Front of House vs Back of House: Roles, Pay and the Pass
October 18, 2026 · 8 min read
The Short Answer
Front of house (FOH) is everyone guests see: hosts, servers, bartenders, bussers and runners. Back of house (BOH) is everyone who makes the food and keeps the kitchen running: cooks, prep, dishwashers and the chef. FOH pay leans on tips; BOH pay is mostly hourly wage. The line between them — the pass — is where most service problems start.
Every restaurant runs as two teams that need each other every minute of service. The split shapes how you hire, how you pay, who shares tips and where your labor cost goes. This page puts the two side by side with current pay data and the federal tip rules that draw the line between them.
Who Works Where, and What They Earn
National median wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2025 survey. For tipped roles the BLS figure already includes reported tips.
| Role | Side | BLS median |
|---|---|---|
| Server | FOH | $16.94/hr |
| Bartender | FOH | $16.51/hr |
| Host | FOH | $15.00/hr |
| Busser / food runner | FOH | $16.34/hr (busser) |
| Line cook (restaurant cook) | BOH | $17.98/hr |
| Prep cook (food preparation worker) | BOH | $16.98/hr |
| Dishwasher | BOH | $16.73/hr |
| Chef / head cook | BOH | $62,470/yr |
| Restaurant manager | Both | $69,390/yr |
The medians sit close together on an hourly basis. What differs is how the money arrives: a server's pay swings with the night, a cook's does not.
Tips: The Rule That Divides the Two Teams
Federal law (the Fair Labor Standards Act, explained in the Labor Department's Fact Sheet #15) lets an employer take a tip credit and pay tipped staff a cash wage as low as $2.13 an hour, as long as tips bring them to the $7.25 federal minimum. When an employer takes that credit, a mandatory tip pool can include only employees who customarily receive tips — in practice, front of house.
An employer that pays everyone at least the full minimum wage and takes no tip credit can include cooks and dishwashers in a mandatory pool. In every case, managers and supervisors may not keep any part of employees' tips. Several states do not allow a tip credit at all, and state rules can be stricter than federal ones. Model a pool both ways in the tip distribution calculator.
Different Jobs, Different Hires
Hire FOH for
- Reading a table and adjusting the pace
- Selling without pushing
- Handling complaints calmly
- Menu and allergen knowledge
Hire BOH for
- Speed and consistency on a station
- Food safety habits without reminders
- Working clean under pressure
- Taking direction from the chef at the pass
Our interview question bank is split by role for exactly this reason, and the server training checklist covers the FOH side of onboarding.
Where the Two Meet: The Pass
The pass is the counter where plates leave the kitchen. Friction there — tickets rung in late, modifiers nobody can read, plates dying under the lamp — shows up as slow tables and refires. Three habits fix most of it: one person (an expediter) owns the pass during the rush; allergy orders are spoken aloud as well as printed; and FOH and BOH leads meet for five minutes before service to walk the specials and the 86 list. Log the refires that still happen on the waste log.
Labor Cost: Counting Both Sides
FOH and BOH wages both belong in labor cost, and together with food and beverage cost they make up prime cost. Track them as separate lines so you can see which side is drifting: FOH hours follow covers, BOH hours follow the menu and the prep load. The labor cost calculator and prime cost calculator take it from there.
Related Tools & Guides
Tip Distribution Calculator
Split a pool by hours, points or percentage
Employee Schedule Template
Schedule FOH and BOH against forecast covers
Bartender Salary
How tips change take-home on the FOH side
Sous Chef Salary
Pay for the second-in-command in the kitchen
Barista Job Description
A counter role that sits on the FOH side