The front-of-house roles
- Runner — takes food from the pass to the table. The usual way in.
- Waiter or waitress — a section of tables, orders, the bill and the guest's evening.
- Host or reception — bookings, the door and the flow of the room.
- Head waiter or supervisor — the floor on a shift, and training new staff.
- Sommelier — the wine list, the cellar and recommending bottles at the table.
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
Tips are on top of your pay and never part of it: an employer cannot count tips towards the minimum wage.
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.
Variable hours
A lot of floor work is on variable hours. If yours change from week to week, holiday builds up at 12.07% of the hours you actually work, and it should be on your payslip rather than rolled into your hourly rate without saying so.