350+ Hospitality & Food Service Jobs in Denver, CO

Observed government wage data for Denver puts the broad food preparation and serving group at $21.46 per hour, and the larger SOC 35 family at a $38,710 annual median, $36,210 at the 25th percentile, and $62,960 at the 90th percentile. Proxy role estimates are higher for chef tracks at a $66,970 median and closer to the broad range for server and cook tracks at $39,650 and $44,370. Current online posting signals split sharply: hourly roles center on about $17 to $20 / hour, while salary-posted roles center on about $64k to $73k.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 323 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $36,400 at the 25th percentile, $41,600 at the median and $45,760 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of October 17, 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 live market for hospitality, food service, and hotel work, but it is not an easy one. Metro leisure and hospitality employment reached 186.3 thousand in August and was up 2.9282% year over year, while Denver-area unemployment also rose to 4.6% from 3.8 a year earlier. That usually means venues are still operating and staffing, but more job seekers are chasing each opening. Statewide occupation signals are cooler: hospitality, food service & travel employment in Colorado was down 1.5% year over year and active postings were down 6.9% in September, so landing speed is likely slower than last fall.

Best positioned: Your best odds are in on-site restaurant, coffee, and hotel roles if you already have recent customer-facing experience, can show cash handling, inventory management, food safety, or beverage-prep skills, and are open to entry or mid-level work.

Main caution: Do not anchor on the highest salary postings: the typical hourly posting centers on about $17 to $20 / hour, while the higher salaried postings are likely skewed toward managers and chef-level roles.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 380 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Sage Hospitality Group: 25 open roles
2. Ted's Montana Grill, Inc.: 17 open roles
3. Brookdale Senior Living: 13 open roles
4. Marriott International, Inc.: 13 open roles
5. Compass Group: 12 open roles
6. Gaylord Hotels: 9 open roles
7. HCA HealthONE: 6 open roles
8. Morrison Living: 6 open roles
9. Sunrise Senior Living Management, LLC: 6 open roles
10. Limelight Hotels: 5 open roles

Where the openings are

• Denver: 140
• Aurora: 52
• Boulder: 20
• Lakewood: 15
• Highlands Ranch: 15
• Westminster: 14
• Centennial: 13
• Broomfield: 12

Work arrangement

on-site 346 (100%)

Where the demand is

Opportunity is concentrated in a few operating environments rather than one dominant employer. In the recent posting sample, hospitality accounts for about 40% of local category openings, restaurants about 20%, retail about 15%, food and beverage about 10%, and hospitals and health care about 5%. That mix says you should not search only for standalone restaurants; hotels, coffee chains, mixed-use venues, and institutional employers all matter. The employer base is fragmented, not dominated by one company. Starbucks Corp. was one of the most active named employers with more than 75 postings, and Sage Hospitality Group had more than 40. Recent local news also points to churn-led demand rather than a single boom: September brought more than 20 restaurant openings and 10 closures, Raising Cane's reported 105 new local jobs in Westminster, and Tequilería Alteño was moving from pop-up to permanent operation in Cherry Creek. For hotel-leaning candidates, openings are also tied to property launches and refresh cycles. The Apiary Hotel Belleview Station opened in February 2026, Virgin Hotels Denver targeted a 2026 opening with 241 rooms and an 8,000-square-foot spa, and the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center completed a $70 million transformation of its 1,100 guestrooms and suites in April 2026. That is a good setup for front desk, housekeeping, banquet, concierge, and food-and-beverage applicants who can work on-site and across shifts.

• Hotels and lodging operations (high): Best for front desk, housekeeping, guest services, banquet, and food-and-beverage workers. New and refreshed hotel properties create recurring staffing needs, especially for on-site shift coverage.
• Chain coffee and quick service (high): Best for candidates with cashier, beverage-prep, pace, and reliability strengths. This segment tends to hire at volume and gives clearer entry paths.
• Independent and full-service restaurants (moderate): Good for cooks, servers, bartenders, and hosts who can interview well and move quickly, but openings are tied to local churn and can disappear fast.
• Institutional food service and healthcare-adjacent service (moderate): Smaller slice of demand, but often steadier schedules and cleaner progression into lead or supervisor work.

Where to focus: If you want faster interviews, start with branded hotel groups and multi-unit food-service operators, then add new openings and institutional employers as a second wave.

Roles worth searching next

• Retail shift supervisor or store lead: Local hospitality demand already overlaps with retail settings, and the transfer is straightforward if you have cash handling, customer service, and schedule-management experience.
• Patient access representative or hospital guest services: Hospitals and health care make up about 5% of local category postings, so healthcare front-desk and service roles are a logical extension for candidates with hospitality demeanor and on-site availability.
• Office receptionist or front desk coordinator: The guest-service side of hospitality transfers well into reception work if you can show communication, conflict handling, and calendar or check-in style workflows.
• Customer support representative: Communication, problem-solving, adaptability, and customer service are portable strengths from restaurant and hotel work into broader service operations.

What postings ask for

• ServSafe (table_stakes | immediate): It is the most commonly named certification in the local posting sample, even if only about 5% of ads state it outright, so it helps food-handling candidates clear screening faster. Who: Line cooks, prep cooks, caterers, shift leads, and career switchers entering food service.
• Food safety and sanitation (table_stakes | immediate): Food safety, sanitation, and safety compliance recur across local skill demand, making them baseline proof of reliability in kitchens and service operations. Who: Anyone targeting back-of-house, buffet, banquet, or institutional food roles.
• Cash handling (table_stakes | immediate): Cash handling is the single most-requested hard skill in the local sample at about 30%, which matters for barista, cashier, counter-service, and front-desk pathways. Who: Entry-level applicants, baristas, hosts, cashiers, and hotel front-desk candidates.
• Inventory management (differentiator | near-term): Inventory management shows up in about 20% of local postings and is one of the clearest ways to signal readiness for lead, kitchen, and supervisor work. Who: Mid-career cooks, shift leads, assistant managers, and candidates seeking promotion.
• Beverage preparation (differentiator | near-term): Beverage preparation appears in about 15% of local postings, which makes it useful for coffee, bar, and hybrid counter-service roles. Who: Baristas, bartenders, servers, and quick-service applicants.
• POS, property management systems, and digital guest tools (differentiator | near-term): Technology literacy now includes POS systems, property management systems, and guest-facing digital workflows such as contactless check-in and tableside ordering. Who: Hotel front desk, restaurant supervisors, and career switchers coming from admin or retail.

Questions about this market

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

Observed government wage data for Denver puts the broad food preparation and serving group at $21.46 per hour, and the larger SOC 35 family at a $38,710 annual median, $36,210 at the 25th percentile, and $62,960 at the 90th percentile. Proxy role estimates are higher for chef tracks at a $66,970 median and closer to the broad range for server and cook tracks at $39,650 and $44,370. Current online posting signals split sharply: hourly roles center on about $17 to $20 / hour, while salary-posted roles center on about $64k to $73k. In plain English, Denver hospitality pay is workable but not generous for most front-line roles. The gap between the occupation's $21.46 hourly mean and Denver's all-occupation mean of $39.28 per hour shows why many workers need tips, overtime, or a path into lead and chef roles to feel ahead.

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

Opportunity is concentrated in a few operating environments rather than one dominant employer. In the recent posting sample, hospitality accounts for about 40% of local category openings, restaurants about 20%, retail about 15%, food and beverage about 10%, and hospitals and health care about 5%. That mix says you should not search only for standalone restaurants; hotels, coffee chains, mixed-use venues, and institutional employers all matter. The employer base is fragmented, not dominated by one company. Starbucks Corp. was one of the most active named employers with more than 75 postings, and Sage Hospitality Group had more than 40. Recent local news also points to churn-led demand rather than a single boom: September brought more than 20 restaurant openings and 10 closures, Raising Cane's reported 105 new local jobs in Westminster, and Tequilería Alteño was moving from pop-up to permanent operation in Cherry Creek. For hotel-leaning candidates, openings are also tied to property launches and refresh cycles. The Apiary Hotel Belleview Station opened in February 2026, Virgin Hotels Denver targeted a 2026 opening with 241 rooms and an 8,000-square-foot spa, and the Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center completed a $70 million transformation of its 1,100 guestrooms and suites in April 2026. That is a good setup for front desk, housekeeping, banquet, concierge, and food-and-beverage applicants who can work on-site and across shifts.

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. (75 postings), Sage Hospitality Group (40 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

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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