Baker Jobs in Arlington, TX
Baking jobs in Arlington run from the pastry kitchen at Loews Arlington Hotel in the Entertainment District to late-night cookie ovens on East Abram Street downtown. Most bakers here start around $13 to $15 an hour. Here are the current openings, then who is hiring and how to train.
Current baker Openings in Arlington, TX
Listings marked External are sponsored openings provided by the Jobs2Careers network.
Baker Work in Arlington
Arlington's baking work is split between big production kitchens and small shops. The largest single pastry operation sits on Nolan Ryan Expressway inside Loews Arlington Hotel and the attached Arlington Convention Center, where one team turns out breads, cakes and plated desserts for Farena, the lobby outlets and banquet events that fill whenever AT&T Stadium or Globe Life Field has a date. Campus dining at UT Arlington in the College Park District adds steady institutional baking tied to the academic calendar.
The rest of the market is retail. Downtown along Abram Street, bake-and-serve shops stay open late for the UTA crowd, and the city's panaderias, including Marquez Bakery, which the City profiled in May 2026 for its 36 years in business, keep a pan dulce tradition going. Grocery and warehouse-club bakeries along South Cooper Street and the I-20 corridor round out the work, though their postings come and go quickly.
Top Arlington Employers Hiring Bakers
These Arlington employers have posted baker or pastry roles on their own careers sites:
- Loews Arlington Hotel - the 888-room hotel and convention center hires pastry cooks to produce desserts, breads, cakes and pastries for every food and beverage outlet and its banquets.
- Insomnia Cookies - the late-night bakery at 200 E Abram Street hires Cookie Crew members, 18 and older, to bake and package warm cookies and brownies for walk-in and delivery orders.
- Compass Group at UT Arlington - the food service company's careers site lists full-time baker roles on the UTA campus, baking for student dining.
Baker Salaries in Arlington
- Entry level: about $13 to $15 an hour for bakery assistants, cookie and packaging crew, and new production bakers.
- Experienced: roughly $16 to $20 an hour for production bakers, cake decorators and hotel pastry cooks.
- Senior: about $21 to $26 an hour for lead bakers, pastry leads and bakery managers.
These are estimates built from BLS figures and local postings. Bakers nationally earned a median of $17.86 an hour in May 2025, and food preparation pay in Dallas-Fort Worth runs below the national average for the group. Hotel pastry pays toward the top of the local range and expects 2 to 4 years of experience, with at least one year in a hotel or upscale kitchen. Shift, laminated dough and decorating skills, and supervising other cooks move pay up fastest.
How to Become a Baker in Arlington
Texas does not license bakers. The legal requirement is a food handler card: under Texas Food Establishment Rules section 228.31, food employees must complete an accredited food handler course within 30 days of employment, and the bakery keeps the certificate on premises. A card with no printed expiration date is good for two years. Every food establishment also needs at least one Certified Food Manager, who passes a Texas DSHS-approved exam; that certification is valid for five years.
For formal training, Tarrant County College runs Culinary Arts at TCC Southeast, 2100 Southeast Parkway in Arlington, with an Associate of Applied Science and a Level 1 Baking and Pastry certificate. TCC's Catering/Private Chef certificate stopped taking new students on September 1, 2026, so pick the baking track. Many Arlington bakers instead start on a cookie or packaging crew and learn production on the job.
What the Job Involves
You scale ingredients, mix doughs and batters, shape and proof, bake, cool, and finish product before service starts. Hotel pastry adds plated desserts, banquet volume, food safety logs and rotating stock. Retail baking adds the counter: packaging orders, running the register and keeping the case full. Early mornings or late nights are normal, along with heat, standing and lifting.
Skills Employers Look For
- Texas food handler card within 30 days of hire
- Accurate scaling and recipe math
- Dough handling: mixing, fermentation, shaping and proofing
- Laminated dough, chocolate and decorating skills for pastry roles
- Food safety and labeling, including rotation and storage
- Speed and consistency on volume production
- Availability for early, late, weekend and holiday shifts
Career Path and Advancement
In Arlington the baking ladder usually starts on a cookie, packaging or bakery assistant shift, moves to production baker, then pastry cook, then lead or pastry sous chef. The hotel track at Loews Arlington is the clearest path, since its pastry team sits under a pastry sous chef and pastry chef inside a full culinary brigade. A TCC Southeast Baking and Pastry certificate and a Certified Food Manager credential are the two steps that most often move a baker into a lead role.
Related Careers in Arlington
Arlington bakers often work alongside or move into these roles:
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need a license to be a baker in Arlington, TX?
No. Texas does not license bakers. You do need an accredited food handler card within 30 days of employment, and your employer keeps a copy on premises. Whoever runs the bakery needs a Certified Food Manager certification, which is valid for five years.
How much do bakers make in Arlington?
Entry bakery work generally pays about $13 to $15 an hour, experienced production bakers and pastry cooks earn roughly $16 to $20, and leads and bakery managers reach about $21 to $26. These are estimates; hotel pastry kitchens such as Loews Arlington Hotel sit toward the top of the range.
Where can you train to be a baker in Arlington?
TCC Southeast at 2100 Southeast Parkway is the local campus for Tarrant County College Culinary Arts, including a Level 1 Baking and Pastry certificate and the Culinary Arts AAS. Many bakers also learn on the job, starting on a production or packaging crew.
What hours do bakers work in Arlington?
It depends on the shop. Hotel and campus bakers usually work early production shifts, while late-night shops like Insomnia Cookies downtown schedule evenings, late nights, weekends and holidays. Event days in the Entertainment District can add banquet shifts at Loews Arlington Hotel.
Do Arlington bakery jobs require experience?
Entry crew roles usually do not, though many require you to be 18 or older. Hotel pastry roles do: Loews Arlington Hotel asks for 2 to 4 years of professional pastry experience, including at least a year in a hotel, resort or upscale kitchen.
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