850+ Hospitality & Food Service Jobs in Washington, DC

Observed pay is split. Government wage data puts food preparation and serving roles at a mean $17.86 an hour and $37,140 a year in the metro, while chefs and head cooks were much higher at a $68,260 median, with a 10th-to-75th band of $45,850 to $79,420. Proxy pay signals are also split: sampled hourly postings center on about $17 to $19 / hour, but individual server and server-assistant ads were still around $11 to $12 per hour, and broader posted salary ranges center on about $68k to $80k because salaried supervisory and culinary roles are overrepresented in disclosed-pay postings.

Full July 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 634 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $35,360 at the 25th percentile, $39,988 at the median and $44,720 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

Washington is still a workable hospitality market, but it looks steady rather than hot. Metro leisure and hospitality employment was 341.4 thousand in June 2026 and was down just -0.2046% year over year, while the local job sample still showed more than 2,300 postings across more than 550 companies over the last 90 days. That usually means openings are real, especially in hotels, restaurants, and corporate dining, but employers are not broadly desperate across the whole category.

Best positioned: Candidates with recent on-site service experience, flexible shifts, and either ServSafe or supervisory kitchen/hotel experience have the best odds, especially with hotel operators and large food-service employers.

Main caution: Do not read the metro's about $68k to $80k posted salary center as typical frontline pay; local frontline ads still show about $11 to $12 per hour and BLS food preparation and serving pay averaged $17.86 per hour.

From the July 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 885 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. Compass Group: 42 open roles
2. Sunrise Senior Living Management, LLC: 31 open roles
3. Marriott International, Inc.: 29 open roles
4. Aramark Corporation: 25 open roles
5. B. F. Saul Company Hospitality Group: 21 open roles
6. Brightview Senior Living, LLC: 19 open roles
7. Crescent Hotels & Resorts: 19 open roles
8. Healthcare Services Group: 19 open roles
9. Entegra: 13 open roles
10. Hyatt Indian Wells: 13 open roles

Where the openings are

• Washington: 181
• Baltimore: 74
• Arlington: 49
• Alexandria: 43
• Bethesda: 35
• Fairfax: 33
• Sterling: 24
• Reston: 21

Work arrangement

on-site 811 (99%), hybrid 5 (1%), remote 1 (0%)

Where the demand is

Most visible opportunity is in lodging and food service rather than travel. In the local posting mix, hospitality accounts for about 40% of sampled postings, food & beverage about 15%, food and beverage about 10%, restaurants about 10%, and food about 10%. Fresh local signals reinforce that mix: citizenM opened a 230-room Georgetown hotel in June 2026, HHM Hotels is running repeated open calls for hourly hotel positions, and B.F. Saul Hotels showed 26 open positions. There is also a useful second lane in branded chains and institutional or corporate dining. The most consistently active employers in the sample include Starbucks Corp. and Mia's Italian Kitchen with more than 175 postings each, plus Compass Group with more than 75. A local Arlington brief also pointed to hotels and corporate dining spots hiring at all levels, which matters if you want more predictable weekday schedules than traditional restaurants. The weakest evidence is on the travel side of this category. If you are aiming for travel-agent or airline-adjacent customer service work, this report offers much less direct local proof than it does for hotels, restaurants, and culinary roles.

• Hotels and lodging (high): The strongest recent expansion signals are here, with a new 230-room hotel opening, repeated HHM hourly hiring, Marriott dining roles, and multiple openings at B.F. Saul Hotels.
• Restaurants, cafes, and chain food service (high): This remains a large volume lane, led in the sample by Starbucks Corp. and Mia's Italian Kitchen, with steady entry-level replacement demand.
• Corporate dining and institutional food service (moderate): Compass Group is one of the most active employers in the sample, and local reporting points to corporate dining hiring across Arlington.
• Travel-agent and airline-adjacent service (limited): The category includes these roles, but the local evidence in this report is much thinner here than it is for hotels, kitchens, and restaurant service.

Where to focus: Put most of your effort into hotel operators, corporate dining, and branded food-service employers, not the broad 'travel' label.

Roles worth searching next

• Retail shift lead: It uses the same customer service, cash handling, inventory management, and time-management skills that show up repeatedly in local hospitality postings.
• Front desk receptionist: Guest-facing communication and on-site service habits transfer well from hotels, restaurants, and cafe work.
• Workplace experience coordinator: This is a practical pivot for people who like hospitality-style service but want corporate settings; corporate dining and office foot-traffic environments overlap with the local market's hotel and workplace-service demand.
• Customer support specialist for hotel or travel brands: It keeps the guest-service focus while moving closer to phone, chat, and systems-based support work.

What postings ask for

• Customer service (table_stakes | immediate): It is one of the most-requested skills in the local sample, showing up in about 20% of postings. Who: Everyone, especially entry-level candidates and career switchers.
• Inventory management (differentiator | immediate): It also appeared in about 20% of postings and is one of the clearest separators between basic service work and shift-lead or kitchen-responsibility roles. Who: Mid-career applicants, kitchen leads, and anyone targeting supervisor tracks.
• Food safety (table_stakes | immediate): Food safety showed up in about 15% of postings, so it is a repeat screen for kitchens, catering, and higher-volume employers. Who: Cooks, prep staff, catering workers, and supervisors.
• ServSafe (differentiator | near-term): ServSafe was the most commonly named certification, even though it appeared in only about 5% of postings; that makes it a useful fast credential when employers do screen for compliance. Who: Entry-level kitchen candidates, shift leads, and career switchers trying to look job-ready quickly.
• Cash handling (table_stakes | immediate): Cash handling appeared in about 15% of postings and helps bridge between retail, coffee, counter service, and hotel dining roles. Who: Front-of-house applicants and switchers coming from retail.
• Beverage preparation (differentiator | immediate): Beverage preparation showed up in about 10% of postings and is a practical differentiator for barista, bar, lounge, and hotel F&B roles. Who: Candidates targeting coffee, bar, lounge, or breakfast-service work.

Questions about this market

What do Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles pay in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Observed pay is split. Government wage data puts food preparation and serving roles at a mean $17.86 an hour and $37,140 a year in the metro, while chefs and head cooks were much higher at a $68,260 median, with a 10th-to-75th band of $45,850 to $79,420. Proxy pay signals are also split: sampled hourly postings center on about $17 to $19 / hour, but individual server and server-assistant ads were still around $11 to $12 per hour, and broader posted salary ranges center on about $68k to $80k because salaried supervisory and culinary roles are overrepresented in disclosed-pay postings. This is a two-track market. Frontline service pay sits far below the metro-wide all-occupation mean of $44.20 an hour, while chef and supervisory paths can be respectable by hospitality standards but still have to clear a very expensive local cost base; Washington's cost-of-living index is 152.

Where is demand for Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV concentrated?

Most visible opportunity is in lodging and food service rather than travel. In the local posting mix, hospitality accounts for about 40% of sampled postings, food & beverage about 15%, food and beverage about 10%, restaurants about 10%, and food about 10%. Fresh local signals reinforce that mix: citizenM opened a 230-room Georgetown hotel in June 2026, HHM Hotels is running repeated open calls for hourly hotel positions, and B.F. Saul Hotels showed 26 open positions. There is also a useful second lane in branded chains and institutional or corporate dining. The most consistently active employers in the sample include Starbucks Corp. and Mia's Italian Kitchen with more than 175 postings each, plus Compass Group with more than 75. A local Arlington brief also pointed to hotels and corporate dining spots hiring at all levels, which matters if you want more predictable weekday schedules than traditional restaurants. The weakest evidence is on the travel side of this category. If you are aiming for travel-agent or airline-adjacent customer service work, this report offers much less direct local proof than it does for hotels, restaurants, and culinary roles.

Which employers are hiring the most Hospitality, Food Service & Travel talent in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV?

Recent postings show the most activity from Starbucks Corp. (175 postings), Mia's Italian Kitchen (175 postings), Compass Group (75 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Hospitality, Food Service & Travel roles in Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV 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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