What FOH and BOH mean in restaurants and hospitality, which roles belong to each, how they are scheduled and paid, and how to keep the two sides working as one team.
The terms come from theater, where the “house” is the audience area. In restaurants, hotels, catering and cafes, they divide the business by whether a space or role is guest-facing. The split is useful for organizing training, schedules, labor budgets and pay, but the best operations treat it as one team with two jobs, not two teams.
| Front of house | Back of house |
|---|---|
| General manager or FOH manager | Executive chef or kitchen manager |
| Host or hostess | Sous chef |
| Server | Line cook |
| Bartender and barback | Prep cook |
| Busser or server assistant | Dishwasher |
| Food runner or expo | Pastry or baker |
| Cashier or counter staff | Purchasing or inventory clerk |
| Sommelier (fine dining) | Porter or cleaner |
In small restaurants one person often works both sides, such as a counter employee who also preps. Be clear which tasks belong to which role, because it affects pay and tip eligibility.
| Front of house | Back of house | |
|---|---|---|
| Main focus | Guest experience, speed of service, sales | Food quality, consistency, safety, cost control |
| Peak pressure | Seating, ordering and payment at rush times | Ticket times and prep before the rush |
| Key skills | Communication, product knowledge, handling complaints | Knife skills, food safety, speed, organization |
| Typical schedule | Built around covers and reservations | Starts earlier for prep; ends later for cleaning |
| Typical pay | Often tipped wage plus tips | Usually a full hourly wage, sometimes a share of tips |
Pay is where FOH and BOH differ most, and where mistakes cost the most. Under federal law, employers can pay tipped employees a lower cash wage and take a tip credit if the employee’s tips bring them to at least the full minimum wage, and the employer meets notice and other requirements. Several states do not allow a tip credit at all, and others set a higher tipped minimum wage.
See the restaurant tip-out guide, the tip pooling calculator and EzTip tip pooling.
BOH shifts usually start earlier and end later than FOH shifts, because prep comes before service and cleaning comes after. Build the schedule from the same forecast for both sides, but with different curves:
Our guide to restaurant labor cost percentage explains how to budget hours across both sides.
Track labor cost separately for FOH and BOH, because they respond to different levers. FOH hours move with covers and service style; BOH hours depend on the menu, prep methods and how much is made from scratch. Fictional example: a 90-seat casual restaurant with $60,000 in weekly sales targets total labor around 30% of sales. Looking at each side, the manager finds BOH at 14% and FOH at 13%, with the rest in management. When a new brunch menu raises BOH hours by 25 a week, the manager can see the change right away and adjust prep schedules, instead of discovering it at the end of the month.
FOH training covers the menu, allergens, the point-of-sale system, service steps, alcohol service rules and handling complaints. BOH training covers recipes and plating, food safety and temperatures, knife and equipment safety, cleaning and sanitizing, and receiving and storage. Many jurisdictions require at least one certified food protection manager and food handler training for some staff. Cross-training a few people on both sides gives you flexibility and builds understanding.
| Friction | Fix |
|---|---|
| Tips go to FOH, BOH feels left out | Review pay so total earnings are fair; consider a lawful tip pool or a BOH incentive |
| Orders entered wrong or modified late | Clear ticket standards and one person on expo |
| 86’d items not communicated | A shared board or message before and during service |
| Blame for slow tickets or cold food | Joint pre-shift huddle and a short post-shift review |
| Different start and end times | One schedule both sides can see |
EZTime puts FOH and BOH on one schedule with roles for each position, so managers see total coverage and labor cost. Employees clock in on a kiosk or phone, EzTip splits tips by hours and role with history and export, and announcements share specials and 86’d items with the whole team.
Front of house: the guest-facing areas and roles, such as hosts, servers, bartenders and cashiers.
Back of house: the kitchen and support areas and roles, such as cooks, prep cooks, dishwashers and the kitchen manager.
Under federal rules, yes, in a mandatory tip pool if the employer pays everyone the full minimum wage and takes no tip credit. State laws vary.
Back of house.
Usually a front-of-house or general manager and a kitchen manager or chef, with the general manager responsible for both.
FOH and BOH on one EZTime schedule, with tip pooling built in. See current plans and what each one includes on the pricing page.