Labor Market Pulse · Restaurant Industry · September 2026
Restaurant Industry Labor Market Report: Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA MSA — September 2026
Kingsport restaurant hiring cools as GM pay diverges from the nation.
Metro unemployment has drifted to 4.0% from 3.3% this spring, and Restaurant Manager/GM advertised pay has fallen to $51,944 against a $59,618 national median, even as Catering Manager pay climbed to $53,103.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of September 2026.
Key indicators
- Kingsport-Bristol unemployment rate: 4.0% — Up from 3.3% in April-May 2026
- Tennessee statewide unemployment: 3.4% — Vs 4.1% national rate, August 2026
- National food-service job openings: 673,000 — Down from 916,000 in January 2026
- Restaurant Manager/GM advertised pay, Kingsport: $51,944 — Down significantly vs $59,618 national
Key takeaways
Restaurant hiring frenzy is cooling, not collapsing.
National food-service job openings dropped from 916,000 to 673,000 between January and July, and voluntary turnover appears to be moderating alongside it. Kingsport operators should treat this as a signal to shift budget from urgent-fill recruiting toward retention and scheduling precision rather than assume vacancies will keep flooding in.
GM pay in Kingsport is diverging sharply from the national trend.
Restaurant Manager/General Manager advertised pay here sits at $51,944, down significantly and roughly 13% below the $59,618 national median. That gap may reflect thinner competition for management talent locally, or softer margins limiting what operators can offer — worth testing against actual fill times before assuming either.
Catering Manager demand looks like a genuine local outlier.
Metro advertised pay for this role rose significantly to $53,103, now ahead of the $50,960 national median and a reversal of the broader downward pull seen in management pay. This likely tracks event and hospitality demand specific to the metro rather than a category-wide trend, and may warrant a closer look at local catering and events volume.
Tennessee's tip-credit structure remains a stable cost lever, for now.
The $2.13 tipped minimum and statewide preemption of local wage ordinances keep Kingsport's labor cost structure predictable compared to states like Florida, which just raised its minimum to $15.00 with tipped wages following. That stability is an advantage worth protecting through tip-pool compliance discipline, since a single invalid pool can void the credit and trigger full back-pay exposure.
Median advertised pay by role — Kingsport-Bristol-Bristol, TN-VA MSA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Assistant Restaurant Manager | $29,297 | $37,419 | $40,500 | Moderate increase | $39,000 |
| Catering Manager * | $36,400 | $53,103 | $65,808 | Significant increase | $50,960 |
| Crew | $23,574 | $25,868 | $27,040 | Stable | $29,839 |
| Line Cook | $27,104 | $30,660 | $33,280 | Stable | $36,826 |
| Restaurant Manager/General Manager | $48,000 | $51,944 | $60,279 | Significant decline | $59,618 |
| Server | $26,799 | $29,929 | $31,825 | Stable | $35,012 |
| Shift Manager | $26,759 | $29,267 | $30,836 | Stable | $32,731 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Local market conditions
Kingsport-Bristol's unemployment rate sits near 4.0% as of the most recent reading, a modest uptick from the sub-3.5% levels seen earlier in 2026, even as Tennessee statewide held at 3.4% in August with leisure and hospitality among the sectors driving job gains. National accommodation and food services job openings fell from 916,000 to 673,000 between January and July, a signal that the frenzied competition for restaurant labor that defined recent years is cooling in this metro along with the rest of the country.
What it means
Fewer unfilled positions nationally and a smaller-than-usual seasonal student pullback this September suggest Kingsport operators face a tighter, more stable candidate pool rather than a wide-open one — a meaningful shift from the churn-and-replace model many have run on. Restaurant Manager/GM advertised pay in this metro has moved down significantly (median $51,944 versus $59,618 nationally), while Catering Manager pay has risen significantly, pointing to uneven demand across roles rather than a uniform softening. Current conditions suggest reviewing retention investment versus new-hire recruiting spend by role, since the easing in turnover pressure may not apply evenly across front-of-house and management positions.
Looking ahead
Worth watching: Kingsport's unemployment rate ticked up to 4.0% in June after sitting near 3.3% in April and May. Watch whether the September-October readings confirm a seasonal softening or a more durable labor-supply shift that eases front-of-house hiring pressure.
Emerging pressure point: Tennessee's food and hospitality sector has already logged 10 WARN notices affecting 1,534 workers over the past two years. Any new filings in the Kingsport-Bristol area over the next two months would be an early signal that larger operators are resizing footprints ahead of the holiday season.
Expected: National food-service payrolls added just 10,800 jobs in September versus 33,800 in August, consistent with the normal post-summer pullback but smaller than prior years. A thinner seasonal drop may mean Kingsport operators retain more of their peak-season staff into Q4, reducing the usual fall rehiring scramble.
Potential inflection point: Restaurant Manager/GM advertised pay locally is down significantly while Catering Manager pay is up significantly in the same metro. Watch whether this divergence narrows or widens over the next two pay cycles, since it may indicate operators are reallocating management budgets toward event-driven revenue rather than core GM roles.
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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