By Heather Haddon | Photography and Videos by Caleb Alvarado for WSJ
GENEVA, Ill. -- Wielding a faucet hose, Beto "Rodrigo" Mejía Fermine blasted the remains of avocado toast and turkey gravy off stacks of plates hurriedly delivered by servers. Nearby, Luciano Vera sprayed bacon grease from cooking trays before loading them into an industrial dishwasher.
Thirty minutes into their dishwashing shifts at a First Watch restaurant west of Chicago, the two had cleaned dozens of plates, utensils, cutting boards and cups, making them ready to be used again. It was 9:30 a.m., and the brunch rush had hours to go.
More than 12 million people work in the U.S. restaurant and bar industry. Dishwashers occupy one of the humblest rungs, but they are among the most badly needed. Restaurant operators advertised tens of thousands of dishwashing jobs last year, making them one of the industry's most-sought positions, according to labor market analytics firm Lightcast.
The Trump administration's tougher immigration enforcement is making that harder in the U.S. restaurant industry, where foreign-born workers make up about 20% of jobs. Young people are also more reluctant to take the longtime starting point to the working world, industry officials said.
That adds pressure for industry leaders like Chris Tomasso, chief executive of the 630-location First Watch Restaurant Group, who said one of his top worries is having enough people like Fermine and Vera. "That's a difficult position, and a critical position," he said.
Rick Cardenas, CEO of Olive Garden parent Darden Restaurants, said dishwashers are his top employment concern. At New York City-based Union Square Hospitality Group, which operates Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern, CEO Chip Wade agrees, with the company providing meals and family discounts to help keep its dishwashers. Sushi chain Kura Sushi is going so far as to import robotic dishwashers from Japan for $15,000 each to ease the strain.
Dishwashers' pay averages around $32,500 a year, ranking in the bottom third of restaurant jobs, according to jobs platform Indeed. They are also essential workhorses, often the last to leave at night, after mopping floors and taking out the trash.
Scrub down
Restaurant and other related service workers quit at the highest rates of any industry tracked by the federal government on average. Market-research firm Black Box Intelligence estimated that replacing an hourly restaurant worker costs $2,700, up from $2,300 in 2024.
Jayme Patton has spent five years washing dishes at various restaurants in the Tucson, Ariz., area. At times co-workers have thrown dishes, managers have shouted at him, and he has been left to clean all the plates and kitchen equipment on his own after closing.
"Dishwashing is not a profession I would ever recommend for someone who has any other options," he said.
First Watch says its restaurants have lower turnover than the industry average, and churn fell last year. But turnover is higher among the chain's dishwashers than other positions on average, said Tomasso, the CEO.
About 5% of First Watch's 1,557 dishwashers have been with the chain for more than five years. The company said it provides growth plans for hourly employees to help them move up.
"It's hard work. It's hot back there," Tomasso said. "I started as a dishwasher, I know what it's like."
Dishwashers at First Watch average $17.21 an hour. The company provides meals and breaks if they work beyond their shifts of roughly six hours.
By 10 a.m., servers at the Geneva location were carrying in armfuls of coffee cups, bowls, serrated knives and silverware. Fermine, a full-time dishwasher at First Watch, said he likes his co-workers and breakfast tacos during his shifts, but could live without cleaning out the condiment cups. Before running them through the dishwasher, he soaks and scrubs off the most stubborn jams and sauces.
"That's the hardest part," said Fermine. First Watch is his first dishwashing job, and he has been at it for five months.
'Highly valued'
Fifty-four percent of sit-down restaurants surveyed by the National Restaurant Association said they had fewer-than-average applicants for kitchen support positions last year. Michelle Korsmo, the group's president, said the Trump administration's stepped up immigration enforcement isn't helping.
"Even for operators that do E-Verify, and do all the things, there is a real unrest in terms of making sure everyone is safe and not accidentally getting caught up in something," Korsmo said.
Restaurant trade groups have been pushing the White House and Congress to create a visa program for lower-skilled immigrant workers. Korsmo said she has appealed to lawmakers' own restaurant-industry histories, like Senate Majority Leader John Thune, whose first job was as a busser at a South Dakota restaurant.
Young people have traditionally provided an affordable labor source for kitchen jobs, but fewer 16- to 24-year-olds are working these days, said Korsmo.
Kevin Murphy, a professor of restaurant management at the University of Central Florida who spent years running restaurants, said many young people are absorbed in social media and other activities. "This doesn't motivate them to work," he said.
Some restaurants give dishwashers a cut of tip pools or service fees to pad their hourly pay. Others provide meals and opportunities to move up in the kitchen.
Chicago-based John's Food and Wine, which serves a $52 red snapper and an $83 steak, charges a 20% service fee across all orders, divided up among hourly staff. Last year, the restaurant's dishwashers averaged earnings of $70,000 as a result.
"They are highly valued and their value comes with being paid well," said Tom Rogers, the restaurant's co-owner. The restaurant has had two of their three dishwashers since around the time it opened two years ago.
At First Watch, by the end of Fermine's shift at around 3 p.m., he will have washed hundreds of dishes, taken out the trash and mopped up the dish room. Upon returning home, he typically rests. The next day is deep clean Monday, when First Watch dishwashers scrub coffee urns and the greasy grates where bacon sizzles.
"Without them, our operation would cease," said Nichole Thomson, the restaurant's general manager.
Write to Heather Haddon at heather.haddon@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 12, 2026 12:00 ET (16:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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