What award is a barista on? A Level 2 casual's 8-hour Sunday pays $54 more in a pub than a sit-down cafe

Same coffee machine, same Sunday, same Level 2 casual. Pull shots behind the bar of a Surry Hills pub and the minimum is $47.39 an hour; do it in a sit-down cafe in Newtown and it's $40.62. Over an 8-hour shift the pub pays $54.16 more, and the only thing that changed is the award.

Ask what award a barista is paid under and most answers stop at the Hospitality Award. That's right in a pub and usually wrong in a cafe. Neither the Hospitality Award nor the Restaurant Award contains the word barista, so your award comes from what the venue mainly does and your level from what you do on shift.

Quick answer: in a pub, hotel or tavern you're on the Hospitality Industry (General) Award (MA000009). In a mainly eat-in cafe it's the Restaurant Industry Award (MA000119), and at a mostly takeaway counter the Fast Food Industry Award (MA000003). Clubs have their own award (MA000058). A barista is usually Level 2, sometimes Level 3. Figures are adult casual minimums from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, before super. General information, not legal or financial advice.

The venue decides the award, not your job title

Each award covers an industry, and the Fair Work Ombudsman's summaries of these awards name baristas twice: "baristas (in mainly eat-in cafés)" under the Restaurant Award, and "baristas (in fast food shops or take-away cafes)" under the Fast Food Award. A cafe or bistro the pub runs on its own premises counts as a restaurant connected to the pub, so it stays on the Hospitality Award (clause 4.2 of MA000009 and MA000119).

A cafe that does both is judged on what it mainly does. Mostly eat-in or table service points to the Restaurant Award; mostly food and drink sold and packaged to take away points to Fast Food.

Restaurant Award vs Hospitality Award: the $54 Sunday, line by line

The base rate isn't the difference. Level 2 is $27.08 an hour in both awards, and both add the same 25% casual loading. The gap is one cell in each penalty table: MA000009 pays casuals 175% on a Sunday at every level (Table 14), while MA000119 pays casuals from Introductory to Level 2 just 150% (Table 8).

Run the sums: 8 x $47.39 is $379.12 in the pub, and 8 x $40.62 is $324.96 in the cafe. That's $54.16 a shift, or about $2,816 over a year of Sundays. Early opens tilt the same way: the Hospitality Award adds $4.42 for any hour or part of an hour before 7am on a weekday, while the Restaurant Award's addition stops at 6am. Takeaway sits in between on Sunday because the Fast Food Award's first grade starts higher, at $27.81. The pub's full rate card is in our Hospitality Award rate table.

In a sit-down cafe, a Level 2 casual's Sunday pays exactly what their Saturday does: $40.62 an hour.

Your level is the other half of the answer

Employers once asked for barista to be written into the Restaurant Award. In May 2014 a Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission said there was no need: "There is no issue that a barista can be classified under the Restaurant Award as a Food and Beverage Attendant Grade 2 or 3 (that is, paid at Level 2 or 3)." Grade 1 covers jobs like collecting glasses and wiping tables, not making coffee for customers. In one Western Australian case, a cafe that hadn't paid its barista even the grade 1 rate was ordered to make up the grade 2 rate for the whole time the barista worked there.

Read the cafe row twice. In MA000119, casuals at Level 3 and above get 175% on a Sunday, so a barista who makes grade 3 goes from $324.96 to $391.60 for the same eight hours. That's $66.64, more than the whole pub-versus-cafe gap, so if you've finished a relevant Certificate II, make sure your manager knows.

How to check which award you're on

1. Name what the venue mainly does. Pub or hotel, club, mainly eat-in cafe or mainly takeaway. The first table gets you to the award.
2. Ask to see it. Each of these awards requires your employer to make a copy available, on a noticeboard or electronically (clause 3.3 of MA000009, MA000119 and MA000058; clause 3.4 of MA000003).
3. Ask about an enterprise agreement. Some employers and employees are covered by one instead of an award, and then its rates are the ones to check.
4. Match duties, not titles. The second table shows what moves you up a grade in each award.
5. Check the numbers. Run the shift through the Fair Work Ombudsman's Pay and Conditions Tool, then compare the Sunday line on your payslip. Our guide to checking a hospitality payslip covers what that line has to show.

Work Saturdays at a cafe and Sundays at a pub and you're on two awards at once, one per employer. It also means a Sunday behind a pub or club bar is worth $6.77 an hour more to a Level 2 casual than one in a sit-down cafe, which is worth knowing before you say yes. Juggling venues has its own tax maths, covered in working two casual jobs.

Where Shiftly fits

Knowing your award tells you what a Sunday should pay; seeing the pay before you say yes does the rest. Shiftly is free workforce management for venues with an on-demand staffing network built in, so the roster fills itself: when a pub or cafe near you is short, the open shift goes to workers on the network instead of a group chat. You see the venue, the hours and the pay before you accept, and you get paid fast once it's done. Shiftly On-Demand is coming soon, starting in Sydney, so join the waitlist.

Frequently asked questions

What award covers cafe workers?

It depends on what the cafe mainly does. Mainly eat-in, or table service, is the Restaurant Industry Award (MA000119); mostly takeaway is the Fast Food Industry Award (MA000003). A cafe run by a pub or hotel is on the Hospitality Industry (General) Award (MA000009), and one in a registered club is on the Registered and Licensed Clubs Award (MA000058).

What award level is a barista?

Usually Level 2, food and beverage attendant grade 2: $27.08 an hour from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026, or $33.85 as a casual. At a takeaway counter on the Fast Food Award it's Level 1, at $27.81. The Fair Work Commission has said a barista can be grade 2 or 3. In a pub, grade 3 comes from extra duties such as training or supervising staff; in a sit-down cafe it also needs a completed Certificate II relevant to the role.

What is the barista pay rate in NSW?

Award rates don't change from state to state, and most private sector workers in NSW are in the national Fair Work system. An adult Level 2 casual gets $33.85 on a weekday and $40.62 on a Saturday under either the Hospitality or Restaurant award. On a Sunday it's $47.39 in a pub or club, $40.62 in a sit-down cafe and $41.72 at a takeaway counter on Fast Food Level 1.

Is the Restaurant Award Sunday rate lower than the Hospitality Award's?

For casuals from Introductory to Level 2, yes: 150% under the Restaurant Award against 175% under the Hospitality Award, or $40.62 against $47.39 an hour at Level 2. From Level 3 up, both pay casuals 175%. Full-time and part-time staff get 150% on a Sunday under both.