Young people in your hospitality business: what work and how late at each age, and what does it cost from 2027?

A young person of 13, 14 or 15 may do light work in your hospitality business, such as washing up in the kitchen. Working in the area where alcohol is served is only allowed from 16. A young person of 16 or 17 may work behind the bar and serve alcohol, but may not work after 23.00.

On 1 January 2027 the statutory youth minimum wage for ages 16 to 20 rises extra. The Hospitality cao already pays young people more than the law. After the increase that remains so for ages 15 to 18, it is equal for 19, and for a 20-year-old non-skilled employee the law goes above the cao. The amount of the minimum wage from 1 January 2027 is not yet known.

In this article

1. Which work may a young person of 13, 14 or 15 do in your business?
2. From what age may a young person work behind the bar?
3. How late may a young person work in hospitality?
4. How many hours may a young person work per shift and per week?
5. What do you pay a young person now under the Hospitality cao?
6. What changes in the youth wage on 1 January 2027?
7. What should you watch for at a young person's birthday and in their first weeks?

Which work may a young person of 13, 14 or 15 do in your business?

Light work in the kitchen and outside the bar area. Children under 16 may not work in an area where alcohol is served or can be served. Working in the kitchen is allowed, for example as a dishwasher (Ondernemersplein, rules for work by young people).

A 13 or 14-year-old may help with light work that does not involve or take place near machines. A 15-year-old may do light work on their own. A 15-year-old may not work at the till, deliver meals by bicycle or e-bike, or lift, push or pull heavy items (Ondernemersplein, rules for work by young people).

The dishwasher counts too. According to Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (KHN), the Dutch hospitality trade association, a 15-year-old may help with washing up and tidying up, but may not work with a dishwashing machine or dishwashing line. Delivering meals is only possible from 16 (KHN, from what age may young people work in hospitality).

For a restaurant or café this means: a pupil of 14 can wash up by hand and tidy up in the kitchen on a Saturday. Collecting glasses in the café, taking plates to the terrace where drinks are served or operating the dishwashing machine is not allowed. A snack bar without alcohol has no bar area, but there too the deep fryer and other machines remain off limits.

From what age may a young person work behind the bar?

From 16. Young people of 16 and 17 may work in a café or restaurant and serve all kinds of drinks to guests. That applies to pupils and to regular employees (KHN, from what age may young people serve alcohol).

There is one exception below 16. A 14 or 15-year-old doing a work placement or taster placement for their education may work in the bar area. Outside serving hours a young person under 16 may also work in that area, if the serving hours are clearly shown (KHN, from what age may young people serve alcohol).

If a 16-year-old may serve, you remain responsible for who drinks. You may not sell alcohol to young people under 18. If you cannot judge someone's age, ask for identification (Ondernemersplein, selling alcohol). A young bar employee must therefore know when to ask for it, and whom to call if a guest becomes difficult.

How late may a young person work in hospitality?

Until 19.00 under 16, until 23.00 for 16 and 17. A 13 or 14-year-old generally works between 7.00 and 19.00, under conditions until 20.00 on a day off or in a holiday week (Rijksoverheid, hours at 13 and 14). A 15-year-old works between 7.00 and 19.00, in the holidays until 21.00 (Rijksoverheid, hours at 15).

A young person of 16 or 17 has at least 12 hours of unbroken rest in every 24-hour period, including the hours between 23.00 and 6.00 (Working Hours Act, section 5:3). KHN puts it briefly: the young employee may work until 23.00 (KHN, from what age may young people work in hospitality).

An example. Your café closes at 1.00 on a Friday. A bar employee of 17 then stops at 23.00 at the latest, even if it is busy. An adult colleague closes up, counts the till and mops the floor. If the 17-year-old starts again on Saturday, it is at 11.00 at the earliest, 12 hours after the end of the shift.

How many hours may a young person work per shift and per week?

Under 16 no more than 12 hours in a school week, from 16 no more than 9 hours per shift. A 13 or 14-year-old may not work on a school day, may work 7 hours on a day off and 35 hours in a holiday week (Rijksoverheid, hours at 13 and 14). A 15-year-old who must attend school works no more than 2 hours on a school day, 8 hours on a day off and 40 hours in a holiday week (Rijksoverheid, hours at 15).

A 16 or 17-year-old works no more than 9 hours per shift and 45 hours a week, and an average of 40 hours a week over 4 weeks. School time counts as working time. Night work, overtime and on-call duty are not allowed (Rijksoverheid, hours at 16 and 17). On-call duty is a period in which someone must be reachable outside normal working hours. An on-call contract is something different and is allowed.

Watch the Sunday. The Hospitality cao says an employee can be scheduled on all Sundays (Hospitality cao 2025-2026, article 3.6, Government Gazette 2025, 10545). For a young person of 16 or 17 the law also applies: at least 13 free Sundays per 52 weeks, unless fewer have been agreed in collective consultation (Rijksoverheid, hours at 16 and 17). Keep track of those free Sundays for each young person in the rota.

What do you pay a young person now under the Hospitality cao?

More than the statutory minimum. A young person without a trade diploma or enough experience is a non-skilled employee under the Hospitality cao. They receive a percentage of the basic wage of group I+II: 35% at 15, 45% at 16, 55% at 17, 65% at 18, 75% at 19, 85% at 20 and 100% at 21 (Hospitality cao 2025-2026, article 4.9).

Under the cao a skilled employee is an employee aged 18 or over with a recognised trade diploma for the job, or with 1,976 hours of experience in that job since their 18th birthday. Anyone in group V or higher is always a skilled employee. An employee aged 17 or younger is never a skilled employee. A skilled employee of 18 receives 80% of the basic wage of their own group, at 19 90% and from 20 100% (Hospitality cao 2025-2026, articles 1.6, 1.8 and 4.8).

Gross hourly wages from 1 July 2026. The statutory minimum comes from the Rijksoverheid (minimum wage amounts 2026), the cao amounts from the KHN wage table (Hospitality cao wage table from 1 July 2026). The cao has been declared generally binding until 31 December 2026 and therefore also applies if you are not a member of KHN (Government Gazette 2025, 10545).

On top of the hourly wage comes 8% holiday pay. From 18 an employee must take part in the Hospitality & Catering pension fund (PH&C), since 1 January 2024 (KHN, mandatory participation in PH&C). A young person who turns 18 therefore costs you more wages from that day and also pension contributions.

What changes in the youth wage on 1 January 2027?

The statutory youth minimum wage goes up extra. A 20-year-old then receives at least 87.5% of the minimum wage for ages 21 and over, a 19-year-old 75%, an 18-year-old 62.5%, a 17-year-old 50% and a 16-year-old 40%. For 15 it stays at 30% (Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 279). That decree was published on 24 September 2026 and takes effect on 1 January 2027.

For most young people in hospitality little changes as a result. The cao percentages for a non-skilled employee aged 15 to 18 remain above the new statutory percentages. For 19 the law and the cao are both 75%. Only at 20 is the law then higher: 87.5% against 85% in the cao. For a skilled employee aged 18, 19 or 20 the cao remains higher than the law.

If the cao wage is lower than the statutory minimum, the statutory minimum applies. That is in the law and also in the decree declaring the Hospitality cao generally binding (Government Gazette 2025, 10545, dictum III). From 1 January 2027 a 20-year-old non-skilled employee therefore receives at least 87.5% of the minimum wage, whatever the wage table says.

A worked example with the current minimum wage, €14.99 an hour. The amount from 1 January 2027 had not yet been published on 29 October 2026. With €14.99 the statutory hourly wage of a 20-year-old becomes €13.12, against €12.74 in the cao. That is €0.38 an hour more. At 15 hours a week that is about €296 a year gross, without holiday pay. If the minimum wage rises in January, all amounts go up.

The Hospitality cao runs until 31 December 2026. KHN, CNV and De Horecabond started negotiations on a new cao on 19 October 2026 and will continue on 12 November (CNV, hospitality cao negotiations under way). Which youth percentages will be in the cao from 2027 is therefore not yet known. The new statutory percentages are the floor, whatever is agreed.

What should you watch for at a young person's birthday and in their first weeks?

On the birthday the wage rises, and that can influence an employer's choice. A study using Dutch payroll data showed that young people on the youth minimum wage lost their job more often in the three months before their birthday. After the birthday they were hired more often (Kabátek, 2021). That study describes what employers did. It does not say that it is wise.

Dismissal just before a birthday also has a cost: a new young person has to learn the work again. A Canadian study in Ontario looked at lost-time claims after a work accident. Workers in their first month had such a claim more than 4 times as often as workers who had been in their job for more than a year. That applied to all groups studied. The researchers recommend training new people early and letting them start with low-risk work (Breslin and Smith, 2006).

Many young people work in hospitality. According to UWV, nearly 60% of hospitality workers are between 15 and 25 (UWV, fewer young people increases staff shortage in hospitality). So record each young person's date of birth in the rota and in the payroll. Then you see in time when someone turns 16 and may work behind the bar, when the wage rises and when the pension contribution starts.

Sources

• UWV, Fewer young people increases staff shortage in hospitality, accessed 29 October 2026. uwv.nl
• Ondernemersplein (KVK), Rules for work by young people, accessed 29 October 2026. ondernemersplein.overheid.nl
• Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, From what age may young people work in hospitality?, accessed 29 October 2026. khn.nl
• Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, From what age may young people serve alcohol to guests?, accessed 29 October 2026. khn.nl
• Ondernemersplein (KVK), Selling alcohol, accessed 29 October 2026. ondernemersplein.overheid.nl
• Rijksoverheid, How many hours may I work at 13 or 14?, accessed 29 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
• Rijksoverheid, How many hours may children of 15 work?, accessed 29 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
• Working Hours Act (Arbeidstijdenwet), section 5:3, in force from 1 July 2025. wetten.overheid.nl
• Rijksoverheid, How many hours may I work at 16 or 17?, accessed 29 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
• Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, Declaration of generally binding cao provisions Hospitality, 30 July 2025, Government Gazette 2025, 10545, articles 1.6, 1.8, 3.6, 4.8 and 4.9 and dicta II, III and V. officielebekendmakingen.nl
• Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, Hospitality cao wage table from 1 July 2026 (pdf). khn.nl
• Rijksoverheid, Minimum wage amounts 2026, accessed 29 October 2026. rijksoverheid.nl
• Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, Must my employees take part in the Hospitality & Catering pension fund?, accessed 29 October 2026. khn.nl
• Decree of 9 September 2026 on a special increase of the statutory youth minimum wage, Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2026, 279, published 24 September 2026. officielebekendmakingen.nl
• CNV, Hospitality cao negotiations under way, 23 October 2026. cnv.nl
• Kabátek, J. (2021). Happy birthday, you're fired! Effects of an age-dependent minimum wage on youth employment flows in the Netherlands. ILR Review, 74(4), 1008 to 1035. doi.org/10.1177/0019793919897914
• Breslin, F. C. and Smith, P. (2006). Trial by fire: a multivariate examination of the relation between job tenure and work injuries. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 63(1), 27 to 32. doi.org/10.1136/oem.2005.021006