Restaurant Industry Award rates for 2026: pay by level, penalty rates and breaks

Restaurant Industry Award rates from 1 July 2026

These minimums apply from the first full pay period starting on or after 1 July 2026. Hourly rates are for part-time and casual staff before any loading; the weekly figure is for full-time staff. The casual rate includes the 25% loading and is for ordinary weekday hours.

Who the Restaurant Industry Award covers

The Restaurant Industry Award 2020 [MA000119] covers restaurants, reception centres, night clubs, cafés and roadhouses, including catering run by a restaurant business. That takes in most standalone restaurants and cafés.

Which award applies: Restaurant Industry or Hospitality

• A café or restaurant on its own, a reception centre or a night club: the Restaurant Industry Award.
• A pub, hotel, wine bar or tavern, including its bistro or dining room: the Hospitality Industry (General) Award [MA000009].
• 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.

The two awards pay adults the same base rates at every level. They differ on the late-night window, on Sunday rates for some casuals, and on meal breaks, so the award matters for anyone working nights or weekends.

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.

Casual rates, and where kitchen and floor jobs sit

Casuals get the minimum hourly rate for their level plus a 25% loading: $34.96 an hour at Level 3, for example. Schedule B of the award, read on 30 September 2026, lists these rates for ordinary hours. Late nights, weekends and public holidays pay more.

• 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.
• Floor staff: a food and beverage attendant is Level 1 to Level 4 by grade ($26.44 to $29.45), and a food and beverage supervisor is Level 5 ($31.30).
• 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

The Restaurant Industry Award pays 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 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. A junior employed to serve liquor is paid the adult rate.

Restaurant Industry Award penalty rates

Each percentage is of the minimum hourly rate for the level. Casual percentages include the 25% loading.

• 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.

The Hospitality Award differs on two of these: its late-night loading starts at 7pm and runs to 7am, and it pays every casual 175% on a Sunday.

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 restaurants out

• Casuals must be paid for at least 2 hours each time they come in to work.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 Restaurant Industry Award

Clause 16 of the award, read on 30 September 2026, sets breaks by the length of the shift:

• 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.

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 run than a Tuesday, so a no-show on those days hurts 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 the Restaurant Industry 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.