Set the table: Russians are more likely to look for a part-time job in catering
Russians have become more than twice as likely to be interested in part-time jobs in catering, recruitment agencies told Izvestia. At the same time, the interest of performers in a flexible format of employment in this area is combined with the demand from businesses: the number of job offers has also increased. Experts explain the trend with an easy and quick entry — no experience is required here, so you can start almost immediately after responding to a temporary vacancy. About where they are most often looking for temporary employees and which ones, see the Izvestia article.
Where do Russians want to earn extra money
Over the past year, Russians have become twice as likely — by 122% — to respond to vacancies in public catering, Avito Part-time told Izvestia.
— We see that interest in part—time work in catering is growing in Russia as a whole, - said Sergey Yaskin, director of the service. — For performers, including those without experience, this is an opportunity to earn additional income and earn extra money according to a convenient schedule.
Among the key specialties in catering, the most noticeable increase in interest is observed in the position of a cook-cashier: performers began to respond 2.6 times (+161% year-on-year) more often to such offers of part-time work. At the same time, the business is showing comparable dynamics: the number of offers for part-time employment in this position has increased by 160%.
In hh.ru Izvestia was confirmed that in recent months there has been an increase in the number of resumes from applicants who want to find a part-time job in the catering industry. According to the company, in October and November, the number of such resumes on this resource was 1.7 million, which is 63% more than in August—September, that is, at the beginning of the business season.
"This activation is classic and seasonal," the company said. "For comparison, in November 2024, the activity of Russians who want to find a part—time job in catering increased by 59% compared to the beginning of autumn 2024."
The most active growth in the number of resumes within the catering industry on this platform is observed in the positions of promoter — by 57%, packer and picker — by 45%, courier — by 42%, baker, cook and pastry chef — by 35%.
SuperJob told Izvestia that during the month, resumes in the field of Tourism, hotels, catering increased by 14% in the Russian Federation as a whole.
"This is an annual seasonal trend: Russians are looking for a part—time job during the January holidays," the service's press service noted. — An analysis of the active resumes posted by temporary job seekers on SuperJob in November 2025 shows that the most popular part-time job options are now sales and cashier positions in retail. The field of courier delivery is in second place. HoReCa (hospitality industry. — Izvestia) — in third place: Russians post resumes for part-time jobs as waiters and bartenders."
There are currently the most vacancies for part-time jobs in the field of order delivery and retail: stores and courier services are preparing for the rush of New Year's Eve demand, they added.
Russians have indeed begun to look for part-time jobs in catering more often, Roman Yerkhov, CEO of the TuBi recruitment company, also confirmed.
"Rising prices and the desire to strengthen the budget have increased interest in flexible employment formats that are easy to combine with the main job," he said. — In addition to catering, people are increasingly looking for temporary jobs in delivery, logistics, retail, hospitality, construction, and agriculture, including employment in fields and processing products. In some areas, the growth in demand for part-time work exceeds a twofold increase.
"The most noticeable increase in the number of responses to offers of part—time employment in this area was in the Southern Federal District — by 162%, the Central Federal District — by 139%, and the Northwestern Federal District — by 127%," said Sergey Yaskin.
At the regional level, this growth is particularly noticeable in Moscow (+185% YoY), the Tambov Region (+182%) and the Republic of Mari El (+175%). The Tomsk Region (+162%) and St. Petersburg (+159%) also entered the top 5.
Why choose a part-time job
Part—time jobs are often those places where there are no requirements for experience and education, Olga Lebedinskaya, Associate Professor of Statistics at the Russian University of Economics (PRUE), also recalled.
— The easiest option is catering, for example, a waiter and a barista, — she said. — And the growing demand for labor in catering is associated with the growth of the ready-to-eat market. The second most popular way to earn money is to provide transportation services. Moreover, the latter is not limited to passengers at all. You can earn much more by transporting goods without having an education, but having the rights of the appropriate category.
Another part-time job option is related to physical labor: loader, handyman and merchandiser.
— The development of platforms allows us to offer our services more widely to homeworkers, for example, tailoring. Another way to earn extra money is blogging," Olga Lebedinskaya listed. — And the development of artificial intelligence also stimulates the development of many side jobs for beginners with relevant skills: creating an AI video on screens based on photos, generating images using AI and correcting them, developing an AI bot, personal assistants, developing promptos (text queries that a person gives to a neural network to perform a specific task. — Izvestia).
Despite the fact that, in general, there is now a drop in the number of visits by Russians to cafes and restaurants, said Alexey Nezhivoy, head of the operational headquarters of the Independent Trade Union Novy Trud.
— It is noticeable even visually — by the number of visitors and by how easy it is now to find an empty table. Accordingly, a large number of people have moved to catering networks," the expert said. — But it is also impossible to say that the demand for employees has increased dramatically. Now we are seeing crisis phenomena in many industries due to the high Central Bank rate and staff optimization.
According to him, there is a trend now when expensive catering is replaced by cheap, but the total market capacity is not growing much.
— There is no boom like there used to be, when companies actively switched to outsourcing catering and it was possible to organize an enterprise that would serve several large companies — it would provide breakfasts, lunches, afternoon tea. There is no such process now," he said.
However, Igor Rastorguev, a leading analyst at AMarkets, confirmed the trend towards Russians' interest in part-time work.
— Now the highest increase is recorded among all areas of temporary employment, — he said. — And catering remains one of the most accessible industries for quick entry.
In addition to catering, he said, Russians are actively looking for part-time jobs in retail, hospitality and tourism. And the picture of a shortage of temporary workers largely repeats the general shortage of personnel in the economy.
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