Restaurant jobs can put a little extra cash in a person's pocket or they can be lifelong careers that pay quite well. That is because there are number of different types of restaurants and a number of different restaurant jobs. There are a few things job hunters should know about these positions and what they entail before deciding to enter the industry.

Without including tips, the highest paying areas in a restaurant are management and kitchen staff. Management pays the most salary and typically has the most benefits. Some cooks can be in management, but they generally have a superior unless they are the owner. This area of restaurant work may require a business education, years working up from lower restaurant position or both.

A very common area of restaurant work and the area where most enter the business is floor staff. Floor staff includes hosts/hostesses, bartenders and waitstaff. Busboys and management will often venture out onto the floor, but customer service often falls to the rest of the floor crew. The only position in this area that requires significant training is bartending. That will require bartending school or extensive on the job training. For the most part, waitstaff and hosts/hostesses can receive on the job training with no experience.

The kitchen area of a restaurant has entry-level positions as well. There are dishwashers, who may one day move up to be cooks or waitstaff. Limited on the job training is all that is necessary for this position. There is also the busboy position, which may fall to dishwashers. Like dishwashing, it requires very little training and no education, but can open doors to better positions in restaurants.

Last, but definitely not least, is the kitchen. In the kitchen, there are prep cooks, line cooks, chefs and/or bakers. Entry level is prep. What is required to attain this position depends on the restaurant. In some places, it requires no experience or education. Other restaurants hire highly trained prep cooks who would be chef-level in other restaurants. The same holds true all the way up the ranks. The quality of training and education required in the chefs directly reflects the quality of the restaurant and the pay.

Restaurant jobs in Littleton, Colorado include bartenders, food servers, food specialists, restaurant team members, and many others.

No, restaurant management jobs are not hard to obtain. However, most restaurant managers start working in the restaurant industry from the bottom up - in other words, as dishwashers and bussers - and move up over the years.

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