Sushi Chef Pay in Sydney: Award Rates, Market Pay and Hiring Plan

A Sydney sushi chef on a Wednesday to Sunday roster costs at least A$1,404 a week at the award minimum for cook grade 5, before 12% super. The market pays more: Sydney ads in September 2026 offered A$32.18 to A$38 an hour for a sushi chef and A$80,000 to A$100,000 plus super for a head sushi chef. Most hires come from the local Japanese community and working holiday makers, who can now stay with a restaurant beyond six months.

1. What Sydney pays a sushi chef

The legal floor is the Restaurant Industry Award 2020. The Fair Work Ombudsman pay guide from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026 sets these full time minimums:

Grades 3 to 5 are the tradesperson levels. A chef who runs the counter, orders fish and trains juniors is doing tradesperson work whatever the title says. Check the duties against the award's classification definitions; underclassification is a common source of back pay claims.

Weekends change the number. Sushi counters trade hardest on Friday to Sunday, and full time staff earn 125% on Saturday and 150% on Sunday. Here is a 38 hour week at cook grade 5, Wednesday to Sunday:

Late work adds A$2.95 an hour from 10pm to midnight, Monday to Friday, and A$4.42 from midnight to 6am. If you pay an annualised salary, it has to cover what this roster would have earned under the award, and you carry the risk if it falls short.

What competitors advertise. A check of Indeed Australia on 27 September 2026 found most Sydney sushi ads without a stated rate. Those that stated one: A$32.18 to A$38 an hour for a sushi chef at a Haymarket restaurant, and A$80,000 to A$100,000 plus super for a head sushi chef in Chatswood. We could not retrieve an official Sydney median for chefs, so treat these as a snapshot, not a survey.

How to set your number: never below the award for the real roster; A$32 to A$38 an hour for a skilled sushi chef; the Core Skills Income Threshold of A$79,423 or more for anyone you might later sponsor, because that is the floor the 482 will impose.

2. Where Sydney's candidates are

Japan's foreign ministry counted 31,673 Japanese nationals in the Sydney metropolitan area on 1 October 2025, up 1.5%. Across Australia, 65,085 of 105,566 (61.7%) were permanent residents, who can work for anyone, full time, with no visa limit. Home Affairs counted about 12,800 Japanese working holiday makers in Australia on 30 June 2025.

The Sydney ads we checked were in Haymarket, Chatswood, North Sydney, Macquarie Park, Parramatta, Eastwood, West Ryde and Bondi, plus a casino resort. That is where your competitors are hiring. Advertise in Japanese as well as English; the channels are in where Japanese chefs look for jobs abroad.

3. Working holiday makers as a hiring channel

For a Sydney kitchen this is often the main channel. Japanese nationals aged 18 to 30 can hold a Working Holiday visa (subclass 417) for 12 months at a time, with up to three visas in total.

• The six month rule does not stop you keeping them. Home Affairs lists tourism and hospitality as one of five critical sectors where a working holiday maker can work for the same employer for more than six months without asking permission, anywhere in Australia. Cafes, restaurants, takeaway and catering are named. We checked the page on 27 September 2026 (last updated 21 September 2026).
• Sydney work does not earn a second visa. Hospitality counts as specified work only in Northern Australia, remote and very remote Australia and some listed postcodes. A cook who wants a second year must leave for at least 88 days of specified work somewhere else.
• Tax. Register with the ATO as an employer of working holiday makers and withhold 15% up to A$45,000. If you are not registered you must withhold 30%.
• Pay. The award and its weekend penalties apply in full.

A retention plan that works: at interview, ask whether they plan a second year and whether they have done specified work. Hire second year holders when you can, because the regional work is behind them. At month 9 of a good cook's visa, start the next search. For the one you want to keep, a 482 needs a year of relevant experience and a salary at or above A$79,423; decide by month 6 so the paperwork is done before the 417 ends.

4. Sponsorship, in short

Sponsoring a chef on the Skills in Demand (subclass 482) visa means a salary of at least A$79,423 for nominations from 1 July 2026, labour market testing unless an exemption applies, and about A$9,565 in government charges for a small business on a four year nomination. Sydney is a major city, so no regional concessions apply. The full process is on the Australia 482 page. Sponsor the person who will run the counter; fill the rest of the kitchen locally.

5. What one hire costs you

Two worked examples using official figures: a local or working holiday hire paid the award on the roster above, and a sponsored chef at the income threshold. Super is 12%.

Add your own figures for workers compensation insurance, payroll tax if your NSW wages are above the threshold (check Revenue NSW), advertising, and for a sponsored chef the flight, first weeks of housing and any migration agent. Recruitment and migration agent costs tied to sponsorship must not be passed to the worker.

6. Week by week to a 1 February 2027 start

This is the local or working holiday route. If your candidate is still in Japan without a 417, add the visa processing time shown on the Home Affairs site; we did not verify a current figure. For the 482 route, allow at least the four weeks of advertising the labour market test needs, then nomination and visa processing, on top of this.

7. Job ad to copy, in English and Japanese

8. What to do this week

• Cost your real roster at the award rates, weekends included.
• Decide the grade from the duties, and write down why.
• Register with the ATO as a WHM employer if you have not.
• List your working holiday staff with their visa end dates and decide who you would sponsor.

General information checked against official sources on 27 September 2026, not legal, tax or immigration advice. Award classification depends on the duties actually performed. Job ad figures are observed postings, not official statistics.