The jobs in a restaurant
- Kitchen — head chef, sous chef, chef de partie, commis, pastry.
- Kitchen support — kitchen porters and kitchen assistants, who keep the kitchen running.
- Front of house — waiting staff, runners, hosts and sommeliers.
- Bar — bartenders, baristas and bar managers.
- Management — restaurant managers, assistant managers and general managers.
Experience moves between them more than people expect. Plenty of general managers started as runners, and a good waiter with wine knowledge is most of the way to a sommelier.
Why every job here shows the pay
Most hospitality adverts say "competitive" and leave you to find out at the interview. On Covers the salary is required: a venue cannot publish a job without it. So you can compare two restaurants before you apply to either.
What it must pay
From 1 April 2026 the National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over is £12.71 an hour. It is £10.85 for 18 to 20 year olds, and £8.00 for 16 and 17 year olds and for apprentices. That is the floor for every hour you work, including any trial shift that is really work.
The rates, on gov.uk National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates
Every job on Covers states its pay, because the database will not publish one that does not. Once there are four live listings for a role, its pay page shows the median of what venues are actually offering.
Tips belong to the staff
Since 1 October 2024 employers in England, Scotland and Wales must pass on every tip, gratuity and service charge they control to workers, in full, by the end of the month after it was paid, and must have a written policy on how they are shared. They cannot keep a cut to cover card fees. An advert should tell you whether there is a tronc and roughly what it adds.
The statutory code of practice on tips Code of practice on the fair and transparent distribution of tips
Applying
You make one profile — your roles, your experience, where you will travel — and apply to any job with a tap. There is no CV to write, and applying is free and always will be. Every venue is checked against Companies House, and recruitment agencies cannot post.