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Pastry chef salary: Swiss minimums for 2027 and US pay data
The Swiss hospitality minimum wages for 2027 were set on 28 September 2026. Here is what they mean for a pastry chef's first pay slips, and how US medians compare.
A pastry chef's salary in Switzerland has a legal floor. For 2027 it's 3,735 francs a month gross if you have no vocational training, and 4,555 francs with a federal certificate of proficiency (EFZ).[1] In the US, chefs and head cooks had a median of $62,470 a year in May 2025, and bakers $37,160.[2][3]
Those are minimums and medians, not a job offer. They still show you where a career in a pastry kitchen starts, and how much patience your first job asks of you.
What are the Swiss minimum wages for 2027?
On 28 September 2026 the hospitality employers' and employees' associations announced a rise of 0.6 percent, in line with the SECO inflation forecast of 21 September.[1] The figures below are monthly gross, under the national hospitality agreement, the L-GAV.
| Category | 2026 (francs) | 2027 (francs) |
|---|---|---|
| Ia: no vocational training | 3,713 | 3,735 |
| Ib: no training, with Progresso certificate | 3,943 | 3,967 |
| II: federal vocational certificate or similar | 4,070 | 4,094 |
| IIIa: federal certificate of proficiency (EFZ) or similar | 4,528 | 4,555 |
| IIIb: EFZ plus further training | 4,635 | 4,663 |
| IV: professional examination | 5,293 | 5,325 |
| Interns | 2,390 | 2,404 |
If you're on a seasonal contract, you get the increase from the summer season, which starts on 1 May 2027.[1]
One limit: the L-GAV covers hotel and restaurant kitchens only. A bakery or a confectioner's shop may work under another contract, so check which one applies before you compare job offers.
What does a pastry chef earn in the US?
We found no separate line for pastry chefs at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, so two neighbouring jobs mark the range.
| Occupation (May 2025) | Median pay | Growth 2025-35 |
|---|---|---|
| Chefs and head cooks | $62,470 a year ($30.03 an hour)[2] | 7 percent[2] |
| Bakers | $37,160 a year ($17.86 an hour)[3] | 6 percent[3] |
The lowest-paid tenth of bakers earned under $28,120, and the highest-paid tenth over $49,020.[3] The gap between the two medians is the gap between running a kitchen and working one station in it.
What does this mean for you?
Two things stand out.
The first job pays little, everywhere. The Swiss intern minimum for 2027 is 2,404 francs a month gross.[1] At BHMS, you study the Diploma in Pastry, Chocolate & Bakery for six months, then do a six-month paid internship in Switzerland or worldwide. In Switzerland the rate is CHF 2'404 gross a month from 1 January 2027, before deductions for room, board and social security. Six months at that rate comes to 14,424 francs gross. That's our own arithmetic, not a published figure.
What stays in your pocket depends on where you work. In the countryside, where the employer provides accommodation and meals, BHMS puts the remainder at around CHF 1'500 a month. In a big city without them, it's around CHF 800-1,000. Don't count on the internship to pay for your study semester.
Qualifications move you up the table. Swiss pay climbs with training: from 3,735 francs to 4,555 at the EFZ level, and to 5,325 after a professional examination.[1] The US shows a similar spread between baker and head cook.[2][3] Which category your own certificate would place you in is a question for your future employer, not for a school brochure.
If you come from outside the EU, you won't work part-time while you study at BHMS. The paid work is the internship semester.
Which route fits what you want to earn?
The pastry route at BHMS runs Diploma, Higher Diploma, then the BA in Culinary Arts & Patisserie, each year with its own paid internship. The 10-week Certificate has no internship. If you only want to test whether a professional kitchen suits you, the Certificate is the shorter test. If you'd like a salary history before you finish, the Diploma gives you six months of paid kitchen work.
These numbers move once a year, and the Swiss ones just did. Next comes the 2028 contract round, which the social partners are still negotiating.[1]
Next step
For the longer picture, including how Swiss and US pay compare by role, read our pastry chef salary guide. To see how the paid internship fits the Diploma, open the Diploma in Pastry, Chocolate & Bakery page, or take the two-minute fit check.