Hospitality & Food
Kitchens, hotels, bars and the people who run them.
Retail bakery & wholesale
Baker
Your shift starts when everyone else is asleep.
$30k-$55k
Cafe & specialty coffee
Barista
The most romanticized low-wage job in the country.
$26k-$45k including tips
Bar, restaurant & events
Bartender
Cash money, late nights and a room you have to read.
$28k-$75k including tips
Craft brewing production
Brewer
Mostly cleaning, and everyone is surprised by that.
$34k-$70k
Retail & whole animal
Butcher
A craft trade that came back, and whole-animal shops pay for real skill.
$36k-$70k
Table games
Casino Dealer
Eight weeks of school, and your income is the room's mood.
$30k-$70k including tips
Events & off-premise catering
Catering Manager
Cooking is the easy part; logistics is the job.
$45k-$85k
Sous & executive
Chef
Cooking becomes the smallest part of the job.
$50k-$95k
Shipboard hospitality
Cruise Ship Crew
Room, board and travel included; days off are not.
$18k-$60k, with expenses covered
Corporate & weddings
Event Planner
Months of spreadsheets for one day that cannot go wrong.
$42k-$85k
Mobile food service
Food Truck Owner
A restaurant with lower rent and considerably more mechanical problems.
$25k-$95k
Hotel guest services
Hotel Front Desk Agent
The entry door to every hotel career there is.
$32k-$48k
Property operations
Hotel Manager
Running a small city that never closes.
$55k-$110k
Hotel & facility housekeeping
Housekeeping Supervisor
The department that decides whether guests ever come back.
$38k-$62k
Restaurant kitchen
Line Cook
Six hours of controlled chaos on the hot line.
$32k-$60k
Bakery, restaurant & wedding cakes
Pastry Chef
Precision cooking, and the hours are somehow worse.
$38k-$75k
Full service & QSR
Restaurant Manager
Salaried, which mostly means unpaid overtime.
$48k-$85k
Restaurant & fine dining
Server
The room you work in decides your income, not your skill.
$28k-$70k including tips
Restaurant & beverage direction
Sommelier
Years of study to sell wine on a restaurant floor.
$45k-$110k