Life As a Restaurant Cook
Example of Restaurant Cook Job Prepare, season, and cook dishes such as soups, meats, vegetables, or desserts in restaurants. May order supplies, keep records and accounts, price items on menu, or plan menu.
Daily Life Of a Restaurant Cook
- Ensure food is stored and cooked at correct temperature by regulating temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, and roasters.
- Portion, arrange, and garnish food, and serve food to waiters or patrons.
- Estimate expected food consumption, requisition or purchase supplies, or procure food from storage.
- Ensure freshness of food and ingredients by checking for quality, keeping track of old and new items, and rotating stock.
- Keep records and accounts.
- Inspect and clean food preparation areas, such as equipment and work surfaces, or serving areas to ensure safe and sanitary food-handling practices.
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Skills Needed to be a Restaurant Cook
When polled, Restaurant Cooks say the following skills are most frequently used in their jobs:
Monitoring: Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
Coordination: Adjusting actions in relation to others’ actions.
Time Management: Managing one’s own time and the time of others.
Related Job Titles for this Occupation:
- Broiler Cook
- Vegetable Cook
- Specialty Foods Cook
- Railroad Cook
- Appetizer Preparer
Job Outlook for Restaurant Cooks
In the United States, there were 1,231,900 jobs for Restaurant Cook in 2016. New jobs are being produced at a rate of 11.8% which is above the national average. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 145,300 new jobs for Restaurant Cook by 2026. Due to new job openings and attrition, there will be an average of 195,300 job openings in this field each year.
The states with the most job growth for Restaurant Cook are Colorado, Utah, and Texas. Watch out if you plan on working in Ohio, West Virginia, or Maine. These states have the worst job growth for this type of profession.
Average Restaurant Cooks Salary
The typical yearly salary for Restaurant Cooks is somewhere between $19,420 and $37,630.
Restaurant Cooks who work in District of Columbia, Washington, or New Jersey, make the highest salaries.
Below is a list of the median annual salaries for Restaurant Cooks in different U.S. states.
| State | Annual Mean Salary |
|---|---|
| Alabama | $24,080 |
| Alaska | $30,230 |
| Arizona | $28,330 |
| Arkansas | $22,980 |
| California | $30,620 |
| Colorado | $29,490 |
| Connecticut | $30,450 |
| Delaware | $27,430 |
| District of Columbia | $33,840 |
| Florida | $27,740 |
| Georgia | $24,280 |
| Hawaii | $34,330 |
| Idaho | $24,880 |
| Illinois | $27,720 |
| Indiana | $24,570 |
| Iowa | $24,700 |
| Kansas | $23,640 |
| Kentucky | $22,920 |
| Louisiana | $23,230 |
| Maine | $28,780 |
| Maryland | $28,220 |
| Massachusetts | $32,430 |
| Michigan | $25,550 |
| Minnesota | $29,120 |
| Mississippi | $22,340 |
| Missouri | $25,180 |
| Montana | $25,230 |
| Nebraska | $28,280 |
| Nevada | $31,960 |
| New Hampshire | $29,200 |
| New Jersey | $33,200 |
| New Mexico | $24,100 |
| New York | $30,440 |
| North Carolina | $24,950 |
| North Dakota | $28,130 |
| Ohio | $25,560 |
| Oklahoma | $24,000 |
| Oregon | $29,340 |
| Pennsylvania | $26,510 |
| Rhode Island | $30,890 |
| South Carolina | $23,680 |
| South Dakota | $26,630 |
| Tennessee | $24,370 |
| Texas | $25,400 |
| Utah | $27,350 |
| Vermont | $31,180 |
| Virginia | $26,590 |
| Washington | $32,370 |
| West Virginia | $23,520 |
| Wisconsin | $25,910 |
| Wyoming | $29,750 |
What Tools & Technology do Restaurant Cooks Use?
Below is a list of the types of tools and technologies that Restaurant Cooks may use on a daily basis:
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft Office
- Inventory management software
- Menu planning software
How do I Become a Restaurant Cook?
Education needed to be a Restaurant Cook:
How Long Does it Take to Become a Restaurant Cook?
Who Employs Restaurant Cooks?
The table below shows some of the most common industries where those employed in this career field work.
Related Careers
Those who work as a Restaurant Cook sometimes switch careers to one of these choices:
References:
Image Credit: U.S. Army Europe Images via Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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