Hospitality Jobs in Columbus, OH

Official local pay data still points to modest earnings: the broad food preparation and serving group averaged $17.24/hour in Columbus in May 2025, and the broader food preparation and serving occupation family showed a $33,540 median annual wage, $38,210 at the 75th percentile, and $48,340 at the 90th percentile in 2025. By contrast, recent postings in the local sample center on about $52k to $65k for annual-paid roles and about $15 to $18 / hour for hourly roles, which likely mixes frontline jobs with managers, chefs, and salaried hotel positions.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 168 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $31,200 at the 25th percentile, $33,280 at the median and $38,501 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of November 10, 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

Balanced market | next 3-6 months

Columbus is a workable but not easy market for Hospitality, Food Service & Travel right now. Columbus leisure and hospitality employment was 119.2 thousand in August 2026, up 1.0169% year over year, while metro unemployment was 3.3%. But Ohio-wide hospitality, food service & travel postings were down 12.3% year over year and employment was down 1.2% year over year in September 2026, so employers can still be selective even in a healthy local economy.

Best positioned: Candidates who are flexible on shifts and location, open to on-site work, and can show cash handling, food preparation, food safety, customer service, and ideally ServSafe have the best odds; about 80% of sampled local postings were entry-level and about 95% or more were on-site.

Main caution: Do not assume the higher posted salary bands reflect typical frontline pay; official local wage data for the broad group was $17.24/hour and the local occupation-family median was $33,540/year.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 295 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Bob Evans Farms Inc: 46 open roles
2. Cameron Mitchell Restaurants: 20 open roles
3. Ted's Montana Grill, Inc.: 10 open roles
4. Romulus Restaurant Group: 9 open roles
5. Compass Group: 6 open roles
6. Concord Hospitality Enterprises Co.: 6 open roles
7. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.: 6 open roles
8. StoryPoint Group: 6 open roles
9. Beer Barrel Inc.: 5 open roles
10. Brookdale Senior Living: 5 open roles

Where the openings are

• Columbus: 155
• Dublin: 23
• Westerville: 18
• New Albany: 14
• Hilliard: 13
• Powell: 10
• Grove City: 8
• Delaware: 7

Work arrangement

on-site 275 (100%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is concentrated in restaurants and hospitality operators rather than a single dominant employer. In the recent local sample, the most-active industries were hospitality at about 35% and restaurants at about 25%, with smaller pockets in retail at about 10%, hospitals and health care at about 5%, and food & beverage at about 5%. That means you should search across chain coffee, restaurant groups, hotels, cafeterias, and foodservice contractors instead of waiting for one dream employer. The employer base is broad. Over the last 90 days, the market showed more than 500 postings across more than 175 companies, and hiring was described as fragmented. Among the most consistently active names were Starbucks Corp., Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, and Bob Evans Farms Inc. Because only about 10% of sampled postings came from large employers, a lot of hiring sits in local and regional operators rather than national giants.

• Restaurants and coffee chains (high): This is the clearest volume pocket in the market, supported by strong restaurant and hospitality representation in the local sample and repeat hiring from names such as Starbucks Corp., Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, and Bob Evans Farms Inc.
• Hotels and hospitality venues (moderate): Hospitality is the single largest industry bucket in the sample at about 35%, which supports front-desk, housekeeping, guest-service, and operations paths, though the evidence is still stronger for food-service roles than for every hotel sub-role.
• Institutional food service (moderate): Hospitals and health care account for about 5% of the local sample, making cafeterias, patient-facing dining support, and contract food-service operations a smaller but steadier target set.
• Retail food and beverage counters (moderate): Retail represents about 10% of the sample, which creates a bridge for candidates with cashier, beverage, or counter-service experience who need a faster path into paid work.

Where to focus: Focus first on multi-location restaurant, coffee, hotel, and institutional employers where hiring volume is steadier and onboarding is more standardized.

Roles worth searching next

• Retail shift lead: Cash handling, customer service, inventory management, and sanitation transfer directly from hospitality work.
• Customer support representative: Service recovery, communication, adaptability, and problem-solving transfer well from restaurant and guest-facing work.
• Patient access representative: Front-desk hospitality skills map well to registration, check-in, and guest communication, and education and health services nationally was up 1.9% year over year in September 2026.
• Office receptionist or front desk coordinator: Guest-facing service, scheduling, communication, and conflict handling all transfer well from hotel and restaurant work.

What postings ask for

• ServSafe (table_stakes | immediate): It is the most commonly named certification in sampled local postings, even if only about 5% explicitly list it, and it helps you clear food-safety screens quickly. Who: Entry-level applicants, career switchers, and anyone targeting kitchen, shift-lead, or food-handling roles.
• Food safety and sanitation (table_stakes | immediate): Food safety appears in about 20% of sampled local postings and sanitation in about 15%, making this one of the clearest screen-outs for kitchen and food-prep work. Who: Cooks, prep workers, dish crews, and supervisors.
• Cash handling and POS accuracy (table_stakes | immediate): Cash handling showed up in about 20% of sampled local postings and matters for barista, counter, server, and front-desk-adjacent roles. Who: Front-of-house candidates and career switchers coming from retail or service work.
• Inventory management (differentiator | near-term): Inventory management appeared in about 20% of sampled local postings and is one of the fastest ways to move from frontline work toward shift-lead or assistant-manager consideration. Who: Workers trying to move up within 6-12 months.
• Customer service and guest recovery (table_stakes | immediate): Customer service showed up in about 15% of sampled local postings, and national restaurant research also highlights customer service, communication, adaptability, and problem-solving as core transferable skills. Who: Everyone in front-of-house, hotel, and service-heavy roles.
• Beverage preparation (differentiator | near-term): Beverage preparation appears in about 10% of sampled local postings and is especially useful for café, quick-service, and branded coffee roles. Who: Entry-level job seekers who want faster placement in coffee or counter-service work.

Questions about this market

What do Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles pay in Columbus, OH?

Official local pay data still points to modest earnings: the broad food preparation and serving group averaged $17.24/hour in Columbus in May 2025, and the broader food preparation and serving occupation family showed a $33,540 median annual wage, $38,210 at the 75th percentile, and $48,340 at the 90th percentile in 2025. By contrast, recent postings in the local sample center on about $52k to $65k for annual-paid roles and about $15 to $18 / hour for hourly roles, which likely mixes frontline jobs with managers, chefs, and salaried hotel positions. For most job seekers, Columbus looks like a moderate-pay market with broad access but limited automatic upside. Ohio's mean offered salary on new hospitality openings was about $32,920 in September 2026, versus about $61,592 across all Ohio occupations, so this category still pays well below the broader job market.

Where is demand for Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Columbus, OH concentrated?

Real opportunity is concentrated in restaurants and hospitality operators rather than a single dominant employer. In the recent local sample, the most-active industries were hospitality at about 35% and restaurants at about 25%, with smaller pockets in retail at about 10%, hospitals and health care at about 5%, and food & beverage at about 5%. That means you should search across chain coffee, restaurant groups, hotels, cafeterias, and foodservice contractors instead of waiting for one dream employer. The employer base is broad. Over the last 90 days, the market showed more than 500 postings across more than 175 companies, and hiring was described as fragmented. Among the most consistently active names were Starbucks Corp., Cameron Mitchell Restaurants, and Bob Evans Farms Inc. Because only about 10% of sampled postings came from large employers, a lot of hiring sits in local and regional operators rather than national giants.

Which employers are hiring the most Hospitality, Food Service & Travel talent in Columbus, OH?

Recent postings show the most activity from Starbucks Corp. (40 postings), Cameron Mitchell Restaurants (30 postings), Bob Evans Farms Inc (20 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Columbus, OH be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 2% are remote and 3% 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.

Browse Ohio openings by job title

• General Manager: 431 open roles statewide

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