900+ Hospitality & Food Service Jobs in Chicago, IL

The cleanest local pay anchor in the retrieved public data is indirect: Chicago's all-occupation mean hourly wage was $35.28 in May 2025, and an authoritative Chicago-area wage table is available for Food Service Managers, but the specific local manager figure was not extracted into this bundle. For category-specific directional pay, Illinois hospitality new-opening offers averaged about $36,703 in July 2026, close to the national category average of about $36,923. In the local posting sample, hourly roles centered on about $16 to $18 per hour, while annual-salary postings centered on about $65k to $75k.

Full July 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 707 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $35,261 at the 25th percentile, $39,520 at the median and $44,200 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of September 7, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 250+ openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Competitive market | next 3-6 months

Chicago still has real hospitality demand, with more than 1,900 postings across more than 500 companies over the last 90 days, active hotel recruiting in late July and early August, and a recurring hospitality and tourism recruitment fair. But it is not an easy market: metro unemployment was 5.3% in June 2026, up 12.7660% year over year, while Illinois hospitality employment was down 0.9% and active postings were down 2.2% year over year in July 2026. Treat this as a market where you can get interviews if you stay flexible on employer type, shift, and location, but not one where good roles fall quickly into place.

Best positioned: Candidates with open on-site availability and clear proof of customer service, cash handling, beverage prep, food safety, or inventory skills have the best odds because most local openings skew entry level and on-site.

Main caution: Do not assume Chicago's tourism upswing means all hospitality jobs pay big-city wages; local hourly postings center on about $16 to $18 per hour, and the about $65k to $75k salary band is pulled upward by supervisory and management roles.

From the July 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 909 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Compass Group: 48 open roles
2. Sunrise Senior Living Management, LLC: 19 open roles
3. Hogsalt: 17 open roles
4. Aramark Corporation: 16 open roles
5. Pollakinnovative: 16 open roles
6. Marriott International, Inc.: 15 open roles
7. Chwinery: 14 open roles
8. Senior Lifestyle Corporation: 12 open roles
9. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.: 10 open roles
10. Wind Creek Hospitality: 10 open roles

Where the openings are

• Chicago: 270
• Naperville: 31
• Aurora: 27
• Oak Brook: 25
• Schaumburg: 20
• Evanston: 17
• Crown Point: 16
• Glenview: 15

Work arrangement

on-site 816 (100%), hybrid 1 (0%), remote 1 (0%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is spread across several employer types rather than one big downtown luxury segment. Over the last 90 days, the local sample showed more than 1,900 postings across more than 500 companies, and hiring was fragmented across employers. Within that mix, hospitality accounted for about 30% of postings, restaurants about 20%, food & beverage about 20%, and healthcare about 10%, which means jobs are distributed across hotels, restaurants, coffee chains, and institutional dining rather than a single dominant niche. The freshest local signals point to hotels and multi-site operators still actively hiring. Sheraton Lisle near Naperville had four visible food-service openings in early August, including Executive Chef, Sous Chef, Line Cook, and Server roles, while a downtown hotel posted an open-application notice for hourly hotel positions in late July. Chicago also had a monthly hospitality and tourism recruitment fair in July, and local tourism and convention demand was described as strong, with record visitor numbers and corporate spending. That creates a very specific search pattern: broad employer coverage beats narrow title chasing. If you only apply to one sub-role, you will miss where the volume actually sits.

• Hotels and lodging operations (high): Recent signals include Sheraton Lisle's four food-service openings and a downtown hotel accepting applications for hourly positions, with tourism and convention demand supporting ongoing staffing needs.
• Chain coffee, beverage, and multi-unit food service (high): Starbucks Corp. led named employers in the sample with more than 250 postings, and local skill demand heavily features cash handling, beverage preparation, and customer service.
• Institutional and healthcare dining (moderate): Healthcare represented about 10% of postings in the local category mix, making it a useful lane for steadier schedules than restaurant-only searches.
• Management and kitchen leadership (limited): Leadership roles are present, including an Executive Chef opening at Sheraton Lisle and a Café Manager role in Naperville at $55,000 to $65,000, but these are fewer and more selective than frontline openings.

Where to focus: Focus first on enterprise hotel, café, restaurant, and institutional dining employers across both downtown Chicago and west-suburban nodes such as Naperville and Lisle.

Roles worth searching next

• Retail shift lead: The same strengths that help in local hospitality hiring—cash handling, customer service, beverage prep, and inventory discipline—transfer well into store or café-retail supervision.
• Patient services coordinator or front-office admin: Guest-facing communication, schedule coordination, problem-solving, and on-site professionalism transfer well from hotel and restaurant work.
• Event operations coordinator: Chicago's strong convention and visitor backdrop supports venue and event-side operations that reward service instincts and crowd coordination.
• Reservations or customer support specialist: As hospitality workflows add AI chat, voice tools, and contactless service, human staff are increasingly valuable in escalations, problem-solving, and complex guest communication.

What postings ask for

• Customer service (table_stakes | immediate): Customer service is one of the most-requested skills in local postings, which makes it the baseline proof for hotel, café, and restaurant interviews. Who: Everyone, especially entry-level applicants and career switchers coming from retail or support roles.
• Cash handling (table_stakes | immediate): Cash handling is the single most-requested hard skill in the local posting sample, showing up in about 25% of postings. Who: Baristas, servers, hosts, counter staff, and anyone targeting multi-site food and beverage employers.
• Beverage preparation (differentiator | immediate): Beverage preparation appeared in about 15% of local postings, which fits the visible demand from coffee and drink-service employers. Who: Baristas, café workers, hotel lounge staff, and restaurant applicants who want faster interview traction.
• Food safety / ServSafe (differentiator | immediate): Food safety appeared among the top local skill requests, and ServSafe was the most commonly named certification even though it was required in less than 5% of postings. Who: Line cooks, kitchen leads, catering staff, and career switchers who need quick credibility.
• Inventory management (differentiator | near-term): Inventory management showed up in about 15% of local postings and is one of the clearest bridges from hourly work into shift-lead or assistant-manager paths. Who: Applicants aiming to move from frontline service into supervisory work within 6-12 months.
• Staff management, culinary technique, and menu/cost negotiation (premium | near-term): Recruiters tracking hospitality leadership shortages called out culinary execution, staff management, and menu negotiation as core criteria for stronger management hiring. Who: Sous chefs, restaurant managers, banquet leaders, and candidates seeking salary-track roles.

Questions about this market

What do Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles pay in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN?

The cleanest local pay anchor in the retrieved public data is indirect: Chicago's all-occupation mean hourly wage was $35.28 in May 2025, and an authoritative Chicago-area wage table is available for Food Service Managers, but the specific local manager figure was not extracted into this bundle. For category-specific directional pay, Illinois hospitality new-opening offers averaged about $36,703 in July 2026, close to the national category average of about $36,923. In the local posting sample, hourly roles centered on about $16 to $18 per hour, while annual-salary postings centered on about $65k to $75k. This is a split market. Frontline service and kitchen roles are broadly accessible but usually sit in hourly pay bands, while the headline salary ranges mostly reflect supervisors, managers, and specialized kitchen leadership.

Where is demand for Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN concentrated?

Real opportunity is spread across several employer types rather than one big downtown luxury segment. Over the last 90 days, the local sample showed more than 1,900 postings across more than 500 companies, and hiring was fragmented across employers. Within that mix, hospitality accounted for about 30% of postings, restaurants about 20%, food & beverage about 20%, and healthcare about 10%, which means jobs are distributed across hotels, restaurants, coffee chains, and institutional dining rather than a single dominant niche. The freshest local signals point to hotels and multi-site operators still actively hiring. Sheraton Lisle near Naperville had four visible food-service openings in early August, including Executive Chef, Sous Chef, Line Cook, and Server roles, while a downtown hotel posted an open-application notice for hourly hotel positions in late July. Chicago also had a monthly hospitality and tourism recruitment fair in July, and local tourism and convention demand was described as strong, with record visitor numbers and corporate spending. That creates a very specific search pattern: broad employer coverage beats narrow title chasing. If you only apply to one sub-role, you will miss where the volume actually sits.

Which employers are hiring the most Hospitality, Food Service & Travel talent in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN?

Recent postings show the most activity from Starbucks Corp. (250 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 4% are remote and 4% hybrid, with 95% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

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