The restaurant and hospitality business in the UAE is sought-after as the country values service as an important factor. For those of you who are planning to work as a waiter or waitress in the Food & Beverage industry (whether it be in restaurants or in hotels), below are some tips about the job, salary expectations, as well as other employment details.
If you want to know more about being a waiter in Dubai, then this article is for you. A YouTube channel named Buhay sa Dubai shares several tips about this career that are useful and informative.
Disclaimer: The information posted here is based on the personal experiences shared by the OFWs in the video below. Please let this post serve as a guide only. If you have specific questions, you may ask the OFWs by commenting on their videos on their accounts.
Contents
How to Start a Waiting Staff Career in Restaurants in Dubai
What Waiters do in Dubai Compared in Philippines
Being a waiter in Dubai is not much different from being a waiter in the Philippines. If you have experience, then you will do very little to adjust to this line of work.
Perhaps the only significant difference is you have to speak English as a waiter in Dubai.
If you know other languages, like Russian, Chinese, or even have the ability to talk to the locals in Arabic, then that’s an added advantage for you.
Being an HRM Graduate
Is it necessary to be an HRM graduate to work as a waiter in Dubai?
It depends on the following circumstances:
- Employment visa – If you’re planning on coming to Dubai on an employment visa, then you may have to present your college degree as one of the requirements.
- Visit visa – With a visit visa, you can apply in person on various restaurants, cafés or hotels for a waiting staff position, and they actually value JOB EXPERIENCE more than degree.
Accommodation and Transportation
Will you get free accommodation and transportation while being a waiter in Dubai?
In general, the answer depends on the kind of visa you have while in Dubai.
- Employment visa – getting a job in Dubai from the Philippines through an employment visa ensures that you have lots of benefits, like free accommodation and transportation. However, this means that the clean salary you get is less.
- Visit visa – as you look for a job with a visit visa, you will likely encounter a company that doesn’t provide free accommodation and transportation That means you will earn more, but you’ll have to pay for your own house to live in (probably a bed space), and use public transportation.
- Working at a restaurant – Some restaurants offer to give you free accommodation and transportation, but you can choose to live out, and the company will give you extra on top of your salary for living out.
Salary
Buhay sa Dubai shares the following salaries for various waiter job positions:
- Food chain – 1000 to 1600 dirhams per month, equivalent to 13,800 to 22,150 PhP. This is clean because you get free food, transportation and accommodation.
- Restaurant – 2000 to 2500 dirhams per month, or 27,700 to 34,600 Php. But with tips, incentives and bonuses from mystery shoppers, it can get to as high as 3000 to near 4000 aed
Tips
There are two ways tips are provided to waiters in Dubai:
- Generalized – all tips from all waiters are placed in one box and divided among the waiters on a weekly, monthly or quarterly basis.
- Personalized – if you’re assigned to one or several tables, all tips coming from the customers of those tables will be yours.
Customers
Since Dubai is basically a melting pot of many cultures, and one of the top tourist destinations around the world, expect to meet customers of various cultures and personalities.
Expect to see the following types of customers (typically expats, guests and visitors):
- The seemingly rogue ones but that’s just the way they talk.
- The highly appreciative ones
- The sweet ones
- The ones that don’t respond to you but only because they can’t speak English.
- Those with unique hand gestures which you need to learn about so you’ll understand.
- Those that demand that they should be served exactly what they see in the menu’s picture.
Since we Filipinos are generally sweet and caring and smile a lot, we are really good at handling all types of customers.
There you have it. These are some of the most important tips you need to know when becoming a waiter in Dubai. Just remember, act professionally at all times. Put yourself in the position of the customer, and ask yourself, what do I want from a waiter? What makes a waiter great?
