Manchester is ranked highly for its restaurants, hotel accommodation, event venues and conference destinations. The city is home to a wide range of restaurants, including national chain fast-food establishments such as McDonald’s, family-run establishments and those run by famous chefs. Many of its restaurants, particularly those located to the south of the city centre, focus on offering Chinese and Indian cuisine. International hotel chains with in-house restaurants can be found in abundance in the city and stand alongside smaller, privately owned establishments. As a whole, Manchester’s hospitality sector generates over £1.6 million and provides employment for around 110,000 people.
Manchester’s restaurants, hotels and leisure facilities all take on staff on a full-time and part-time basis. Job roles in the sector are many and varied and include front-line waiter and bar staff roles and behind the scenes kitchen, managerial and administrative roles. For students in Manchester, the sector provides plenty of opportunities to gain employment through its temporary part-time positions. The majority of these jobs pay the national minimum wage, although earnings may be higher for those with experience. Recruitment agencies and signs in the windows of food outlets are often used to advertise job openings. Some of the main restaurant chains and hotel groups offer graduate training programmes to those wishing to enter into this sector.