Local restaurants are part of a large, diverse U.S. foodservice workforce. The National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Employee Demographics 2025 reports 15.7 million restaurant and foodservice jobs, including 12.5 million in eating and drinking places. The figures below describe the people and roles behind that national industry, while keeping the measurement groups and comparisons explicit.
Contents
- Industry size and the local restaurant workforce
- Diversity across restaurant roles
- Gender patterns by position
- Age and life stage
- Family, household, and education
- Education and birthplace
- Language and communication
Industry size and the local restaurant workforce
The restaurant and foodservice industry accounts for 15.7 million jobs, or 10% of the total U.S. workforce, according to the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Employee Demographics 2025. Eating and drinking places account for 12.5 million of those jobs. That makes eating and drinking places the largest specifically identified part of the total, although the source also includes foodservice employment outside conventional restaurants.
An estimated 3.2 million foodservice jobs are in other sectors. These include healthcare, accommodations, education, food-and-beverage stores, and arts, entertainment and recreation. The estimate matters when interpreting restaurant workforce statistics: the overall 15.7 million figure is broader than the staff working in a neighborhood dining room, café, or bistro.
The same source reports that 51% of restaurant and foodservice employees are minorities, compared with 41% of employees in the total U.S. employed labor force. In this comparison, the restaurant and foodservice share is 10 percentage points higher. The figures describe workforce composition, not the demographics of customers or owners.
Restaurant work also has a strong early-career profile. Forty percent of restaurant and foodservice employees are under age 25, and 60% are under age 35. In the overall employed labor force, the corresponding shares are 13% under 25 and 35% under 35. Food preparation and counter workers are especially young: 65% are under age 25. Half of waitstaff are under age 25.
Diversity across restaurant roles
The reported minority share varies by job. Sixty-six percent of chefs are minorities, as are 62% of cooks and 45% of managers. These role-specific figures should not be treated as a ranking of performance or experience; they show how workforce composition differs among common restaurant positions.
The source identifies Hispanic, Black or African American, and Asian employees as three reported groups within restaurant and foodservice employment. Hispanic employees account for 27% of the workforce, Black or African American employees account for 12%, and Asian employees account for 7%. These categories are presented as reported demographic shares and should not be added together as a complete population total.
The workforce is also internationally connected. Twenty-two percent of restaurant and foodservice employees were born outside the United States, compared with 20% of employees in the total U.S. employed labor force. Mexico, China, and El Salvador are the top non-U.S. countries of birth for restaurant and foodservice employees in the reported figures.
| Workforce measure | Restaurant and foodservice employees | Total U.S. employed labor force |
|---|---|---|
| Minorities | 51% | 41% |
| Female | 55% | 48% |
| Under age 25 | 40% | 13% |
| Under age 35 | 60% | 35% |
| Born outside the United States | 22% | 20% |
| Enrolled in school | 27% | 10% |
Source: National Restaurant Association, Restaurant Employee Demographics 2025. The comparison groups are not local-area estimates; they are national workforce measures reported for the restaurant and foodservice industry and the total U.S. employed labor force.
Gender patterns by position
Women make up 55% of restaurant and foodservice employees, compared with 48% of the total U.S. employed labor force. The share varies considerably by position. Women account for 69% of waitstaff and 59% of bartenders. They represent 57% of restaurant supervisors and 50% of restaurant managers.
Kitchen roles show a different pattern in the reported data. Women account for 36% of cooks and 21% of chefs. This difference between front-of-house and kitchen positions is one of the clearest role-level contrasts in the workforce figures.
| Position | Female share | Minority share, where reported |
|---|---|---|
| Waitstaff | 69% | Not reported in the supplied role figures |
| Bartenders | 59% | Not reported in the supplied role figures |
| Supervisors | 57% | Not reported in the supplied role figures |
| Managers | 50% | 45% |
| Cooks | 36% | 62% |
| Chefs | 21% | 66% |
Source: National Restaurant Association, Restaurant Employee Demographics 2025. A missing role-level value is not evidence of a zero share, so the table does not infer unreported demographics.
Age and life stage
Age is another major dividing line across restaurant jobs. Overall, 40% of restaurant and foodservice employees are under 25 and 60% are under 35. Food preparation and counter workers have the highest supplied under-25 figure at 65%, while waitstaff are at 50%.
Older adults remain represented in experienced positions. Adults age 55 and older have the highest reported representation in manager jobs at 16% and in chef jobs at 17%. These values describe the share of those job groups represented by adults 55 and older, rather than the share of all restaurant employees in that age range.
The age pattern helps explain why a local restaurant workforce can include students, early-career workers, and more experienced supervisors or chefs at the same time. It does not establish how any particular bistro staffs its kitchen or dining room, and the supplied data does not provide city-by-city or restaurant-by-restaurant estimates.
Family, household, and education
Sixty-two percent of restaurant and foodservice employees have never been married. The corresponding figure for the total U.S. employed labor force is 35%. Twenty-seven percent of restaurant and foodservice employees are married, while 11% are widowed, divorced, or separated.
The role-level figures show notable variation. Seventy-nine percent of food preparation and counter workers are single, meaning never married, and 72% of waitstaff are single. By contrast, 47% of chefs and 46% of managers are married.
Household position also differs by role. Thirty-four percent of restaurant and foodservice employees are heads of household, compared with 51% of the total U.S. employed labor force. Eighteen percent are the spouse or partner of the household head, and 33% are the child or grandchild of the household head.
Among specific positions, 50% of bartenders are heads of household, as are 49% of managers, 46% of chefs, and 40% of supervisors. These figures concern household status, not income, seniority, or whether an employee works full time.
School enrollment is more common in restaurant and foodservice employment than in the overall employed labor force. Twenty-seven percent of restaurant and foodservice employees are enrolled in school, compared with 10% of the total U.S. employed labor force. Within the restaurant workforce, 13% are ages 16 to 18 and enrolled in school, while 9% are ages 19 to 22 and enrolled in school.
The pattern is strongest in several customer-facing and entry-level categories. Forty-six percent of food preparation and counter workers are enrolled in school, as are 35% of waitstaff. These figures help distinguish age and school status from assumptions about a worker’s role or experience.
Education and birthplace
Twenty-three percent of restaurant and foodservice employees have less than a high school diploma, compared with 9% of employees in the total U.S. employed labor force. Among cooks, 33% have less than a high school diploma, and the share is 31% among food preparation and counter workers.
The supplied figures also identify degree attainment in selected roles. Twenty-two percent of bartenders hold either a bachelor’s degree or postgraduate degree, as do 21% of managers. These figures can coexist with the reported shares who have less than a high school diploma because they describe different job groups rather than the same employees.
Birthplace adds another dimension to local restaurant workforce statistics. Twenty-two percent of restaurant and foodservice employees were born outside the United States, compared with 20% of the overall employed labor force. The reported leading non-U.S. countries of birth are Mexico, China, and El Salvador.
Language and communication
The reported home-language figures vary by position. Among managers, 72% speak English only at home and 17% speak Spanish at home. Among cooks, 30.6% speak Spanish at home, while 22.9% of chefs speak Spanish at home.
Bartenders have a reported English-only-at-home share of 83.8%. The same position has a reported Arabic-at-home share of 0.6%. These are home-language measures, not claims about an employee’s ability to communicate in other languages at work. They also should not be read as a complete list of languages spoken by restaurant employees.
Taken together, the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Employee Demographics 2025 figures portray a workforce that is younger than the overall employed labor force, more likely to be enrolled in school, and highly diverse across roles and backgrounds. The measurements are national, and the source does not provide a local restaurant count or a city-specific demographic profile. For a bistro reader, their clearest use is as context for the many kinds of people whose work supports cooking, service, management, and hospitality.