Key takeaways
- MOM’s Occupational Wage Survey puts the median gross wage of a full-time resident chef in accommodation and food services at $3,600 a month in June 2025, and a restaurant manager at $3,791.
- Median gross wages for waiters, kitchen assistants, dishwashers and food or drink stall assistants in the same industry were $1,600 a month in June 2025.
- The Food Services Progressive Wage Model raised the waiter and full-service kitchen assistant floor to $2,320 a month from 1 July 2026, rising to $2,600 from 1 July 2028.
- The Local Qualifying Salary is $1,800 a month for full-time local employees not covered by a PWM, in firms that hire foreign workers.
- Survey medians and PWM floors measure different things. Budget to the floor that applies to you, not to the survey median.
This page brings together official pay data for food and beverage jobs in Singapore: what cooks, waiters, kitchen assistants, baristas and managers are paid, and the legal wage floors that apply to many of them. Every figure comes from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), fetched on 29 September 2026, with its table, period and release date. Employment, vacancy and turnover figures are on our Singapore F&B industry statistics page and are not repeated here.
Median gross wages for F&B jobs, June 2025
The table shows monthly gross wages of full-time resident employees (Singapore citizens and PRs) in the accommodation and food services industry. MOM’s occupational wage data exclude bonuses.
| Occupation | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior cook | $1,664 | $2,500 | $3,340 |
| Cook | $1,600 | $1,700 | $2,990 |
| Kitchen assistant | $1,600 | $1,600 | $2,250 |
| Fast food preparer | $1,991 | $2,447 | $2,673 |
| Food service counter attendant | $1,600 | $2,283 | $2,640 |
| Food/drink stall assistant | $1,600 | $1,600 | $2,010 |
| Waiter | $1,600 | $1,600 | $2,184 |
| Captain waiter/waiter supervisor | $1,862 | $2,738 | $3,350 |
| Barista | $1,600 | $2,300 | $2,744 |
| Bartender/mixologist | $2,262 | $3,000 | $3,700 |
| Cashier (general) | $1,600 | $1,600 | $2,050 |
| Dishwasher | $1,600 | $1,600 | $2,113 |
| Table-top cleaner | $1,600 | $1,610 | $1,920 |
| Baker | $1,600 | $1,600 | $2,480 |
Source: MOM, Occupational Wages 2025, Table 4.5 (accommodation and food services), reference month June 2025, released 30 June 2026. The industry grouping covers hotels as well as F&B outlets; MOM does not publish a separate F&B-only table.
Chefs, supervisors and managers
| Occupation | 25th percentile | Median | 75th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chef (excluding pastry chef) | $2,714 | $3,600 | $4,800 |
| Pastry chef | $2,484 | $3,255 | $4,230 |
| Kitchen operations head/supervisor | $1,698 | $3,130 | $4,456 |
| Restaurant manager | $2,800 | $3,791 | $5,000 |
| Food and beverage operations manager | $2,900 | $3,800 | $5,303 |
| Catering manager | $3,478 | $4,944 | $6,292 |
Source: MOM Occupational Wages 2025, Table 4.5, gross wages, June 2025. The spread between the 25th and 75th percentiles is wide for kitchen heads and managers, because job scope ranges from a single café to a multi-outlet group.
How F&B pay compares with the same jobs in all industries
Some F&B occupations also exist in other industries, such as staff canteens, retail food counters and institutional kitchens. MOM’s all-industries table shows the median gross wage for the same job title across the economy.
| Occupation | Median gross, accommodation and food services | Median gross, all industries |
|---|---|---|
| Chef (excluding pastry chef) | $3,600 | $3,650 |
| Restaurant manager | $3,791 | $3,900 |
| Senior cook | $2,500 | $2,515 |
| Cook | $1,700 | $1,897 |
| Kitchen operations head/supervisor | $3,130 | $4,517 |
| Cashier (general) | $1,600 | $2,407 |
| Kitchen assistant | $1,600 | $1,620 |
| Waiter | $1,600 | $1,600 |
Source: MOM Occupational Wages 2025, Tables 4 and 4.5, June 2025. The gap for cashiers is large because the all-industries figure includes cashiers in retail, where pay structures differ.
June 2024 and June 2025 compared
| Occupation (accommodation and food services) | Median gross, June 2024 | Median gross, June 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Chef | $3,952 | $3,600 |
| Restaurant manager | $3,300 | $3,791 |
| Senior cook | $3,200 | $2,500 |
| Cook | $2,000 | $1,700 |
| Waiter | $1,512 | $1,600 |
| Kitchen assistant | $1,600 | $1,600 |
| Barista | $2,052 | $2,300 |
Sources: MOM Occupational Wages 2024 and 2025, Table 4.5. Read this table with care. The 2024 tables used SSOC 2020 and the 2025 tables use SSOC 2024, and some job titles changed (the 2024 “chef” row did not exclude pastry chefs, and “senior cook” included examples such as station chef). MOM also warns that year-on-year changes from a sample survey are prone to fluctuation, and that wage growth is better read over five or ten years.
Food Services Progressive Wage Model: wage floors to 2029
The Food Services PWM sets minimum monthly gross wages for Singapore citizen and PR food services workers, full-time or part-time, working in premises with an SFA food retail or central kitchen licence, in firms that hire foreign workers. Employers must meet the PWM to renew or apply for work passes.
| PWM job level | 1 Mar 2025 to 30 Jun 2026 | From 1 Jul 2026 | From 1 Jul 2027 | From 1 Jul 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food/drink stall assistant (quick service) | $2,080 | $2,220 | $2,360 | $2,500 |
| Kitchen assistant (QS) / food service counter attendant | $2,155 | $2,295 | $2,435 | $2,575 |
| Cook (QS) | $2,330 | $2,470 | $2,610 | $2,750 |
| Kitchen assistant (full service) / waiter | $2,180 | $2,320 | $2,460 | $2,600 |
| Cook (full service) | $2,380 | $2,520 | $2,660 | $2,800 |
| Waiter supervisor | $2,730 | $2,875 | $3,020 | $3,165 |
| Senior cook, manager | Left to market forces | |||
Sources: MOM, Progressive Wage Model for the food services sector (last updated 1 September 2026) and MOM’s press release of 16 March 2026, which states that the Food Services PWM covers more than 53,000 full-time and part-time workers. Floors exclude overtime pay and bonuses; part-time floors are hourly, for example $12.17 an hour for a full-service waiter from 1 July 2026. Our Food Services PWM guide explains job levels and training requirements.
The Local Qualifying Salary
MOM’s Local Qualifying Salary page (last updated 1 July 2026) states that firms hiring foreign workers must pay at least $1,800 a month gross to full-time local employees not covered by a PWM, and at least $10.50 an hour to part-timers. For quota purposes, a local employee earning at least $1,800 counts as one local worker, and one earning $900 to below $1,800 counts as half.
Why survey medians can sit below the PWM floors
Readers often notice that several June 2025 medians in the survey table are below the PWM floors that applied at the time. The two sources measure different things:
- The Occupational Wage Survey covers private establishments with at least 25 employees across accommodation and food services, whether or not they hire foreign workers. MOM’s methodology note says it covered 5,230 establishments employing about 391,300 full-time resident employees, with a 98% response rate.
- The PWM applies to citizen and PR workers in firms that hire foreign workers, in licensed food premises, and in the specific PWM job roles.
- Survey job titles are coded from employers’ descriptions, so a “cook” in the survey may not match a PWM “cook” level.
MOM does not publish how many of the surveyed workers fall under the PWM, so we cannot reconcile the two. For budgeting, work from the floor that legally applies to each of your staff.
What this means for your wage budget
If you hire foreign workers, the PWM schedule gives you three years of known increases: $140 a year for most roles and $145 for waiter supervisors. Build those into your budget now, together with CPF and levies. Our restaurant wage budget guide and labour cost guide show how to turn these rates into a percentage of sales.
Scheduling and staff controls help keep hours in line with sales. ChaChaCha, powered by AppsPOS, provides reports and staff permissions, so you can review sales and limit who can discount or void. Ask us to confirm which reports show sales by hour. For rostering, see our separate guides.
What is not published (so we don’t estimate it)
- Wages for F&B outlets alone. MOM’s occupational tables group accommodation and food services together.
- Pay in establishments with fewer than 25 employees. The survey covers establishments with at least 25 employees, so most small cafés and hawker stalls are outside it.
- Foreign workers’ wages. The tables cover resident employees only.
- Part-time hourly pay distributions. Part-time workers are excluded from the wage tabulations.
- Bonuses and tips. Gross wages exclude bonuses; service charge distribution is not reported.
Citing this page
If you use these figures, please cite the original source, for example “MOM, Occupational Wages 2025, Table 4.5, June 2025 (released 30 June 2026)” or “MOM, Food Services PWM wage schedule (updated 1 September 2026)”. This page was compiled on 29 September 2026.
