Busser (Back Server)
A busser keeps tables moving, clearing plates, refilling water, crumbing, and resetting a table for the next party as soon as one leaves. In fine dining the same position is usually called a back server and works under a captain, handling clearing, resetting, and water and bread service.
Bussers set the pace of table turns. A table is not available to the next party when the guests stand up, it is available when it has been cleared, wiped, and reset, so the speed of that reset is the difference between a book that runs on time and one that falls behind on a Saturday.
The back server title carries a narrower job than it sounds like. A back server supports the table around the captain’s work: clearing courses, resetting silver, water, bread. Plates come from food runners, wine is poured by a sommelier or the captain, and the captain takes the order and does the table touches. The station works because each of those hands has one thing to do.
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