Working in the foodservice or retail industry can provide you with excellent skills that are transferable to other positions. https://www.collegeconfidential.com/articles/4-transferable-skills-gained-working-in-the-food-retail-industries/
Sure those are good skills, but even more valuable are: learning how to deal with creepy sexual harassers who are old enough to be your dad or grandpa, learning how to make sure the other servers don’t steal your filled up ketchups, standing up for yourself to the boss so you can get your paycheck on time and get a reasonable schedule, realizing the value of tipping out the bus boy and bar staff fairly, and understanding why you want to join a union so you can get a bathroom break.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. I wish it was a requirement for high school kids to work at least one summer at some type of job.
When I hear parents say their student is too busy with other ECs, I just don’t believe it. Places like Target will hire seasonal workers, and students can work as much or as little as they like during breaks.
Dealing with the public is not easy, but it opens your eyes and helps build toughness. My son said he was definitely going to college so he didn’t end up like his manager. 
My D has worked in food service at 2 different places - one during high school, the other the summer between freshman and sophomore year in college. Lots and lots of lessons, including an appreciation for good working environments and managers, showing up on time, how to ask for a raise, dealing with the public (and all of the challenges that entails), and a good understanding of how hard those jobs can be. She goes to school with people who’ve never worked a job before (and certainly not at that level) and they are truly clueless.
I agree with the article that you learn fabulous skills working in these jobs. On the other hand, I dispute that these skills are actually rewarded in the workplace. If they were, these wouldn’t be low-wage jobs and higher-level people would be expected to have these skills and it rarely matters if they do.
The article over-states the case, more than a bit. There were two important lessons working in fast food-how important it was to keep a jobs(even fast food job was hard to get years ago) and how important it was to be on time. For the rest-well, we were fungible goods with a short shelf-life(people got fired all the time), so nobody bothered to mentor anybody, or worried about communication-you either did what the boss wanted or you were gone. May be way different now.