There was an increase of 11.7% in salaries from £16,048 to £17,922.
The average hospitality industry salary was up 2.7% and commis chefs – one of the lowest earners in the sector – had an encouraging boost of 6.7%.
Two of the highest earners – head chefs and sous chefs – had more modest increases of 1.2% and 1%.
Well against other industries
Hospitality performed well against other industries – the transport and logistics industry average salary dropped by 4.7% from £25,971 to £24,760.
In that sector, fork-lift drivers took a knock with a salary reduction of 3.3% while warehouse operatives saw the biggest rise at 4.3%
Manufacturing and production saw a minor slump down by 2.9%, call centre and secretarial pay was down 1.9% and personal assistants dropped a painful 6.4%.
Blue Arrow said the hospitality industry was in a strong place despite the fact that 2017 is set to be a “turbulent year".
'Few little surprises'
Blue Arrow marketing director Toni Richards said: “There were a few little surprises here and there across the board, but considering the unexpected general election that has been sprung on us, salaries and incoming job prospects are fairly steady right now.”
In February 2017, research from Catton Hospitality showed that pub wages in London outstripped the national living wage (NLW).
The data from its labour management division – S4 Labour – was drawn from a sample of more than 23,000 employees working across 100 hospitality organisations.
It found that the hourly rate for over-25s was 90p higher than the NLW of £7.20. Outside of the capital, workers were paid a level closer to the NLW.