400+ Hospitality & Food Service Jobs in Denver, CO

Official metro wage data shows food preparation and serving related work at about $21.46 an hour in May 2025, with a 10th-percentile wage of $17.86. That sits well below Denver's all-occupation average of $39.28 an hour and the metro's total private average hourly earnings of $42.65. Proxy signals broaden the picture: hourly hospitality postings center on about $18 to $20 / hour, Colorado's mean offered salary on new hospitality openings was about $39,607 in July 2026, chefs were estimated around $50,731 locally, and sous chefs around $61,721.

Full July 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 331 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $38,480 at the 25th percentile, $43,254 at the median and $46,800 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

Balanced market | next 3-6 months

Denver is still a real market for hospitality work, not a dead one: the metro had 185,500 leisure-and-hospitality jobs in June 2026, local unemployment was 3.9%, and more than 850 postings were observed across more than 300 companies over the last 90 days. But it is not an easy market across the board, because Colorado-wide Hospitality, Food Service & Travel employment was down 1.0% year over year in July 2026 and active postings were down 4.8% year over year. The best chances are in on-site hourly roles across restaurants, coffee, hotels, banquets, and guest service rather than remote work or top-end management jobs, because about 80% of postings are entry-level and about 95% or more are on-site.

Best positioned: A candidate with open availability, reliable transportation, and proof of cash handling, customer service, food safety, or beverage-prep experience has the best odds right now.

Main caution: The biggest trap is mistaking a large number of listings for an easy search; the market has volume, but the better-paying roles are a smaller slice of the mix and less than 5% of postings are hybrid or remote.

From the July 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 422 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Sage Hospitality Group: 26 open roles
2. Ted's Montana Grill, Inc.: 13 open roles
3. Marriott International: 12 open roles
4. Brinker: 11 open roles
5. Brookdale Senior Living: 11 open roles
6. Compass Group: 10 open roles
7. Stonebridge Companies, LLC: 8 open roles
8. Landry's, Inc.: 7 open roles
9. Aramark Corporation: 6 open roles
10. Kisco Senior Living: 6 open roles

Where the openings are

• Denver: 159
• Aurora: 36
• Westminster: 24
• Boulder: 23
• Broomfield: 20
• Littleton: 17
• Parker: 15
• Englewood: 14

Work arrangement

on-site 402 (100%)

Where the demand is

Opportunity is spread across a long tail rather than one dominant employer. More than 850 postings were observed across more than 300 companies over the last 90 days, and the sample is fragmented across employers. The mix is concentrated in hospitality proper at about 35% of postings, with restaurants at about 20%, food & beverage at about 20%, and healthcare around 5%. Hotels and banquets look especially tangible right now. Downtown Denver hotel occupancy held at 79% in June 2026, Downtown Denver had welcomed 36 new businesses since the start of 2026, and hotel employers were actively advertising banquet server and other hourly hotel roles in Denver and Lone Tree. Denver also saw hotel investment and reopening signals in 2026, including an AC Hotel by Marriott development launch and the reopening of La Vista Motel. Restaurant and coffee demand is also broad, though uneven by employer and shift. Starbucks Corp. alone accounted for more than 100 postings in the sample, a Denver restaurant reopening was seeking hosts and servers, and a local restaurant board showed 1,301 restaurant jobs at 222 companies in August 2026. In practice, the best odds are usually with employers that hire continuously and can absorb schedule flexibility, not with the most selective boutique concepts.

• Hotels, banquets, and guest services (high): Supported by strong downtown occupancy and active local hotel hiring for banquet and hourly service roles.
• Restaurants, coffee, and quick service (high): Broad employer base, steady front-of-house and beverage demand, and continuous hiring from chains and reopenings.
• Institutional and healthcare food service (moderate): A smaller but meaningful slice of the market, with healthcare representing about 5% of the posting mix.

Where to focus: Focus first on hotel food-and-beverage and banquet teams plus high-volume restaurant and coffee employers within a realistic commute radius.

Roles worth searching next

• Retail shift lead or store supervisor: The skill overlap is unusually strong because local hospitality postings emphasize cash handling, customer service, communication, beverage preparation, and inventory management.
• Administrative coordinator or front-office administrator: Guest-facing hospitality experience transfers well into scheduling, communication, issue resolution, and front-desk-style workflow, and it can widen your options beyond a market that is mostly on-site hospitality work.
• Event operations coordinator: Banquet and hotel experience maps naturally into setup, vendor coordination, guest flow, and event logistics, and Denver just added a local training path through MSU Denver's online Master of Science in Event and Experience Management.
• Inventory or procurement coordinator: Inventory management is a recurring ask in local hospitality postings, so kitchen and restaurant workers already have a relevant workflow base.

What postings ask for

• ServSafe (table_stakes | immediate): ServSafe is the most commonly required certification in local postings, and it pairs directly with frequent food-safety requirements. Who: Entry-level kitchen staff, line cooks, prep cooks, and anyone moving into restaurant supervision.
• Cash handling (table_stakes | immediate): Cash handling is the most-requested hard skill in the local sample at about 25%, making it valuable for barista, counter-service, host, front-desk, and server-adjacent roles. Who: Entry-level candidates and career switchers from retail or customer-facing work.
• Customer service and communication (table_stakes | immediate): Customer service appears in about 15% of local postings and communication in about 10%, which makes visible guest-facing examples more important than generic 'people skills' language. Who: Nearly everyone, especially guest services, front-of-house, and hotel applicants.
• Inventory management (differentiator | near-term): Inventory management shows up in about 15% of postings and becomes more valuable as you move toward kitchen management, restaurant management, and enterprise operators. Who: Mid-career candidates, shift leads, and anyone trying to move beyond hourly front-line work.
• Beverage preparation (differentiator | immediate): Beverage preparation appears in about 15% of local postings and connects directly to coffee and quick-service demand, including heavy activity from Starbucks Corp. Who: Entry-level and career-switching candidates who want faster access to interviews.
• Leadership, business skills, stamina, and time management (premium | near-term): The BLS highlights stamina, leadership, business skills, and time-management as important for chefs and head cooks, and Colorado apprenticeship pathways explicitly include Certified Restaurant Manager and Certified Kitchen Manager tracks. Who: Sous chef, kitchen manager, restaurant manager, and high-potential line-cook candidates.

Questions about this market

What do Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles pay in Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO?

Official metro wage data shows food preparation and serving related work at about $21.46 an hour in May 2025, with a 10th-percentile wage of $17.86. That sits well below Denver's all-occupation average of $39.28 an hour and the metro's total private average hourly earnings of $42.65. Proxy signals broaden the picture: hourly hospitality postings center on about $18 to $20 / hour, Colorado's mean offered salary on new hospitality openings was about $39,607 in July 2026, chefs were estimated around $50,731 locally, and sous chefs around $61,721. For frontline work, this is mostly a moderate-pay market with broad access, not a high-wage market. The annual salary band that shows up in postings is likely lifted by managers, chefs, hotel leadership, and other salaried roles rather than typical server, barista, dishwasher, or line-cook jobs.

Where is demand for Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO concentrated?

Opportunity is spread across a long tail rather than one dominant employer. More than 850 postings were observed across more than 300 companies over the last 90 days, and the sample is fragmented across employers. The mix is concentrated in hospitality proper at about 35% of postings, with restaurants at about 20%, food & beverage at about 20%, and healthcare around 5%. Hotels and banquets look especially tangible right now. Downtown Denver hotel occupancy held at 79% in June 2026, Downtown Denver had welcomed 36 new businesses since the start of 2026, and hotel employers were actively advertising banquet server and other hourly hotel roles in Denver and Lone Tree. Denver also saw hotel investment and reopening signals in 2026, including an AC Hotel by Marriott development launch and the reopening of La Vista Motel. Restaurant and coffee demand is also broad, though uneven by employer and shift. Starbucks Corp. alone accounted for more than 100 postings in the sample, a Denver restaurant reopening was seeking hosts and servers, and a local restaurant board showed 1,301 restaurant jobs at 222 companies in August 2026. In practice, the best odds are usually with employers that hire continuously and can absorb schedule flexibility, not with the most selective boutique concepts.

Which employers are hiring the most Hospitality, Food Service & Travel talent in Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO?

Recent postings show the most activity from Starbucks Corp. (100 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 5% are remote and 5% 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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