300+ Hospitality & Food Service Jobs in Kansas City, MO

Official local wage data points to modest front-line pay: food preparation and serving related occupations averaged $17.25 per hour in Kansas City in May 2025, and the broader food preparation and serving occupational family had a $32,000 annual median, $29,190 at the 25th percentile, and $37,860 at the 75th percentile in 2025. Current posting data looks higher only because it mixes in salaried supervisory and hotel roles: hourly postings center on about $15 to $17 / hour, while salary postings center on about $65k to $72k.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 179 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $31,200 at the 25th percentile, $36,400 at the median and $40,560 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.

Open all in AI Job Search

What our analysts see this month

Balanced market | next 3-6 months

Kansas City is a balanced market for Hospitality, Food Service & Travel right now: metro leisure-and-hospitality employment was 121.1 thousand in August 2026, up 0.4979% year over year, and metro unemployment was 3.9%. That said, Missouri occupation-level signals show hospitality employment down 0.7% year over year and active postings down 8.2% year over year in September 2026, even as Kansas City still showed more than 550 postings across more than 200 companies over the last 90 days. Expect steady chances for entry-level on-site work, but a slower, more competitive climb into chef, management, hotel leadership, or niche travel roles.

Best positioned: Candidates with open availability, cash handling, customer service, and food-safety basics have the best odds, especially in on-site entry-level roles.

Main caution: Do not mistake current salary postings for typical front-line pay: local official wage benchmarks for the broader food-service family are much lower than the manager-heavy salary mix in current postings.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 305 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Tutera Group: 13 open roles
2. Texas Roadhouse, Inc.: 12 open roles
3. Brookdale Senior Living: 9 open roles
4. Midwest Health: 8 open roles
5. Compass Group: 7 open roles
6. Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.: 7 open roles
7. Epic: 6 open roles
8. Madisonseniorliving: 6 open roles
9. Hotel Equities: 5 open roles
10. Hy-Vee: 5 open roles

Where the openings are

• Kansas City: 106
• Overland Park: 47
• Lee's Summit: 19
• Leawood: 19
• Olathe: 15
• Independence: 14
• Liberty: 11
• Lenexa: 11

Work arrangement

on-site 282 (100%), remote 1 (0%)

Where the demand is

Openings are concentrated less in "travel" specifically and more in everyday service operations. In the local posting mix, hospitality accounts for about 45% of demand, while hospitals and health care, restaurants, retail, and healthcare each contribute about 10%. That makes Kansas City strongest for restaurant, hotel, café, contract-dining, and venue work, not for niche travel-specialist tracks where the evidence is much thinner. The employer base is broad rather than winner-take-all. Over the last 90 days, Kansas City showed more than 550 postings across more than 200 companies, and the sample was fragmented. The most consistently active employers included Starbucks Corp. (more than 30), 54th Street (around 15), Hyatt Indian Wells (around 15), Compass Group (around 15), Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (around 10), and Avion Hospitality (around 10). There are also a few local concentration pockets worth targeting directly. Hospitality groups were recruiting servers and cooks ahead of a local hiring fair that drew more than 40 hotels, restaurants, and attractions, including Sheraton, Margaritaville Hotel Kansas City, Worlds of Fun, Ruby Jean's Juicery, and Culver's. Convention and culinary programming is also active at major venues such as the Overland Park Convention Center.

• Hotels and venues (high): Large visitor-facing employers and venues remain a practical target set, with Sheraton, Margaritaville Hotel Kansas City, Worlds of Fun, and the Overland Park Convention Center all appearing in recent local signals.
• Chain food and beverage (high): Chain and branded operators are consistently visible, led in the sample by Starbucks Corp. and 54th Street.
• Contract dining and healthcare-adjacent foodservice (moderate): Compass Group is among the most active named employers, and hospitals and health care account for about 10% of the local posting mix.
• Niche travel-specialist roles (limited): This looks like the thinnest part of the market because the strongest local evidence is concentrated in food service, hotels, venues, and support operations rather than travel-only roles.

Where to focus: Focus first on high-volume, on-site operators in hotels, convention or banquet venues, chain cafés, and contract dining, then use those roles to move into better-paying management or chef-track positions.

Roles worth searching next

• Retail sales associate or shift lead: Cash handling, customer service, and beverage preparation transfer cleanly from café and counter-service work.
• Patient access representative or medical receptionist: Hospitals and health care make up about 10% of the local posting mix, and customer-service plus bilingual skills carry over well.
• Facilities or environmental services lead: Cleaning and sanitation are already common requirements in local hospitality postings, so operational habits transfer well.
• Office receptionist or front desk coordinator: Guest-facing service, communication, and time-management skills transfer well into office-admin settings.

What postings ask for

• Food safety certification (differentiator | immediate): It is the most commonly named certification in local postings, even though it appears in less than 5% of ads, which means it can help you clear screening faster. Who: Entry-level cooks, kitchen staff, career switchers, and anyone targeting healthcare or contract dining.
• Cash handling (table_stakes | immediate): It is the single most-requested hard skill in the local sample at about 20%, making it useful across barista, server, counter, and front-desk roles. Who: Anyone applying to customer-facing front-line work.
• Customer service (table_stakes | immediate): Customer service shows up in about 15% of local hard-skill mentions and is also one of the core transferable skills highlighted by restaurant-industry research. Who: Entry-level candidates, switchers, and applicants coming from retail or call-center work.
• Food preparation, sanitation, and cleaning (table_stakes | immediate): Food preparation and food safety each appear in about 15% of local skill mentions, while sanitation and cleaning each appear in about 10%, so basic operational discipline matters in this market. Who: Cooks, prep staff, housekeepers, catering support, and hospital-food applicants.
• Inventory management (differentiator | near-term): Inventory management appears in about 15% of local postings and is one of the clearest signals for lead, kitchen-management, and multi-unit progression. Who: Mid-career candidates and anyone trying to move from hourly service into supervision.
• Bilingual communication and broad availability (differentiator | immediate): Local employers have said fluency in more than one language and broader availability can help applicants stand out as service hours expand. Who: Front-of-house staff, hotel candidates, event staff, and switchers with flexible schedules.

Questions about this market

What do Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles pay in Kansas City, MO-KS?

Official local wage data points to modest front-line pay: food preparation and serving related occupations averaged $17.25 per hour in Kansas City in May 2025, and the broader food preparation and serving occupational family had a $32,000 annual median, $29,190 at the 25th percentile, and $37,860 at the 75th percentile in 2025. Current posting data looks higher only because it mixes in salaried supervisory and hotel roles: hourly postings center on about $15 to $17 / hour, while salary postings center on about $65k to $72k. If you are applying for line-level restaurant, café, housekeeping, or service roles, expect pay closer to the hourly/local BLS range than the manager-heavy salary postings.

Where is demand for Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Kansas City, MO-KS concentrated?

Openings are concentrated less in "travel" specifically and more in everyday service operations. In the local posting mix, hospitality accounts for about 45% of demand, while hospitals and health care, restaurants, retail, and healthcare each contribute about 10%. That makes Kansas City strongest for restaurant, hotel, café, contract-dining, and venue work, not for niche travel-specialist tracks where the evidence is much thinner. The employer base is broad rather than winner-take-all. Over the last 90 days, Kansas City showed more than 550 postings across more than 200 companies, and the sample was fragmented. The most consistently active employers included Starbucks Corp. (more than 30), 54th Street (around 15), Hyatt Indian Wells (around 15), Compass Group (around 15), Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (around 10), and Avion Hospitality (around 10). There are also a few local concentration pockets worth targeting directly. Hospitality groups were recruiting servers and cooks ahead of a local hiring fair that drew more than 40 hotels, restaurants, and attractions, including Sheraton, Margaritaville Hotel Kansas City, Worlds of Fun, Ruby Jean's Juicery, and Culver's. Convention and culinary programming is also active at major venues such as the Overland Park Convention Center.

Which employers are hiring the most Hospitality, Food Service & Travel talent in Kansas City, MO-KS?

Recent postings show the most activity from Starbucks Corp. (30 postings), 54th Street (15 postings), Hyatt Indian Wells (15 postings), Compass Group (15 postings), Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (10 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.

Explore related openings

Hospitality, Food Service & Travel jobs in other metros

• Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN
• Houston-Pasadena-The Woodlands, TX
• Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA
• Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
• San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
• Indianapolis-Carmel-Greenwood, IN
• Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
• Salt Lake City-Murray, UT

Other roles in Kansas City, MO-KS

• Human Resources, Recruiting & People Operations
• Engineering & Scientific
• Software, IT & Cybersecurity
• Finance & Accounting
• Manufacturing, Construction & Field Services
• Marketing, Communications & Content
• Transportation & Delivery
• Education & Training

Browse all job openings | Browse jobs by title and state | Browse all job market reports