A restaurant dishwasher keeps clean plates, glasses, pots and pans flowing back to the line and the dining room during service. They run the dish machine and check that it sanitizes, hand-wash pots in the three-compartment sink, and keep the kitchen floors, mats and trash under control.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, full-service restaurants · BLS, May 2025
We're hiring Dishwashers to keep clean plates, glasses, pots and pans moving to the line and the floor. You'll run the dish machine and check that it sanitizes, wash pots by hand in the three-compartment sink, and keep the kitchen floors, trash and dish area clean. When the dish pit falls behind, the whole restaurant feels it.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Run the dish machine and check final rinse temperature or sanitizer strength each shift, using test strips or a thermometer as your machine requires.
Wash pots, pans and tools in the three-compartment sink: wash, rinse, sanitize and air dry.
Return clean plates, glassware and pans to the line and stations before they run out.
Take out trash, recycling, cardboard and food waste.
Sweep and mop the kitchen, clean floor mats and drains, and wipe down walls and doors.
Handle cleaning chemicals by the label and the Safety Data Sheets, with gloves and eye protection.
Help unload deliveries and put product away.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Set up the dish pit: fill the machine, check chemical levels and stock racks.
Record dish machine temperatures or sanitizer readings on the log sheet.
Keep up with bus tubs during the rush so the pit doesn't back up.
Tell the chef when the machine isn't reaching temperature or chemicals are low.
Close: drain and clean the machine, clean the pit, take out the last trash and leave the floor clean.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Clean plates and glassware on hand during service: [your target].
Dish machine log completed: [your target].
Breakage: [your target].
Closing checklist signed off: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
No experience needed; we train you on the dish machine and cleaning chemicals.
Food handler card if your state or county requires one for dish staff.
Can follow a cleaning checklist and chemical safety rules.
Can keep up with dishes on the busiest nights of the week.
6. Preferred Experience
Previous dish or kitchen experience.
Experience with high-temperature or chemical-sanitizing dish machines.
Interest in learning prep and moving to the line.
7. Physical Requirements
Stand at the dish station for a full shift, with wet hands and hot water.
Lift racks of dishes, bus tubs and full trash bags up to [40] pounds.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Shifts often run until the kitchen closes and the last pots are done, including weekends and holidays.
Hot, humid dish area with steam and cleaning chemicals.
[Full-time or part-time] shifts.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new dishwasher gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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What's different about dishwashing in a full-service restaurant
Every kitchen washes dishes. A full-service dinner sends back several plates, glasses and pieces of silverware per guest, plus every pot and sheet pan from the line, so the dish pit decides whether the kitchen can keep cooking.
Proving the machine sanitizes
State food codes based on the FDA's model require the tools to check that dishes come out sanitized, not just clean. Minnesota's, for example, requires hot-water machines to have a temperature indicator that holds its highest reading, such as a heat strip, and Washington's requires a test kit for chemical sanitizer. The dishwasher runs the check, writes it on the log, and tells the chef when a reading falls short, before more plates go out. Source: Minnesota Rules 4626.0710: Temperature measuring devices, warewashing.
Chemicals come with training and data sheets
Dish detergent, rinse aid, sanitizer, delimer and oven cleaner can all be hazardous chemicals. OSHA's hazard communication standard requires training on them at a worker's first assignment and whenever a new hazard shows up, and safety data sheets the worker can reach during every shift. New dishwashers should know where those sheets are before they touch a jug. Source: OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1200: Hazard communication.
Cardboard balers have an age rule
Breaking down boxes and taking out trash come with the dish shift. Under federal child labor rules, no one under 18 may operate or unload a baler or compactor. At 16 and 17, a worker may load, but not run, certain scrap paper balers and paper box compactors that meet a safety standard, lock with a key that only adults control, and carry a posted notice. Unless your baler meets every one of those terms, a teen on dish leaves it to an adult. Source: 29 CFR 570.63: Balers, compactors and paper-products machines (Cornell LII).
Wash what runs out first
When the dining room turns tables fast, bus tubs, glass racks and sauté pans all arrive at once. A dishwasher who washes what the line and bar are low on first keeps service moving. One who washes in the order things arrive can leave the line waiting for plates. When plates or glasses are close to gone, the sous chef should hear it then, not once the shelf is empty.
Steam, hot water and a wet floor
The dish area stays hot and wet all shift. OSHA's young worker eTool for restaurants lists the fixes: let dishes and glasses cool before unloading, test sink water before reaching in, keep guards on conveyor machines, and lay non-slip mats where floors stay wet. It also warns that mixing chlorine and ammonia products can release a deadly gas. Source: OSHA Young Worker Safety in Restaurants eTool: Clean-up.
How much restaurant dishwashers make
Dishwashers who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $16.63 an hour ($34,590 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $34,810 median for dishwashers in all industries. About 307,930 of the 477,450 dishwashers in that survey work for full-service restaurants.
Hourly, with overtime for hours past forty in a week, which a run of late closes can reach. A lead dishwasher who trains new hires and closes the kitchen is usually paid a step above the rest of the dish crew.
Full-service restaurants
$34,590$34,590 median Middle half $29,150–$36,920 10th–90th $25,560–$41,600
All industries
$34,810$34,810 median Middle half $29,690–$37,440 10th–90th $26,200–$42,860
$20k$30k$40k$50k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Full-service restaurants
$25,560
$29,150
$34,590
$36,920
$41,600
All industries
$26,200
$29,690
$34,810
$37,440
$42,860
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Keeps the pit moving through a full dinner rush
Follows a cleaning checklist and chemical rules the same way every night
Speaks up when the machine isn't reaching temperature or chemicals run low
Handles glassware and plates with care when the racks pile up
Shows up reliably for late closes and weekend shifts
Teach these on the job
Your dish machine, its daily check and the log
Three-compartment sink setup: wash, rinse, sanitize, air dry
Chemical labels, safety data sheets, gloves and eye protection
Which plates, glasses and pans the line and bar need first
Closing down the pit and the machine, and putting deliveries away
The job runs on a commercial dish machine, either high-temperature or chemical-sanitizing, from makers such as Hobart, Jackson or Champion, along with a three-compartment sink, dish racks, test strips or temperature strips, and a chemical dispenser usually serviced by the supplier. Tell candidates which kind of machine you run, since the daily check is different for each.
Restaurant dishwasher interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Fill in the template's targets only after you've counted for a while, because breakage and plate shortages depend on your covers and your dishware.
Clean plates and glassware on hand during service
Have the expo and the bar note each time they ran short of a plate or glass during service. Go over the notes weekly with the sous chef and the dish crew.
Dish machine log completed
Check the log every day: a temperature or sanitizer reading for each shift, initialed, with a note on the fix whenever a reading fell short.
Breakage
Count broken plates and glasses from the breakage bin or from monthly reorders. Compare shifts and look for the cause, such as overloaded racks, a crowded shelf or a rushed close.
Closing checklist signed off
The closing cook or manager signs the dish pit checklist each night: machine drained and cleaned, floor and drains done, trash out. Count the missed sign-offs.
Career path
DishwasherRuns the dish pit and learns how the kitchen works.
Lead dishwasherTrains new dish staff, reorders chemicals and closes the kitchen.
Prep cookPicks up prep shifts, often while still covering dish.
Line cookTakes a station after learning the recipes in prep.
Federal rules allow 14 and up. Fourteen- and 15-year-olds may run a dish machine and clean the kitchen, within the federal caps on school-week hours and the evening cutoff, which usually rules out closing shifts. They can't run balers or compactors. Federal law sets no hour caps from 16 on, but the hazardous machine bans last until 18. Where your state's law is stricter, follow it.
How much does a restaurant dishwasher make?
Dishwashers who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $16.63 an hour ($34,590 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $29,150 and $36,920 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Does a dishwasher need experience?
No. The template says you'll train them on the machine and the chemicals. What's harder to teach is showing up for the Friday close and keeping the pit moving when it fills. When you interview, ask about a past job with late hours and repetitive work, and ask what they did the last time they fell behind.
What should a dishwasher do when the machine stops sanitizing?
Stop using it, tell the chef or manager, and switch to the three-compartment sink: wash, rinse, sanitize, air dry. Anything that went through since the last good reading gets washed again. The manager calls the chemical supplier or repair service and writes the problem and the fix on the log.
How do you keep good dishwashers?
Give them a way up. Dishwashers who get prep shifts when they're ready often become your next prep and line cooks, and they already know the kitchen. Post the closing schedule early, feed them a shift meal, fix a broken machine fast, and make sure the line helps break down the pit at night instead of leaving it all to dish.
