Restaurant Award Pay Rates 2026-27: Every Level
Minimum rates under the Restaurant Industry Award 2020 (MA000119), effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.
The short answer
A Level 1 restaurant employee is paid $26.44 an hour or $1,004.90 a week full-time. A casual at the same classification is paid $33.05 an hour, including the 25% casual loading. On that full-time wage, take-home pay after income tax and the Medicare levy is $45,013 a year, or $1,731 a fortnight.
MA000119 rates by classification.
All 11 classifications, with the casual rate for each and what each one actually takes home after tax.
Minimum rates
1 July 2026 · PR799399
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introductory Level | $978.10 | $25.74 | $32.18 | $44,066 |
| Level 1 | $1,004.90 | $26.44 | $33.05 | $45,013 |
| Level 2 | $1,029.10 | $27.08 | $33.85 | $45,869 |
| Level 3 | $1,062.90 | $27.97 | $34.96 | $47,064 |
| Level 4 | $1,119.10 | $29.45 | $36.81 | $49,051 |
| Level 5 | $1,189.40 | $31.30 | $39.13 | $51,537 |
| Level 6 | $1,221.10 | $32.13 | $40.16 | $52,658 |
Across this table, full-time gross pay runs from $50,861 to $63,497 a year, which is $44,066 to $52,658 after income tax and the Medicare levy, or $56,965 to $71,117 once the 12% Superannuation Guarantee is paid on top. Select any take-home figure to open it in the Wage Calculator with that rate already entered.
Junior apprentice—cooking trade minimum rates
1 July 2026 · PR799399
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st year | $615.51 | $16.20 | $20.25* | $29,536 |
| 2nd year | $727.42 | $19.14 | $23.93* | $34,125 |
| 3rd year | $895.28 | $23.56 | $29.45* | $41,137 |
| 4th year | $1,063.15 | $27.98 | $34.98* | $47,073 |
Across this table, full-time gross pay runs from $32,007 to $55,284 a year, which is $29,536 to $47,073 after income tax and the Medicare levy, or $35,847 to $61,918 once the 12% Superannuation Guarantee is paid on top. Select any take-home figure to open it in the Wage Calculator with that rate already entered.
Take-home is an estimate for a single Australian resident for tax purposes with no study loan debt and no Medicare levy surcharge, calculated with the same Wage Calculator used across this site. Superannuation is paid by your employer on top of these rates and is never deducted from them. A casual rate marked * is not published in the award and is the minimum hourly rate plus the 25% loading.
What $26.44 an hour leaves on a payslip.
A full-time week at the Level 1 restaurant employee rate is $1,004.90 before tax. The ATO weekly withholding schedule for 2026-27 takes $139.00 from it when the tax-free threshold is claimed, so $865.90 reaches your account. Paid fortnightly, it is $1,731.80.
| 38 hours a week | Gross a week | Tax withheld | Take-home a week | Take-home a fortnight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time$26.44 an hour | $1,004.90 | $139.00 | $865.90 | $1,731.80 |
| Casual, same hours$33.05 an hour | $1,255.90 | $220.00 | $1,035.90 | $2,071.80 |
Withholding is the payslip figure, not the year’s tax: the schedule rounds each pay to the dollar and leaves offsets to the tax return, which is why it differs a little from the take-home a year above. Super is paid on top. For a different number of hours, the Weekly Pay Calculator opens with $26.44 and 38 hours filled in, and the Overtime Calculator adds hours at time and a half and double time to the same rate, before any award-specific overtime rules.
MA000119 junior rates by age.
The award pays a junior employee a percentage of the adult rate. The percentages below are read from the award text, and the dollar figures are worked out from the adult weekly rate. Each table says exactly how, and which of its figures were checked against rates the award itself prints.
Clause 18.2(a): Junior rates
What each percentage is a percentage of, in the words of the clause: “An employer must pay a junior employee aged as specified in column 1 of Table 4, Junior rates the minimum percentage specified in column 2 of the minimum rate that would otherwise be applicable under Table 3, Minimum rates:”
| Age | Percentage of adult rate |
|---|---|
| Under 17 years of age | 50% |
| 17 years of age | 60% |
| 18 years of age | 70% |
| 19 years of age | 85% |
| 20 years of age | 100% |
| Classification | Under 1750% | 1760% | 1870% | 1985% | 20100% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Introductory Level | $12.87$489.10 a week | $15.44$586.90 a week | $18.02$684.70 a week | $21.88$831.40 a week | $25.74$978.10 a week |
| Level 1 | $13.22$502.50 a week | $15.87$602.90 a week | $18.51$703.40 a week | $22.48$854.20 a week | $26.44$1,004.90 a week |
| Level 2 | $13.54$514.60 a week | $16.25$617.50 a week | $18.96$720.40 a week | $23.02$874.70 a week | $27.08$1,029.10 a week |
| Level 3 | $13.99$531.50 a week | $16.78$637.70 a week | $19.58$744.00 a week | $23.78$903.50 a week | $27.97$1,062.90 a week |
| Level 4 | $14.73$559.60 a week | $17.67$671.50 a week | $20.62$783.40 a week | $25.03$951.20 a week | $29.45$1,119.10 a week |
| Level 5 | $15.65$594.70 a week | $18.78$713.60 a week | $21.91$832.60 a week | $26.61$1,011.00 a week | $31.30$1,189.40 a week |
| Level 6 | $16.07$610.60 a week | $19.28$732.70 a week | $22.49$854.80 a week | $27.31$1,037.90 a week | $32.13$1,221.10 a week |
Each cell is the hourly rate, with the full-time weekly rate beneath it. The award prints the percentages. The dollar figures are worked out from them, as follows.
Each weekly figure is the adult weekly rate multiplied by the percentage, rounded to the nearest 10 cents as clause 18.2(a) says: “A minimum weekly rate calculated in accordance with Table 4, Junior rates must be rounded to the nearest $0.10. An amount that is in dollars and a number of cents is rounded to the nearest $0.10: (i) if the amount of cents is $0.05 or more, by increasing that amount to the next $0.10; or (ii) if the number of cents is $0.04 or less, by deducting those cents from that amount.” Each hourly figure is that weekly figure divided by the 38 ordinary hours in a full-time week, rounded to the nearest cent.
24 of the 35 junior rates are printed in Schedule B of the award, and each printed figure agrees to the cent. The 1 at 100% are the adult rate itself, and each one equals it. The other 10 are not printed anywhere in the award, so they could not be checked, and Fair Work’s pay guide may round them differently by a cent.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Award
- Restaurant Industry Award 2020 (MA000119)
- Effective from
- 1 July 2026
- Consolidated to
- 1 July 2026
- Determinations
- PR799280, PR799399, PR799554
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-09
- Cross-checked
- 7 of 11 rates against Schedule B
Every rate above was read from the award text at the Fair Work award library and then checked a second time against Schedule B of the same award, which republishes the hourly rates. Casual rates are the award’s own published figures except where marked *, which the award does not publish. The junior percentages were read from the award in the same way. The junior dollar figures are worked out from them, and each junior table says which of its figures were checked against rates the award itself prints. Nothing here is copied from another pay site.
What this page does not cover.
Listed as plainly as what it does, because a rate page that hides its gaps is how the wrong number ends up on a payslip.
Penalty rates
Evening, weekend, public holiday and overtime loadings are set separately in the award.
Junior casual and penalty rates
The junior figures on this page are ordinary-hours minimums. Casual loading, weekend, public holiday and overtime rates for juniors are not worked out here.
Allowances
Every allowance the award sets sits in a separate clause. No allowance figure is published here.
Adult apprentices
The apprentice table above is the junior cooking trade scale. Apprentices who start as adults are paid on a separate scale, set out by year on the Apprentice Chef Wages page.
Restaurant Award Pay Rates questions, answered.
What is the hourly rate under the Restaurant Industry Award?
The scale starts at $25.74 an hour at the introductory classification, then $26.44 an hour at Level 1, and runs to $32.13 an hour at Level 6. A Level 1 casual is paid $33.05 an hour, which includes the 25% casual loading. A kitchen hand is classified as a kitchen attendant, grade 1 at Level 1, and Kitchen Hand Pay Rate sets the kitchen attendant grades in this award beside those in the hospitality award.
What is Level 2 pay in a restaurant?
A Level 2 employee is paid $1,029.10 a week, $27.08 an hour full-time, or $33.85 an hour as a casual. Which duties sit at Level 2 is set by the classification definitions in the award, not by a job title on a roster, so check the definitions before comparing your payslip. Level 2 takes in clerical grade 1 and door person/security officer grade 1 as well. Because the Clerks Award stands aside for employees this award covers (its clause 4.4(t)), a restaurant's office staff are paid here rather than on Clerks Award Pay Rates, while a guard supplied by a security contractor is on a different award again, as Security Guard Pay Rate sets out. A cook or chef in a hotel or pub is on the Hospitality Award instead, set out on Hospitality Award Pay Rates, and its cook grades are worked through on Chef Pay Rate.
What does an apprentice cook get paid?
The second table above is the junior apprentice cooking trade scale. It runs from $615.51 a week, $16.20 an hour, in the first year to $27.98 an hour in the fourth year. Apprentices who start as adults are paid on a separate, higher scale. Both scales, fourth year proficiency pay and whether a restaurant, hotel or club award applies are set out on Apprentice Chef Wages.
Are restaurant award rates different in NSW or Victoria?
No. The Restaurant Industry Award is a national instrument, so one set of minimum rates applies in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and every other state and territory. There are no state-specific restaurant award rates. What differs is coverage: a takeaway food business can be on a different award, set out on Fast Food Award Pay Rates.
Do the restaurant award rates include penalty rates?
No. The figures on this page are ordinary-hours minimum rates. Evening, weekend, public holiday and overtime work attracts a higher rate set separately in the award. No penalty rate is shown here that has not been read from the award text.
When do restaurant award rates change?
Award rates change from the first full pay period on or after 1 July each year, following the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review. The 11 rates on this page take effect from 1 July 2026.
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