Glossary / Front of House (FOH)
What is Front of House (FOH)?
Also known as: FOH
Front of house (FOH) refers to the guest-facing side of a restaurant and everyone who works it — servers, bartenders, hosts, runners, and bussers. FOH staff handle the guest experience directly, so their training focuses on menu knowledge, service standards, and hospitality.
The front of house is everything guests see and interact with: the dining room, the bar, the host stand, and the people working them. Because FOH staff are the face of the restaurant, small gaps in their knowledge are visible instantly — a server who can't describe a dish or answer a wine question undercuts the whole experience.
FOH roles each need slightly different training: servers on the full menu and steps of service, bartenders on cocktail specs and spirits, hosts on flow and reservations, runners on where dishes go and what's in them. But all of them depend on menu knowledge.
ShiftTrained focuses on FOH training today — servers, bartenders, hosts, and runners — with a back-of-house (kitchen) module coming. Managers can assign role-specific quizzes so each position is trained on what it actually needs.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What does front of house mean in a restaurant?
Front of house (FOH) is the guest-facing side of the operation — the dining room, bar, and host stand — and the staff who work it: servers, bartenders, hosts, runners, and bussers. It's contrasted with back of house, the kitchen side.
What jobs are front of house?
Servers, bartenders, hosts and hostesses, food runners, bussers, and sommeliers are all front-of-house roles. They interact with guests directly, so their training emphasizes menu knowledge, service sequence, and hospitality.
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About the Author
Terry Psaltakis is a 30-year restaurant operator who has opened more than 20 concepts across multiple markets, in every role from dishwasher to Owner. He founded ShiftTrained in Chicago to solve a problem he lived for three decades: pre-shift meetings don't actually train staff. Terry writes about the operational side of restaurant training, AI in hospitality, and what works on the floor.
LinkedIn · terry@shifttrained.com
Last reviewed June 2026
“Since we started using ShiftTrained, wine sales for both bottle and by-the-glass are up 34%. The staff is not scared to talk about the wine anymore.”
George G. · Black Barrel · Chicago
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