# Waldo — complete reference Waldo is a free swipe-to-match hiring app for restaurant, bar and café jobs in Montréal, where job seekers and venues only start chatting after both sides say yes. ## What Waldo is Waldo is a free swipe-to-match hiring app for the hospitality industry in Greater Montréal, Québec, Canada. Job seekers browse real openings at restaurants, bars, nightclubs, cafés, bakeries and hotels, and swipe on the ones they want. Venues browse candidates and swipe back. When both sides swipe yes, a direct chat opens. Nobody can message anyone before a mutual match. - Category: hospitality job search and hiring app - Market: Greater Montréal, Québec, Canada (island of Montréal, Laval, South Shore, North Shore, West Island) - Price: free for job seekers and free for venues; no application fee, no posting fee - Platforms: iOS and Android - Languages: English and French - Website: https://workwithwaldo.com - iOS: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/waldo-job-search/id6758324074 - Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.workwithwaldo.app ## Frequently asked questions ### What is Waldo? Waldo is a free mobile app that matches hospitality job seekers with restaurants, bars, cafés, bakeries and hotels in Greater Montréal. Both sides swipe, and a chat only opens when both say yes. ### Is Waldo free? Yes. Waldo is free to download and free to use for both job seekers and venues. There is no fee to apply and no fee to post a job. ### Where does Waldo operate? Waldo operates in Greater Montréal, Québec, including the island of Montréal, Laval, the South Shore, the North Shore and the West Island. ### What kinds of jobs are on Waldo? Hospitality roles across restaurants, bars, nightclubs, cafés, bakeries and hotels — including server, bartender, barista, line cook, prep cook, dishwasher, host, busser, food runner, baker, pastry chef, sous chef, restaurant manager and hotel front desk. ### Do I need a résumé to apply on Waldo? No. You build a profile once with your experience, availability and the roles you want, then apply by swiping. There is no cover letter and no per-job application form. ### How is Waldo different from Indeed or a generalist job board? Waldo is hospitality-only and Montréal-only, and it is built around mutual interest instead of an application queue. Venues only see candidates who have already said they want that specific job, and candidates only get contacted by venues that have actually chosen them. ### How do venues post a job on Waldo? Download the app, create a venue profile, and post the role with the title, neighbourhood, job type and wage. Interested seekers will appear as likes, and you swipe through them and match with the ones you want to talk to. ### Is Waldo available in French? Yes. The app, job postings and support are all bilingual, and you can use Waldo entirely in French or entirely in English. ### Can I use Waldo with no hospitality experience? Yes. Many roles on Waldo — dishwasher, busser, food runner, prep cook and counter staff — are entry level and regularly filled by people with no restaurant background. ### How quickly can I get hired through Waldo? It depends on the role, but hospitality hiring moves fast. Entry-level kitchen and floor roles often go from match to trial shift within a few days, because venues are usually filling a schedule gap that already exists. ## Roles hired through Waldo ### Server Serving is the highest-volume hospitality role in Montréal and usually the fastest one to get hired into. Most dining rooms hire year-round, and a strong section on a busy night can out-earn plenty of salaried jobs once tips are counted. Typical base pay in Montréal: $13.30–$18.00 per hour. Typically $22–$32/hour including tips. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/server ### Bartender Montréal's bar scene runs deep — cocktail rooms in the Plateau and Old Montréal, neighbourhood bars in Saint-Henri and Verdun, late-night rooms on Saint-Laurent, and hotel bars downtown. Bartending pays well here, and demand spikes hard for terrasse season and the summer festival run. Typical base pay in Montréal: $15.00–$20.00 per hour. Typically $25–$38/hour including tips. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/bartender ### Barista Montréal has one of the densest independent café scenes in North America — Mile End, the Plateau, Saint-Henri, Villeray and Little Italy are full of rooms that pull serious espresso. Barista roles are competitive because so many people want them, so the hiring edge goes to whoever is easiest to reach and quickest to reply. Typical base pay in Montréal: $16.60–$19.00 per hour. Typically $19–$25/hour including tips. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/barista ### Line Cook Line cooks are the hardest role to fill in Montréal right now, which means leverage. Kitchens across the city are short-staffed on the line, so a cook who shows up reliably and can hold a station through a 200-cover night can name a schedule and move up quickly. Typical base pay in Montréal: $18.00–$25.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/line-cook ### Prep Cook Prep is the most reliable way into a Montréal kitchen without experience. You work day shifts, you learn knife skills and recipes at a sane pace, and the chef gets to watch you for a few weeks before a line spot opens up. Typical base pay in Montréal: $17.00–$21.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/prep-cook ### Sous Chef The sous chef runs the kitchen when the chef is not there and runs the pass when they are. In Montréal, it is the step where cooking stops being only about your station and starts being about ordering, scheduling, cost and the people on the line with you. Typical base pay in Montréal: $23.00–$32.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/sous-chef ### Head Chef Running a Montréal kitchen means owning the menu, the food cost and the team at once. The city rewards chefs who can build a tight seasonal menu around Québec producers and still hit margin on a Tuesday in February. Typical base pay in Montréal: $28.00–$42.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/head-chef ### Dishwasher Dishwashing is the most available hospitality job in Montréal and the one with the shortest path from applying to working. No experience is required, most kitchens are hiring, and a dishwasher who never misses a shift is often the first person offered a prep or line spot. Typical base pay in Montréal: $16.60–$20.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/dishwasher ### Busser Bussing is the standard on-ramp to a serving section in Montréal. You are on the floor, you learn the room and the POS, you get a share of the tip pool, and you are the obvious internal candidate when a server leaves. Typical base pay in Montréal: $13.30–$17.00 per hour. Typically $18–$25/hour including tips. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/busser ### Host / Hostess The host controls the door, the book and the pace of the whole room. In Montréal it is a genuinely bilingual role — you are the first person every guest speaks to — and it is one of the few floor jobs where being organised matters more than being fast. Typical base pay in Montréal: $16.60–$20.00 per hour. Typically $18–$24/hour including tips. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/host-hostess ### Food Runner Runners are the link between the pass and the table, and it is the job that teaches you a menu faster than any other. Montréal restaurants use runners heavily on busy nights, and the role tips out well relative to how quickly you can be hired into it. Typical base pay in Montréal: $13.30–$17.00 per hour. Typically $19–$26/hour including tips. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/food-runner ### Barback Barbacking is the apprenticeship for bartending. You keep the bar alive during a rush — ice, glassware, kegs, garnish — and in exchange you learn the well and get first call on the next bartending shift that opens. Typical base pay in Montréal: $16.60–$19.00 per hour. Typically $19–$27/hour including tips. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/barback ### Pastry Chef Montréal takes pastry seriously — the city runs on viennoiserie, and dessert programs in the Plateau, Mile End and Old Montréal are a real draw. Pastry is a precision job on an early clock, and skilled pastry chefs are consistently hard to find here. Typical base pay in Montréal: $21.00–$30.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/pastry-chef ### Baker Montréal is a bread and bagel town, and boulangeries here run real production schedules. Baking is an overnight or pre-dawn job, which thins the applicant pool considerably — if you can work those hours reliably, you are in demand. Typical base pay in Montréal: $18.00–$26.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/baker ### Restaurant Manager Managing a Montréal room means owning the schedule, the service standard, the labour cost and the staffing pipeline at the same time. The hardest part of the job here is not service — it is keeping a full team through a market where good staff have options. Typical base pay in Montréal: $24.00–$36.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/restaurant-manager ### Cashier Counter and cashier roles are the most flexible entry point in Montréal food service — cafés, bakeries, counter-service restaurants and takeout windows all hire year-round, usually with no experience required and a schedule that bends around school. Typical base pay in Montréal: $16.60–$19.00 per hour. Typically $17–$22/hour including tips. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/cashier ### Sommelier Montréal has an unusually strong wine culture for its size, driven by importation privée and a deep bench of natural wine rooms. Sommelier work here is as much about building a list under SAQ constraints as it is about service. Typical base pay in Montréal: $20.00–$30.00 per hour. Typically $28–$40/hour including tips. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/sommelier ### Hotel Front Desk Agent Downtown Montréal and Old Montréal run a dense hotel corridor, and front desk work is steadier than restaurant floor work — set hours, year-round demand and a real path into hotel operations. It is also one of the most reliably bilingual roles in the city. Typical base pay in Montréal: $18.00–$24.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/hotel-front-desk-agent ### Housekeeper Housekeeping is steady, day-shift hotel work with consistent year-round demand in Montréal and a summer surge during festival and convention season. It requires no experience and, unlike most floor roles, very little French. Typical base pay in Montréal: $17.00–$23.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/housekeeper ### Pizza Maker Montréal has a serious Neapolitan and slice scene, and pizzaiolo is a specialised station that pays above general line cook work once you can run the oven. Dough handling and oven instinct are the whole job, and both are learnable on the station. Typical base pay in Montréal: $17.00–$24.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/pizza-maker ### Sushi Chef Sushi is one of the few kitchen specialisations in Montréal where trained candidates are genuinely scarce, which keeps pay above general line rates. Knife precision, fish handling and rice discipline are the entire evaluation. Typical base pay in Montréal: $21.00–$32.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/sushi-chef ### Catering Staff Catering and banquet work is the flexible-hours corner of Montréal hospitality — weddings, corporate events, festival hospitality and hotel banquets. Shifts are booked in advance and often pay above regular floor rates, which makes it a strong second job. Typical base pay in Montréal: $18.00–$26.00 per hour. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/catering-staff ## Québec wage facts Québec's general minimum wage is $16.60 per hour. Québec is the only Canadian province with a separate lower minimum wage for tipped employees, set at $13.30 per hour. Both rates have been in effect since May 1, 2026. Tips belong entirely to the employee, and the employer must top up wages to the general minimum if tips do not cover the difference. Source: CNESST (Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail). ## Neighbourhoods covered ### Plateau-Mont-Royal The Plateau has the highest restaurant density of any Montréal neighbourhood — Saint-Denis, Mont-Royal and Duluth are wall-to-wall terrasses, bistros and bars. Volume is high, turnover is high, and something is almost always hiring. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/plateau-mont-royal ### Mile End Mile End is the café and bagel heart of the city, with Saint-Viateur and Bernard anchoring a dense strip of coffee bars, wine bars and small kitchens. Barista and front-of-house roles turn over constantly here. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/mile-end ### Old Montréal Old Montréal runs on tourism and hotels, which means high covers, strong tips and a real bilingual requirement. Summer is the peak, and venues staff up hard from May through the festival season. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/old-montreal ### Downtown Montréal Downtown covers the hotel corridor, the office lunch trade and the Sainte-Catherine strip. It has the widest mix of hospitality employers in the city, from quick-service counters to hotel banquet teams. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/downtown-montreal ### Saint-Henri Notre-Dame Ouest turned Saint-Henri into one of the strongest dining strips in the city, and it is consistently one of the densest hiring neighbourhoods on Waldo. Kitchens here skew independent and chef-driven. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/saint-henri ### Little Burgundy Little Burgundy packs a lot of well-known rooms into a small footprint along Notre-Dame, and it sits close enough to Saint-Henri and Griffintown that staff move easily between all three. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/little-burgundy ### Griffintown Griffintown grew fast and its restaurant and bar count grew with it. Newer rooms here open regularly, which means fresh openings rather than a fixed set of long-established employers. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/griffintown ### Verdun Wellington has become one of the most active neighbourhood dining strips in Montréal, with a steady mix of cafés, casual rooms and bars. It hires locally, so living nearby is a real advantage. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/verdun ### Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG) NDG runs on Sherbrooke Ouest and Monkland — neighbourhood restaurants, cafés and pubs rather than destination dining. It is a strongly anglophone-friendly area, which matters if your French is still developing. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/notre-dame-de-grace ### Villeray Villeray built a genuine food scene on Villeray street and around Jarry Park without losing its neighbourhood feel. Smaller rooms and independent cafés dominate, and teams tend to be tight and stable. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/villeray ### Little Italy Little Italy and Jean-Talon Market anchor a dense cluster of cafés, trattorias and produce-driven kitchens. Espresso culture is deep here, and café roles are among the most sought-after in the city. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/little-italy ### Rosemont Rosemont and the Petite-Patrie edge have quietly become a strong neighbourhood dining area, especially along Masson and Beaubien. Employers here are mostly small independents hiring for the long term. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/rosemont ### La Petite-Patrie Beaubien and Saint-Zotique carry a growing set of wine bars, bakeries and small kitchens. It is a good area to look if you want an independent room with a short commute from the Plateau or Rosemont. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/petite-patrie ### Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Ontario Est has one of the fastest-changing restaurant strips in the city, with new independent rooms opening regularly. Rents are lower, so operators here take more risks on menus and on first-time hires. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/hochelaga-maisonneuve ### The Village The Village runs a dense late-night bar and club economy along Sainte-Catherine Est, with a big summer surge when the street goes pedestrian. Bartender, barback and security-adjacent roles peak here. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/the-village ### Outremont Outremont is smaller and more residential, with a concentrated set of cafés, bakeries and neighbourhood restaurants along Bernard and Laurier. Teams are small and roles do not open often, but they last. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/outremont ### Westmount Westmount hospitality is concentrated on Sherbrooke Ouest and Greene, skewing toward cafés, bakeries and established restaurants. It is bilingual-friendly and the pace is calmer than downtown. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/westmount ### Côte-des-Neiges Côte-des-Neiges is dense, diverse and student-heavy thanks to Université de Montréal. Counter service, cafés and casual restaurants dominate, and employers here are used to hiring students and newcomers. Page: https://workwithwaldo.com/jobs/montreal/areas/cote-des-neiges ## Contact Email: support@workwithwaldo.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/work.with.waldo