Restaurant waiter is one of the oldest hospitality professions in the world and has always been an exciting place to start a hospitality career. Even over 130 years ago! 

Oscar Tschirky landed in the United States in 1883 and, like many immigrants at the time, he found himself in New York City, hungry for his bite of the big apple.

25 years of hard work and dedication combined with a positive outlook on life took him from waiting tables in the dining room to working as a maître d' to managing the legendary Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

Oscar’s journey on his career path over a century ago illustrates that hospitality is a timeless industry that has always been full of opportunities. 

To help connect Oscar’s experience to our modern context, we’ve selected and anonymized two members from Hosco that we think are great examples of how a job as a waiter is only just the beginning of an exciting hospitality journey.

Pablo, from Commis-waiter to Director of Restaurants

Pablo started his career as a commis-waiter in 2013 in Paris, France, gaining his first experience in the industry before taking a role as a receptionist at a hotel in Dubai. His journey then took him to a waiter role at the Mandarin Oriental in Geneva, where he soon entered their management trainee program. 

Once he finished the program, he began the next step of his career path as an assistant restaurant manager at the Mandarin before switching sectors to work as room service manager in their hotel. 

Pablo then moved back to F&B as restaurants manager in Geneva before he took a position in Santiago, Chile as the director of restaurants and bars for Mandarin Oriental. The experience he gained in his management roles helped prepare him to be an excellent candidate for director position. It’s a great example of how far sticking with one company can take you.

Jerome, from Chef de Rang to Business Development Advisor

Jerome began his hospitality career 10 years ago as a chef de rang and assistant sommelier in Barcelona before moving on to work for the Mandarin Oriental in Barcelona to work as a waiter in their restaurant. 

After two years at this role, where he gained valuable experience and knowledge about restaurant operations, Jerome took a restaurant manager position at a boutique cafe. He spent two years at this job then used that managerial experience to land the restaurant manager role at one of Barcelona’s most historic upscale dining establishments.

After gaining years of experience as a restaurant manager, Jerome decided to go freelance as a business development advisor to companies in the hospitality industry. 

However, Jerome has recently returned to food and service with his current management role at one of Barcelona’s hottest new restaurants. It seems that the rush of pulling off a busy dinner service was too exhilarating to turn his back on forever.

Where will your career take you? 

Pablo and Jerome’s exciting journeys show how a career in hospitality can take you all over the world and that the skills you develop in one sector of hospitality can be applied to another to move up the ladder. 

Within a matter of years, they were both able to go from entry level positions to managerial roles where they were able to gain invaluable experience that helped them push their careers even further. They are wonderful examples that if you stick with a job as a waiter, work hard, and show strong potential, the road to manager is not as long as you may think.

And if you’re ever feeling doubt about your journey, just think back to Oscar Tschirky who left everything behind in Switzerland as a teenager in 1883, started working as a waiter in a foreign country then became the manager of one of New York City’s most iconic hotels.

If Oscar could do it more than a hundred years ago, you can do it now. Check out our open roles for waiters/waitresses, here. Who knows where your journey will take you, but we can promise you this - it will not be a boring straight line!