700+ Hospitality & Food Service Jobs in Houston, TX

Observed local wage data is modest. BLS puts the median hourly wage for food preparation and serving related occupations in Houston at $14.70 as of May 2025; older Houston occupation-specific data shows restaurant cooks at $15.16/hour on average and waiters and waitresses at $14.05/hour on average. Proxy posting data runs higher because it mixes supervisors, hotel managers, and salaried hospitality roles: hourly-paid postings center on about $15 to $16 / hour, while category-wide posted salary ranges center on about $65k to $75k.

Full August 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 318 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $31,200 at the 25th percentile, $34,190 at the median and $37,180 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of September 25, 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

Houston is still a workable market for hospitality job seekers, but it is not an easy walk-in market. Metro leisure and hospitality employment reached 380.9 thousand in June 2026 and was up 1.0345% year over year, while food preparation and serving roles accounted for 8.8% of total metro employment in May 2025. We observed more than 1,200 postings across more than 300 companies over the last 90 days, but metro unemployment was 5.1% in July 2026, up from 4.8% a year earlier, so employers have options and slower applicants can get filtered out.

Best positioned: The best odds right now are for candidates who can work on-site, take shift-based schedules, and already show food safety, cash handling, beverage prep, or inventory experience on their resume.

Main caution: Do not confuse the category's broad posted salary band with typical line-level pay: most postings skew entry level and hourly roles center on about $15 to $16 / hour, while the annual band is pulled up by management and higher-level hospitality roles.

From the August 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 715 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Panda Express: 60 open roles
2. Compass Group: 33 open roles
3. Landry's, Inc.: 32 open roles
4. Mac Haik Restaurant Group: 18 open roles
5. Tex-Mex: 18 open roles
6. Marriott International, Inc.: 17 open roles
7. Saltgrass, Inc.: 17 open roles
8. Hyatt Hotels Corporation: 15 open roles
9. Hyatt Indian Wells: 13 open roles
10. Eurest USA: 9 open roles

Where the openings are

• Houston: 427
• The Woodlands: 39
• Katy: 26
• Kemah: 20
• Sugar Land: 18
• Spring: 17
• Cypress: 16
• Humble: 15

Work arrangement

on-site 682 (100%)

Where the demand is

Real opportunity is spread across a long tail rather than one dominant employer. We observed more than 1,200 postings across more than 300 companies over the last 90 days, and hiring in the sample is fragmented rather than concentrated. The most active industries in the sample are hospitality at about 40%, food & beverage at about 20%, restaurants at about 15%, healthcare at about 10%, and retail at about 5%. That mix matters because Houston is not just a restaurant market. Starbucks Corp. had more than 125 postings, while Landry's, Inc. and Compass Group each had more than 50, pointing to chain beverage, large restaurant-group, and institutional food-service demand. August local news also showed steady operator churn, with several restaurant openings and several closures across the metro, so the best opportunities are with employers that can keep staffing stable rather than one-off independents that open and close quickly.

• Chain beverage and quick service (high): This is one of the clearest recurring lanes because Starbucks Corp. posted more than 125 openings locally, and beverage preparation plus cash handling show up among the most requested hard skills.
• Institutional food service (high): Healthcare represents about 10% of the local category mix, and Compass Group was one of the most active named employers, making hospitals, campuses, and similar accounts a meaningful second lane beyond restaurants.
• Hotels and broader hospitality operations (moderate): Hospitality makes up about 40% of the local posting mix, so front-desk, housekeeping-adjacent, guest-services, and supervisory operations roles remain a large part of the market even when restaurant hiring fluctuates.
• Independent restaurants and hybrid bar-cafe concepts (moderate): This lane can move fast, but it is more volatile. August brought multiple openings across Houston, while closures included two Midtown concepts, and local coverage points to growing interest in hybrid formats that may favor cross-trained beverage and light-food staff.

Where to focus: Prioritize branded chains, hotel operators, and institutional food-service employers first; use independents as a second lane once you can afford more volatility.

Roles worth searching next

• Retail sales associate or store supervisor: The overlap is strong on cash handling, customer service, schedule flexibility, and fast-paced front-line work.
• Receptionist or administrative front-desk coordinator: Hotel front-desk and concierge experience transfers well into visitor handling, phone etiquette, scheduling, and CRM-style workflow.
• Customer support specialist or call-center agent: Guest recovery, complaint handling, reservation changes, and service communication all map cleanly into support roles.
• Inventory clerk or purchasing assistant: Kitchen and catering experience often builds real inventory control, receiving, stock rotation, and safety-compliance habits.

What postings ask for

• Food handler certification (table_stakes | immediate): It is the certification most often required in local postings, so it removes a simple screening barrier before you apply. Who: Entry-level candidates, career switchers, and anyone applying to kitchen, counter, or catering work.
• Food safety, sanitation, and safety compliance (table_stakes | immediate): Food safety, sanitation, and safety compliance all appear in the local skill mix, and broader 2026 hospitality guidance still treats food safety knowledge as essential. Who: Back-of-house candidates, shift leads, and anyone targeting institutional food service.
• Cash handling and drawer accuracy (table_stakes | immediate): Cash handling is the most common hard skill in the local sample, which makes it one of the fastest ways to prove you can contribute on day one. Who: Hosts, baristas, servers, front-desk candidates, and career switchers coming from retail or customer support.
• Inventory management (differentiator | near-term): Inventory management is one of the most requested skills locally, and it helps separate candidates who can be trusted with ordering, waste control, and shift leadership from those who can only work station-level tasks. Who: Mid-career candidates, kitchen leads, restaurant supervisors, and institutional food-service applicants.
• Beverage preparation and cross-training (differentiator | near-term): Beverage preparation is a common local skill request, and Houston coverage suggests hybrid bar-cafe concepts may favor staff who can float between beverage and light-food service. Who: Baristas, bartenders, servers, and entry-level applicants trying to widen the number of roles they can accept.
• POS and property-management-system literacy (differentiator | near-term): 2026 hospitality skill guidance highlights technology literacy, especially POS and property-management systems, as increasingly expected in day-to-day operations. Who: Front-desk staff, restaurant supervisors, hosts, and career switchers coming from office or retail systems.

Questions about this market

What do Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles pay in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX?

Observed local wage data is modest. BLS puts the median hourly wage for food preparation and serving related occupations in Houston at $14.70 as of May 2025; older Houston occupation-specific data shows restaurant cooks at $15.16/hour on average and waiters and waitresses at $14.05/hour on average. Proxy posting data runs higher because it mixes supervisors, hotel managers, and salaried hospitality roles: hourly-paid postings center on about $15 to $16 / hour, while category-wide posted salary ranges center on about $65k to $75k. This is a broad-access market, not a broad-pay market. Houston's overall living costs are 6.7% below the national urban average and housing costs are 24.8% below it, which helps, but entry pay is still tight unless you have tips, overtime, shared housing, or a path into supervision.

Where is demand for Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX concentrated?

Real opportunity is spread across a long tail rather than one dominant employer. We observed more than 1,200 postings across more than 300 companies over the last 90 days, and hiring in the sample is fragmented rather than concentrated. The most active industries in the sample are hospitality at about 40%, food & beverage at about 20%, restaurants at about 15%, healthcare at about 10%, and retail at about 5%. That mix matters because Houston is not just a restaurant market. Starbucks Corp. had more than 125 postings, while Landry's, Inc. and Compass Group each had more than 50, pointing to chain beverage, large restaurant-group, and institutional food-service demand. August local news also showed steady operator churn, with several restaurant openings and several closures across the metro, so the best opportunities are with employers that can keep staffing stable rather than one-off independents that open and close quickly.

Which employers are hiring the most Hospitality, Food Service & Travel talent in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX?

Recent postings show the most activity from Starbucks Corp. (125 postings), Landry's, Inc. (50 postings), Compass Group (50 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX 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.

Browse Texas openings by job title

• Project Manager: 401 open roles statewide
• General Manager: 299 open roles statewide
• Branch Manager: 64 open roles statewide
• Senior Manager: 48 open roles statewide

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