel, and balancing a tray with the heaviest items in the center. Runners also push through kitchen doors with full hands, so keep the in and out doors one-way. Source: OSHA Young Worker Safety in Restaurants eTool: Serving.
The runner tells the pass what the floor looks like
The runner reports a missing side, a wrong plate or a table that has waited too long as soon as they spot it. Runners also notice when a table isn't ready for its mains: a guest away from the table, appetizer plates still down. A quick word to the expo keeps the next course from dying in the window.
Runners name every dish
A runner says what each plate is as it lands, so they learn the menu, the specials and what's 86'd at pre-shift. In a group with several concepts, a runner covering a shift at another of the group's restaurants has a new menu and a new table map to learn before the doors open.
How much restaurant food runners make
The closest BLS group for restaurant food runners is dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers. Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $15.89 an hour ($33,040 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $33,980 median for dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in all industries. About 326,970 of the 542,750 dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers in that survey work for full-service restaurants.
Runners usually get an hourly wage plus a tip-out from the servers they support or a share of the tip pool. Where runners also clear tables and carry drinks, many restaurants fold the job into a busser and runner role paid the same way.
Full-service restaurants
$33,040$33,040 median Middle half $27,060–$36,810 10th–90th $18,500–$46,360
All industries
$33,980$33,980 median Middle half $28,330–$37,250 10th–90th $21,300–$46,570
$10k$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Full-service restaurants
$18,500
$27,060
$33,040
$36,810
$46,360
All industries
$21,300
$28,330
$33,980
$37,250
$46,570
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Checks each plate against the ticket before walking, every time
Keeps table and seat numbers straight across a full dining room
Tells the expo right away when a plate looks wrong
Carries hot plates or a loaded tray safely between tight tables at speed
Speaks up clearly at the table when naming dishes
Teach these on the job
Your seat numbering and table map
The menu, plating and the day's specials
Your allergy marking and delivery steps
Tray carrying and handling hot plates with a dry cloth
Kitchen calls such as "hands," "behind" and "corner"
Runners work from the printed ticket or the kitchen display screen at the pass, with trays, tray stands, side towels and plate covers. If your kitchen uses a display screen, show new runners where it shows seat numbers and modifiers, because a paper ticket may not go out with the plate.
Restaurant food runner interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Keep the template's four measures, but hold off on targets until you've logged a month of window times and wrong-seat drops on your own floor.
Time from window to table
On busy nights, note when the expo calls a table and when its last plate lands. Some kitchen display systems log bump times you can line up against those notes.
Plates delivered to the wrong seat
Count wrong-seat drops and auctioned plates that servers or managers catch during the shift, plus guest complaints about them. Log each one by runner on the shift report.
Allergy orders delivered correctly
Each allergy plate should go out alone, marked, and confirmed with the guest. A manager watches a few deliveries per shift and logs any skipped step as a miss.
Food left waiting in the window
Ask the expo to note each time finished plates sat because no runner came. Review the notes with the runners after service, along with how many runners were on the floor.
Career path
BusserLearns the dining room and how a table turns.
Food runnerDelivers each course by seat number.
ServerThe usual next step for runners who know the menu cold.
ExpeditorAnother route, for runners drawn to the kitchen side of the pass.
Only if they meet your state's minimum age for serving alcohol. According to BLS, most states set 18 as the youngest age to serve alcohol, even with a meal, and some states, counties and cities also require alcohol server training. If a runner is under the age or hasn't had the training, keep drinks with the server or bartender.
How much does a restaurant food runner make?
Dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $15.89 an hour ($33,040 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $27,060 and $36,810 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Do you need food runners if servers run their own food?
Small dining rooms often let servers run their own plates. Once tables order by course and the window fills up during the rush, runners keep food from sitting under the lamps while servers are taking orders. Many groups schedule runners only for busy shifts and let bussers or servers run food on slow nights.
Is food running a good way to become a server?
It's one of the best. Runners learn the menu, the seat map and the kitchen's timing without carrying a section yet. Set clear steps for the move: pass the menu and allergen test, shadow a server for a few shifts, then take a small section on a weeknight. A clear path gives your best runners a reason to stay.
What do food runners do when the kitchen is slow?
Help clear and reset tables, refill water, restock the pass with plates, ramekins and sauces, and fold napkins or polish silverware. Late in the night they clean the pass and set up to-go supplies for the next day. A runner who stays useful between pushes is the one managers keep on the schedule.
