Restaurant and Food Service Jobs in Arlington, TX
AT&T Stadium hosted nine FIFA World Cup 2026 matches this summer, more than any other venue in the tournament, capped by the July 14 semifinal. That surge landed on top of an already crowded Arlington calendar: 81 Texas Rangers home dates at Globe Life Field, Cowboys season starting in August, Six Flags Over Texas running all summer, and the 888-room Loews Arlington Hotel with five restaurants of its own. Very few cities of 400,000 people move this much food, and Arlington kitchens hire year round to keep up.
Current restaurant Openings in Arlington, TX
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Top Arlington Employers Hiring Restaurant and Food Service Workers
Arlington food service hiring splits into three worlds: the Entertainment District venues that staff up around event calendars, the hotels and campus contracts that run on steady shifts, and the independent restaurants along Cooper Street and in Downtown Arlington that hire when they hire. All three are worth watching.
- Delaware North Sportservice - the exclusive concessionaire at Globe Life Field and Choctaw Stadium, hiring concessions attendants, stand captains, cooks, bartenders, and premium dining servers. It takes applicants as young as 16 for many seasonal roles.
- Loews Arlington Hotel and Live! by Loews - two connected properties with roughly ten food and beverage outlets between them, including Farena, Tomar el Sol, Railbird, Cut and Bourbon, and River Market. Hotel food service is the steadiest work in the district.
- Texas Live! - the 200,000 square foot Cordish complex between Globe Life Field and AT&T Stadium, home to Troy's, Lockhart Smokehouse, Guy Fieri's Taco Joint, Pudge's Pizza, Sports and Social Arlington, and PBR Texas.
- Six Flags Over Texas and Hurricane Harbor - the largest seasonal food service employer in the city, running dozens of quick-service stands, restaurants, and catering operations from spring through fall.
- Hurtado Barbecue - pitmaster Brandon Hurtado's craft barbecue operation started in Arlington and has grown across North Texas, hiring pit crew, line cooks, cashiers, and front-of-house staff.
- Marquez Bakery and Tortilla Factory - a family-run panaderia, tortilla factory, and restaurant in the Entertainment District, in business since 1990 with more than 50 varieties of pan dulce.
Restaurant and Food Service Salaries in Arlington
- Entry level (dishwasher, busser, concessions attendant, crew member): $11 to $15 per hour
- Experienced (line cook, barista, bartender, server with tips): $16 to $26 per hour including tips
- Senior (kitchen manager, sous chef, restaurant general manager): $48,000 to $85,000 per year
These are estimates and vary widely by venue and by whether the role is tipped. Texas allows a tipped minimum cash wage of $2.13 per hour as long as tips bring the total to at least $7.25, so a server's real earnings depend heavily on where they work. Stadium and hotel jobs at Delaware North and Loews commonly include health, dental, and vision coverage plus 401(k) match for full-time staff; independent Arlington restaurants more often offer shift meals, flexible scheduling, and tip pooling instead.
How to Become a Restaurant and Food Service Worker in Arlington
Most Arlington food service jobs need no degree, but Texas does require paperwork. Under Texas Food Establishment Rules section 228.31, every food employee except the certified food protection manager must complete an accredited food handler training course within 30 days of employment, and the restaurant has to keep the certificate on site. Courses run about two hours online, cost roughly $10 to $20, and are good for two years. If you plan to serve or sell alcohol on-premise at Troy's, PBR Texas, or a Globe Life Field bar, you must be at least 18 and nearly every Arlington employer will require a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission seller-server certificate, which is valid for two years. TABC certification is not mandated by state law, but employers require it because it gives them safe harbor protection.
For a career path rather than a first job, Tarrant County College's Culinary Arts program is based at the TCC Southeast Campus on Southeast Parkway in Arlington, offering an Associate of Applied Science plus shorter certificates in the college's newer industry-aligned kitchens. Arlington Mayor Jim Ross, who owns Mercury Chophouse and Hearsay Arlington, has worked with TCC on internship pipelines. Baristas can train at Texas Coffee School on South Cooper Street, and anyone stepping into supervision should sit the Certified Food Manager exam, which is valid for five years and is effectively required for kitchen manager postings.
What the Job Involves
The work depends on the station. Back of house means prepping, cooking to ticket times, holding temperatures, and breaking down a line at close. Front of house means greeting, order accuracy, running food, handling payment, and managing a section under pressure. In Arlington the variable is volume: a Tuesday at a South Cooper Street restaurant is not a Saturday at Sports and Social with a Rangers crowd, or a match day when 90,000 people are inside AT&T Stadium. Shifts skew evening, weekend, and event driven, and stadium jobs are scheduled around the sports calendar rather than a fixed week.
Skills Employers Look For
- A current Texas food handler card, or the ability to get one in your first week
- TABC seller-server certification for any role that touches alcohol
- Speed and accuracy under a rush, especially on event days
- Comfort standing for long shifts in a hot kitchen or an open-air concession stand
- Basic Spanish or English bilingual ability, which is common and valued in Arlington kitchens
- Reliability on nights, weekends, and holidays when Arlington is busiest
- Cash handling and POS accuracy for cashier, concessions, and bar roles
Career Path and Advancement
The Arlington ladder is real and fairly short. Dishwashers move to prep, prep cooks move to the line, and strong line cooks become lead cooks and then sous chefs, often at the same property. Delaware North publicly promotes from within at Globe Life Field, where people have gone from prep cook to concessions chef inside a few seasons and from seasonal cashier to salaried management. Front of house runs host to server to bartender to shift lead to assistant general manager. Getting a Certified Food Manager credential and a TCC culinary certificate is what usually separates a good line cook from a kitchen manager offer, and the hotel side at Loews adds banquet and catering management as a path most independent restaurants cannot offer.
Related Careers in Arlington
If you are comparing entry points into Arlington food service, these guides cover the specific roles most often posted in this city.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need a license to work in a restaurant in Arlington, TX?
Texas does not license restaurant workers, but it does require training. Under Texas Food Establishment Rules section 228.31, all food employees must complete an accredited food handler course within 30 days of being hired, and the certificate has to stay on file at the restaurant. Cards are good for two years and cost about $10 to $20 online. Managers instead hold a Certified Food Manager credential, valid for five years, and one certified manager is expected to be on duty during operating hours.
How old do you have to be to work in food service in Arlington?
Delaware North opens many seasonal Globe Life Field concessions and retail roles to applicants 16 and older, and Six Flags Over Texas hires teenagers for quick-service stands. Anything involving on-premise alcohol service is different: Texas law requires you to be at least 18 to serve alcohol in a restaurant, bar, or stadium, with no exceptions. Off-premise sales, like a grocery cashier ringing up beer, can be done at 16.
Which Arlington employer hires the most food service workers?
Delaware North Sportservice, which runs concessions, suites, catering, and premium dining at both Globe Life Field and Choctaw Stadium, is almost certainly the largest single food service hiring pipeline in the city, and it runs a dedicated seasonal job fair each winter. The Loews Arlington complex is the largest year-round employer, with roughly ten restaurants and bars plus the Arlington Convention Center banquet operation under one roof.
Are Arlington restaurant jobs seasonal?
Many are. Rangers baseball runs April through September, Cowboys football runs August through January, Six Flags and Hurricane Harbor peak from spring through fall, and 2026 added an entire World Cup summer at AT&T Stadium. If you want steady hours instead of event spikes, look at the hotels, the Chartwells-run Maverick Dining operation at UT Arlington, and the neighborhood restaurants along South Cooper Street and in Downtown Arlington, which run on a normal weekly schedule.
How much do restaurant jobs pay in Arlington, TX?
Non-tipped entry roles generally land between $11 and $15 per hour. Tipped roles are harder to pin down because Texas permits a $2.13 cash wage against tips, so a server at Cut and Bourbon or Troy's on a game night can clear well above $25 per hour while a slow weekday shift pays much less. Kitchen managers and sous chefs at the larger Entertainment District properties typically run from the high $40,000s into the $80,000s.
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