Hospitality Award Rates and Restaurant Industry Award Rates for 2026, and Which One Applies

Which award covers your venue

The Restaurant Industry Award 2020 [MA000119] covers restaurants, reception centres, night clubs, cafés and roadhouses, including catering run by a restaurant business. The Hospitality Industry (General) Award 2020 [MA000009] covers hotels, motels, wine bars and taverns, caterers, resorts and casinos, and restaurants run in or in connection with those premises.

• A café or restaurant on its own: the Restaurant Industry Award.
• A pub, hotel, wine bar or tavern, including its bistro or dining room: the Hospitality Award.
• A catering company: the Hospitality Award, unless the catering is run by a restaurant business, which the Restaurant Industry Award includes.
• A registered club: the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award. A fast food outlet: usually the Fast Food Industry Award.

If a business could fall under more than one award, each award says an employee is covered by the one with the classification most appropriate to their work and the industry they work in.

Restaurant and hospitality award rates from 1 July 2026

Both awards use the same classification levels and, from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026, the same minimum rates for adult employees. Hourly rates are for part-time and casual staff before any loading; the weekly figure is for full-time staff.

• Introductory level: $25.74 an hour ($978.10 a week).
• Level 1, food and beverage attendant or kitchen attendant grade 1: $26.44 ($1,004.90).
• Level 2, including food and beverage attendant grade 2, cook grade 1 and kitchen attendant grade 2: $27.08 ($1,029.10).
• Level 3, including food and beverage attendant grade 3, cook grade 2 and kitchen attendant grade 3: $27.97 ($1,062.90).
• Level 4, tradesperson cook grade 3 or food and beverage attendant grade 4: $29.45 ($1,119.10).
• Level 5, food and beverage supervisor or tradesperson cook grade 4: $31.30 ($1,189.40).
• Level 6, tradesperson cook grade 5: $32.13 ($1,221.10).

The Hospitality Award also sets separate rates for casino gaming staff, and a minimum salary of $63,617 a year for hotel managerial staff.

Hospitality award rates for casuals, level by level

Both awards pay casuals the minimum hourly rate for their level plus a 25% loading, so the weekday casual rate is the same under either one. Schedule B of each award, read on 30 September 2026, lists these rates for ordinary hours. Late nights, weekends and public holidays pay more.

Where the common kitchen jobs sit:

• Kitchen hand: washing up, cleaning the kitchen, helping the cooks, prepping ingredients and pantry work are kitchen attendant grade 1 duties. That is Level 1, $26.44 an hour, or $33.05 for a casual.
• Cook: cooking breakfasts and snacks, baking, pastry or butchering is cook grade 1, Level 2 ($27.08, or $33.85 casual). A cook with the appropriate training doing baking, pastry or butchering is cook grade 2, Level 3 ($27.97, or $34.96 casual).
• Chef: a qualified commis chef is cook grade 3, Level 4 ($29.45, or $36.81 casual). A demi chef is cook grade 4, Level 5 ($31.30, or $39.13 casual), and a chef de partie is cook grade 5, Level 6 ($32.13, or $40.16 casual).

Junior rates

Both awards pay a junior employee a percentage of the adult rate for their level:

• Under 17: 50%.
• 17: 60%.
• 18: 70%.
• 19: 85%.
• 20: 100%.

So an 18-year-old Level 1 attendant under the Restaurant Industry Award earns at least $18.51 an hour, before any casual loading or penalty rate. Junior rates follow the employee's age, so they step up on each birthday.

Penalty rates, and where the two awards differ

For full-time and part-time staff, both awards pay the same weekend and public holiday percentages. They differ on the late-night window, and on Sunday rates for casuals at the introductory level to Level 2 under the Restaurant Industry Award. Casual percentages include the 25% loading.

Restaurant Industry Award:

• Saturday: 125% for full-time and part-time staff, 150% for casuals.
• Sunday: 150% for full-time and part-time staff. Casuals get 150% at the introductory level to Level 2, and 175% at Levels 3 to 6.
• Public holidays: 225%, or 250% for casuals.
• Monday to Friday, 10pm to midnight: an extra $2.95 an hour. Midnight to 6am: an extra $4.42 an hour.

Hospitality Award:

• Saturday: 125% for full-time and part-time staff, 150% for casuals.
• Sunday: 150%, or 175% for all casuals.
• Public holidays: 225%, or 250% for casuals.
• Monday to Friday, 7pm to midnight: an extra $2.95 an hour. Midnight to 7am: an extra $4.42 an hour.

Penalty rates do not stack: for any hour, the employee gets the highest one that applies. In dollars, a Level 1 employee on full-time or part-time hours earns $39.66 an hour on a Sunday and $59.49 on a public holiday.

Rostering rules that catch venues out

• Casuals must be paid for at least 2 hours each time they come in to work, under both awards.
• On a public holiday, a full-time or part-time employee who works is paid for at least 4 hours, and a casual for at least 2.
• Restaurant Industry Award: a part-time employee cannot be rostered for fewer than 3 hours or more than 11.5 hours in a day, or outside the availability agreed in writing, and must get 2 days off each week.
• Restaurant Industry Award: full-time and part-time staff on a split shift get $5.60 for each separate work period of 2 hours or more.

Breaks under the Hospitality Award and the Restaurant Industry Award

Clause 16 of each award, read on 30 September 2026, sets breaks by the length of the shift, with different thresholds in each.

Hospitality Award:

• More than 5 and up to 6 hours: an unpaid meal break of up to 30 minutes, if the employee asks for it in writing by the start of the shift. The employer must not unreasonably refuse.
• More than 6 and up to 8 hours: an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes, taken after the first 2 hours and within the first 6.
• More than 8 and up to 10 hours: the same meal break, plus a paid 20-minute rest break that can be taken as two 10-minute breaks.
• More than 10 hours: the meal break plus two paid 20-minute rest breaks.
• An employee on a shift of more than 6 hours who is not allowed their meal break earns an extra 50% of their ordinary hourly rate from the 6-hour mark until they get the break or the shift ends.

Restaurant Industry Award:

• 5 hours or more, up to 10: an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes, taken after the first hour and within the first 6, or within 6.5 hours if the employer and employee agree to that during the shift.
• If that meal break is rostered more than 5 hours after the start, the employee also gets a paid 20-minute meal break, taken after the first 2 hours and within the first 5.
• More than 10 hours: the same, plus two paid 20-minute rest breaks.
• If staff are kept from taking the unpaid meal break at the rostered time, they earn an extra 50% of their ordinary hourly rate until they take it or the shift ends.

Under both awards, an employee kept working for more than 5 hours straight after their meal break gets an extra paid 20-minute rest break, and so does one who works more than 2 hours of overtime after their rostered hours.

What penalty rates mean for your bookings

Penalty rates make a Sunday or public holiday service far dearer to staff than a Tuesday, and they make a no-show on those days hurt most: the team rostered for that table is paid 150% to 250% whether the guests turn up or not. Roster to the bookings you hold, and on your busiest days ask for a deposit or a card on file. Gaplessly takes deposits and no-show fees on table bookings.

Where these figures come from

Every figure here comes from the Fair Work Commission's published text of each award, which includes all changes up to 1 July 2026, read on 30 September 2026. Rates change every year after the Annual Wage Review, usually from the first full pay period on or after 1 July. Before you set anyone's pay, check the current award, or the Fair Work Ombudsman's pay guides and Pay and Conditions Tool, which also cover allowances and overtime. The Ombudsman's pay guides page has a guide for each award as a PDF or Word download. This is general information, not legal or payroll advice.