Some bartenders acquire their skills by attending a bartending school or taking vocational and technical school courses that include instruction on State and local laws and regulations, cocktail recipes, attire and conduct, and stocking a bar. Some of these schools help their graduates find jobs. Due to the relatively small size of most food-serving establishments, opportunities for promotion are limited. After gaining some experience, some dining room and cafeteria attendants and bartender helpers are able to advance to waiter, waitress, or bartender jobs. For waiters, waitresses, and bartenders, advancement usually is limited to finding a job in a larger restaurant or bar where prospects for tip earnings are better.
Some bartenders open their own businesses.
Some hosts and hostesses and waiters and waitresses advance to supervisory jobs, such as maitre d'hotel, dining room supervisor, or restaurant manager. In larger restaurant chains, food and beverage service workers who excel at their work are often invited to enter the company's formal management training program. Job Outlook Job openings for food and beverage service workers are expected to be abundant through the year 2005. Most openings will arise from the need to replace the high proportion of workers who leave this very large occupation each year. Employment of food and beverage service occupations is expected to grow as fast as the average for all occupations through the year 2005.