Key Takeaways:
- Wide Range of Staffing Solutions: Agencies listed cover temporary, seasonal, permanent, and executive placements for both FOH and BOH roles.
- Nationwide Coverage: Most agencies offer national service, ensuring your restaurant staffing needs are met regardless of location.
- Flexible On-Demand Staffing: Platforms like Qwick and Instawork quickly fill shifts, often within minutes, reducing operational downtime.
- Experienced Recruiters: Agencies like Gecko Hospitality and Horizon Hospitality utilize recruiters with deep restaurant industry experience, ensuring quality matches.
- Rapid Turnaround: Agencies such as Hospitality Staffing Solutions (HSS) and PeopleReady excel at promptly filling urgent roles, maintaining seamless operations.
- Strong Client Relationships: Established staffing firms like Patrice & Associates and RestaurantZone have longstanding partnerships with renowned restaurant brands, underscoring their trustworthiness and effectiveness.
Staffing your restaurant efficiently can dramatically impact customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and profitability. Whether you're facing seasonal peaks, urgent staffing gaps, or searching for top-level management talent, partnering with a reputable staffing agency can streamline your hiring process.
Here's a concise roundup of the top 10 restaurant staffing agencies in the U.S. for 2025, hand-picked for their reliability, industry experience, and exceptional nationwide reach.
1. Gecko Hospitality
A nationwide hospitality recruitment firm known for its extensive network and industry-savvy recruiters.
Gecko specializes in restaurant management and culinary roles, leveraging recruiters who have “run dishes, worked the floor” and understand exactly what talent is needed for FOH, BOH, or leadership positions.
Whether you need an executive chef or a general manager, they connect you with pre-screened candidates from their coast-to-coast network, ensuring a precise fit for your hiring needs.
2. Horizon Hospitality Associates
A premier executive search agency exclusively for hospitality, trusted by top hotels and restaurants for over 25 years.
Horizon focuses on executive and managerial placements – from multi-unit restaurant managers to corporate-level leaders – providing access to top-tier candidates for managerial roles in hotels and restaurants.
With a deep talent pool of experienced GMs, executive chefs, and F&B directors, they cater to major hospitality hubs nationwide.
3. Goodwin Recruiting
A large recruiting agency with a nationwide presence, Goodwin offers tailored staffing solutions across the U.S., with a strong specialty in hospitality. For over 25 years, they’ve been a go-to source for restaurants seeking top-tier FOH and BOH professionals who align with company culture.
Goodwin’s recruiters cover roles from restaurant managers and sommeliers to regional directors, leveraging an expansive network of active and passive candidates.
4. Patrice & Associates
As the largest hospitality recruiting network in North America (175+ offices), Patrice & Associates specializes in recruiting restaurant and hotel managers at all levels.
With 30+ years in business, they leverage an extensive network to match clients with high-caliber candidates – whether you’re hiring an assistant manager for a single unit or a VP of Operations for a national chain.
Their franchise-based recruiters have local market insight in every major city.
5. Hospitality Staffing Solutions (HSS)
HSS is the nation’s largest hospitality staffing agency, providing a “superior, reliable, motivated workforce” to hotels and restaurants across the country.
They offer comprehensive staffing – from on-demand temp staff (banquet servers, line cooks, dishwashers, housekeepers) to direct hire placements – flexibly covering seasonal peaks or permanent needs.
With over 30 years experience, HSS’s nationwide talent network makes it easy to fill shifts or roles fast with pre-screened W-2 employees.
6. LGC Hospitality
A top staffing firm excelling in temporary hospitality staffing. LGC helps restaurants and hotels manage peak demand periods with ease, ensuring seamless operations during busy times.
Serving 30+ U.S. markets, they specialize in entry-level and mid-level FOH/BOH placements – from servers and bartenders to line cooks and kitchen assistants.
LGC offers both temp and temp-to-hire options, even providing on-site managers to supervise temp staff for large events.
7. PeopleReady Hospitality
A division of PeopleReady, this agency is a powerhouse for on-demand restaurant staffing with local teams in 600+ markets. From small eateries to stadium concessions, PeopleReady provides vetted W-2 staff for front-of-house and back-of-house roles (servers, bartenders, cooks, dishwashers, etc.) on short notice.
They offer “flexible staffing solutions” so businesses can scale up or down with demand, with options for seasonal, temporary, or temp-to-hire arrangements. Their JobStack app even lets you request last-minute staff 24/7.
8. Qwick
A modern on-demand staffing platform connecting restaurants with experienced hospitality freelancers in real time.
Operating in 20+ major U.S. cities, Qwick has become “the go-to platform at the heart of the industry”, instantly matching businesses with skilled FOH and BOH professionals to fill shifts.
Need a banquet server tonight or a line cook this weekend? Qwick’s app taps into a vetted pool of talent (bartenders, chefs, caterers, etc.) and guarantees a fast match – in fact, they have a presence in 23 markets and counting, making them a reliable solution for urgent staffing needs.
9. Instawork
The leading gig marketplace for hospitality staffing, Instawork connects thousands of restaurants and catering businesses with a vast network of over 4 million vetted hourly workers.
Available in 30+ U.S. markets, Instawork lets you post a shift and get matched with qualified “bartenders, cooks, servers, dishwashers, and more” typically within minutes.
Restaurants love the “peace of mind of finding dependable staff quickly... at the touch of a button,” with 97% of gigs filled within 24 hours. The platform handles all payments and ratings, ensuring quality and accountability.
10. RestaurantZone
A specialized recruiting agency dedicated to the restaurant and hospitality sector, serving clients of all sizes nationwide.
RestaurantZone stands out for its ability to staff both FOH and BOH positions quickly, from hourly roles up to C-suite executives.
In fact, they promise to help you hire FOH/BOH talent immediately to help your business. Their recruiters operate with “deep connections in virtually every US state,” giving them local reach with a national footprint.
RestaurantZone’s client list includes major chains (logos like Wendy’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, Five Guys, etc. on their site) as well as independent restaurants, highlighting their versatility.
Final Thoughts
Each of these agencies offers high-utility services to restaurant owners and hospitality hiring managers: from rapid temp staffing to executive recruiting, they have proven networks and solutions to keep your establishment fully staffed and thriving.
Don’t let staffing challenges disrupt your business – reach out to the agency that best fits your needs and take action to build the strong, service-driven team your restaurant deserves.
