Restaurant Host / Hostess CV Examples & Writing Guide
A restaurant host CV gets an interview when the manager can see you can run a door on a Friday night: accurate wait quotes, a seating rotation that keeps waiters even, a booking diary you actually manage, and a calm phone voice. Below is a full host sample plus fine dining and no-experience versions.
Restaurant host CV example (busy casual dining, 180 seats)
This is a host with three years on the door of a high-volume restaurant, now training new hosts. The name and the restaurants are made up. Notice how much of it is numbers: covers, wait quotes, party sizes, phone volume. That is what a general manager is looking for.
Jordan Alvarez
Restaurant Host / Lead Host
Newcastle upon Tyne · 07700 900164 · jordan.alvarez.host@email.com
Summary
Restaurant host with 3 years on the door of a 180-seat casual dining restaurant doing 400 to 600 covers on a Friday or Saturday. Runs the waiting list, the booking diary and the seating rotation, and trains new hosts. Wait quotes accurate within 5 minutes on audited weekends. Comfortable on OpenTable, ResDiary and Toast. Level 2 Food Hygiene certified.
Experience
Lead Host · Casual dining restaurant and bar (180 seats), Newcastle city centre
Mar 2023 – Present
- Run the door for 400 to 600 covers on weekend nights and 180 to 250 on weekdays, with waits of up to 75 minutes in the busiest months.
- Manage the waiting list and booking diary on OpenTable, seating parties of 2 to 14 and holding the rotation so that 9 waiters stay within one table of each other.
- Quote wait times within 5 minutes of actual seating on 9 out of 10 audited checks, which cut walkaways during the 6pm to 8pm block by about a third.
- Handle 60 to 90 phone calls a shift: bookings, large-party enquiries, takeaway orders and directions, while keeping the greeting time under 30 seconds at the door.
- Trained 7 new hosts on the seating plan, table numbering, allergy flag procedure and the closing duties checklist.
Host / Runner · Fish restaurant (120 seats), Newcastle upon Tyne
Jun 2021 – Mar 2023
- Greeted and seated an average of 250 guests a shift, managed a paper waiting list and a 40-name Saturday diary.
- Cleared and reset tables during rushes, turning a table of four in under 4 minutes so the door kept moving.
- Took takeaway orders by phone and packed 20 to 35 orders a night, checking each against the ticket before handing it over.
- Kept the host stand, menus and entrance clean and stocked through 9-hour shifts, with no issues raised at the front of house in 2 years of food hygiene inspections.
Runner · Seaside café and diner (90 seats), Tynemouth
Aug 2020 – Jun 2021
- Reset 60 to 80 tables a shift and ran food for a 90-seat dining room on weekend brunch, whenever the café was open between the 2020–21 lockdowns.
- Learned table numbers, section plans and the pace of a full house before moving to the host stand.
Education
A-levels
Sixth form college, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2020
Certifications
- Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety for Catering, 2024
- Challenge 25 and alcohol awareness training, 2024
Skills
What a restaurant manager looks for in a host CV
The host is the first person a guest meets and the person who decides whether the floor runs smoothly. Managers hire for four things and they are all visible on a one-page CV.
- Volume you have handled. Seats, covers per shift, longest wait you have run. Someone who has quoted a 90-minute wait to a family of six and kept them happy is a different hire from someone who has only worked a quiet lunch.
- Whether you understand rotation. Seating is not just filling empty tables. A host who says "kept 9 waiters within one table of each other" is telling the manager they will not get complaints from the floor.
- Systems you know. OpenTable, ResDiary, SevenRooms, Toast, Lightspeed, Square or the restaurant's own waiting list app. Naming the exact system you used saves the restaurant a training shift.
- Reliability on the shifts nobody wants. Say plainly that you are available Friday and Saturday nights, bank holidays and brunch. In restaurant hiring that line is worth more than any adjective.
“I look for someone who has run a real wait. If your CV says you quoted within five minutes and kept the rotation even, I know you understand that my servers and my guests are both watching you. Anyone can smile at a door. Not everyone can hold a forty-name list at seven o'clock on a Saturday.”
Hostess CV personal statement and career objective examples
If you have host experience, write a personal statement. If this is your first restaurant job, write a short career objective that says what shifts you can work. Both go at the top in two or three lines.
Year 13 student looking for a host position in a full-service restaurant. Two years on a shop floor greeting 100+ customers a shift and answering the phone, plus volunteering on the school reception desk. Available Thursday to Sunday including bank holidays, and can start immediately. Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate completed.
Restaurant host with 18 months at a 120-seat restaurant averaging 250 covers a shift. Runs the paper waiting list and a 40-name Saturday booking diary, seats parties of up to 10, and takes 20 to 35 takeaway orders a night. Available for all weekend shifts.
Lead host with 3 years running the door of a 180-seat restaurant at 400 to 600 covers on weekends. Manages the waiting list, rotation and large-party bookings on OpenTable, trains new hosts, and holds wait quotes accurate within 5 minutes on audited weekends.
Host with 2 years at a 70-seat chef-led restaurant with a bookings-only diary on SevenRooms. Manages a 5-course tasting menu pacing chart with the kitchen, notes guest preferences and allergies for 60 covers a night, and looks after VIP and regular guest recognition.
Host of 2 years moving to a waiting role in the same style of restaurant. Knows the floor plan, table numbering, ticket times and allergy procedure from the door side, has run food and cleared tables through rushes, and holds Level 2 Food Hygiene and Challenge 25 training.
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Host duties that belong on a CV, and how to word them
"Greeted and seated guests" appears on every host CV ever written. Add the volume, the system and the outcome and the same duty becomes a reason to call you.
| Weak | Strong |
|---|---|
| Greeted and seated customers. | Greeted and seated 400 to 600 covers on weekend nights in a 180-seat restaurant, keeping greeting time under 30 seconds at the door. |
| Answered the phone. | Handled 60 to 90 calls a shift: bookings, large-party enquiries, takeaway orders and wait quotes, without leaving the door unattended. |
| Managed the waiting list. | Ran a waiting list of up to 40 names with quotes accurate within 5 minutes on 9 of 10 audited checks, cutting walkaways in the 6pm to 8pm block by about a third. |
| Used the booking system. | Built and maintained the nightly floor plan in OpenTable, blocking tables for a private booking of 14 and two tables of 8 without breaking the waiters' rotation. |
| Helped waiters when busy. | Cleared and reset tables of four in under 4 minutes during peak so the door kept moving, and ran food for a 9-waiter floor. |
| Handled customer complaints. | Handled seating complaints at the door, offering a bar seat or a complimentary starter within manager guidelines; won back 4 to 6 parties a weekend who had been quoted over an hour. |
| Trained new employees. | Trained 7 new hosts on the seating plan, table numbering, allergy flag procedure and closing duties. |
| Kept the entrance clean. | Kept the host stand, menus and entrance in order through 9-hour shifts, with no front-of-house issues raised in 2 years of food hygiene inspections. |
Skills for a restaurant host CV
Keep the list to eight or ten and make every one of them checkable. Split them the way a manager thinks about the job.
- Door skills: wait quoting, waiting list management, seating rotation, table turn timing, floor plan and section plans, large party and event seating.
- Systems: OpenTable, ResDiary, SevenRooms, Toast, Lightspeed, Square. Only list what you have actually used.
- Guest handling: greeting and farewell, guest recovery when a wait runs long, regular and VIP recognition, allergy and dietary flags passed to the kitchen.
- Support work: clearing and resetting, running food, packing and checking takeaway orders, menu knowledge, stocking the host stand.
- Practical: multi-line phone, cash or card payments for takeaway, standing an 8- to 10-hour shift, weekend and bank holiday availability, a second language if you have one.
Restaurant host CV with no experience
Host is one of the most common first jobs in the country, and managers know it. They are checking whether you will turn up, whether you can stay calm when twenty people are staring at you, and whether you can work the shifts they need.
- 1Put availability in the first two lines. "Available Thursday to Sunday including bank holidays" is the single most persuasive sentence a new host can write.
- 2Use anything customer-facing: retail, a cinema or stadium kiosk, a school office, volunteering at community events, helping coach a junior football team, the front desk at a gym. Say how many people you dealt with per shift.
- 3Take a Level 2 Food Hygiene course before you apply. It is short, inexpensive, often asked for by restaurants, and it shows you are serious.
- 4List school activities that involve public speaking or organising people: school council, drama, music, debating, sports team captain.
- 5Add a one-line skills row with any system you have touched, even a school booking tool, plus a second language if you speak one.
- 6Keep it to one page and apply in person during the afternoon lull, between about 2pm and 4pm, with a printed copy.
Reliable Year 13 student seeking a host position. Two summers at a busy ice cream kiosk serving 200+ customers a day and working the till. School council volunteer for a 300-guest awards dinner. Available Thursday to Sunday and all bank holidays. Level 2 Food Hygiene completed August 2026.
Retail sales assistant of 4 years moving into restaurant work. Handled a checkout queue of 60 customers an hour, managed the shop phone and a daily click-and-collect list of 30 to 50 orders, and trained 5 new sales assistants. Full weekend and evening availability, and comfortable on my feet for a 10-hour shift.
Format, length and applying through a restaurant's system
One page, always. Restaurant managers read fast and often on a phone in the office between shifts. Big chains do run applicant tracking software, so plain formatting matters.
- Single column, standard headings, no photo and no date of birth. UK restaurants do not expect either, and a photo can get an application set aside.
- Use the advert's job title word for word in your CV title line: some adverts say host, some say hostess, some say host/hostess, some say front of house or guest experience host.
- Mirror phrases from the advert: waiting list, booking system, seating plan, guest experience, table turns, EPOS, food hygiene certificate, flexible availability.
- Put availability and any food hygiene or Challenge 25 training near the top, not in a footer. Those two lines decide many host hires.
- Save as PDF with a clear filename, and bring two printed copies if you plan to apply in person.
Frequently asked questions
How do I write a restaurant host CV?
Start with two or three lines naming the seat count, the covers per shift and the systems you use. Then list each restaurant with month-and-year dates and four or five bullets that include a number: covers, waiting list length, party sizes, phone volume, table turn time. Add a short skills row, your food hygiene certificate and your availability. Keep it to one page.
What is a good hostess job description for a CV?
Write what you controlled, not what you were told to do. A strong version is: "Ran the door for a 180-seat restaurant at 400 to 600 weekend covers, managing the waiting list, the OpenTable diary and the seating rotation for 9 waiters, with wait quotes accurate within 5 minutes." That single line covers greeting, seating, bookings and floor awareness.
What skills should a restaurant hostess put on a CV?
Waiting list and wait quote management, seating rotation, the exact booking system you use (OpenTable, ResDiary, SevenRooms), EPOS for takeaway orders, multi-line phone, large party bookings, allergy flag procedure, guest recovery and table turn timing. Skip generic traits like "friendly" and let the numbers carry it.
Can I be a host with no experience?
Yes. Host is a standard entry point into restaurants. Lead with your availability, especially Friday and Saturday nights, use any customer-facing work you have done, and get a Level 2 Food Hygiene certificate before you apply. Managers hire new hosts constantly, so reliability and availability outweigh experience.
Should I use a career objective or a personal statement?
Use a career objective only if you have no restaurant experience yet, and make it about availability and what you bring rather than what you want. If you have worked a door before, use a personal statement with covers, seats and systems, because that gives the manager something to judge.
How long should a host CV be?
One page, and often half a page for a first job. Restaurant managers spend seconds on each application. If you have several restaurants, keep the last three in full and put anything older into a single line.
Do I need a food hygiene certificate to be a host?
No law requires a host to hold a specific certificate, but anyone who handles food must be supervised or trained in food hygiene to suit their work, and many restaurants ask for Level 2 Food Hygiene. It is inexpensive, can often be done online in a few hours and removes one obstacle from your hire, especially if the host also packs takeaway orders or carries food.
How do I put restaurant host work on a CV for a different job?
Translate it into the language of the job you want. Host work is high-volume customer service, scheduling, conflict handling and working under time pressure. Write "managed a 40-name waiting list and 90 calls a shift while balancing workload across 9 staff" and it reads as coordination experience for an office or retail role.
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How this page was made: a first draft was written with AI assistance from cvplex's example library, then edited and fact-checked by the cvplex Careers Team. Examples are fictional composites; numbers are illustrative. Report an error via the editorial policy page.