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Cooks, Restaurant: Career Overview
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.
What Do Cooks, Restaurant Perform?
The day-to-day responsibilities of cooks, restaurant cover:
- Ensure food is stored and cooked at correct temperature by regulating temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, and roasters.
- Inspect and clean food preparation areas, such as equipment, work surfaces, and serving areas, to ensure safe and sanitary food-handling practices.
- Portion, arrange, and garnish food, and serve food to waiters or patrons.
- Ensure freshness of food and ingredients by checking for quality, keeping track of old and new items, and rotating stock.
- Season and cook food according to recipes or personal judgment and experience.
- Coordinate and supervise work of kitchen staff.
- Bake, roast, broil, and steam meats, fish, vegetables, and other foods.
- Weigh, measure, and mix ingredients according to recipes or personal judgment, using various kitchen utensils and equipment.
Skills and Knowledge
Successful cooks, restaurant draw on a mix of skills and domain knowledge.
Key Skills
The competencies most central to this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:
Knowledge Areas
Other Cooks, Restaurant Job Titles
Common job titles for this role include:
- Back Line Cook
- Back of House Team Member (BOH Team Member)
- Banquet Cook
- Breakfast Cook
- Broiler Cook
- Chef De Partie
- Cook
- Foreign Food Specialty Cook
How Many Cooks, Restaurant Are There?
There are roughly 1,741,328 cooks, restaurant working in the United States today. Employment is projected to grow by +0.9% over the projection horizon.
Salary for Cooks, Restaurant
| Statistic | Value |
|---|---|
| Annual median | $41,438 |
| Hourly median | $19.92 |
| 10th percentile | $22,981 |
| 25th percentile | $32,209 |
| 75th percentile | $50,667 |
| 90th percentile | $59,896 |
Compensation varies based on experience, location, and industry.
Cooks, Restaurant Salary by State
| State | Annual median salary |
|---|---|
| Massachusetts | $46,280 |
| District of Columbia | $45,230 |
| Washington | $44,980 |
| Maine | $44,870 |
| Hawaii | $44,710 |
| Vermont | $44,560 |
| California | $44,290 |
| New York | $39,890 |
| Colorado | $39,170 |
| New Hampshire | $39,050 |
| Rhode Island | $38,940 |
| Alaska | $38,640 |
| Minnesota | $38,220 |
| New Jersey | $38,080 |
| Oregon | $38,040 |
| Connecticut | $38,020 |
| Arizona | $37,940 |
| Maryland | $37,470 |
| Nevada | $37,170 |
| Wisconsin | $36,940 |
| Montana | $36,830 |
| Delaware | $36,820 |
| Nebraska | $36,800 |
| Wyoming | $36,770 |
| Illinois | $36,630 |
| Virginia | $36,580 |
| Michigan | $36,560 |
| Utah | $36,510 |
| Florida | $36,300 |
| North Dakota | $36,060 |
| Tennessee | $35,810 |
| Iowa | $35,720 |
| South Carolina | $35,700 |
| Pennsylvania | $35,340 |
| Missouri | $35,320 |
| North Carolina | $35,240 |
| South Dakota | $35,150 |
| Georgia | $35,090 |
| Indiana | $35,040 |
| Virgin Islands | $34,940 |
| Idaho | $34,890 |
| Ohio | $34,750 |
| Kansas | $34,200 |
| New Mexico | $34,110 |
| Texas | $34,050 |
| Kentucky | $30,960 |
| Oklahoma | $30,610 |
| Alabama | $30,100 |
| Mississippi | $29,520 |
| Arkansas | $29,470 |
| Louisiana | $28,880 |
| West Virginia | $28,560 |
| Puerto Rico | $23,920 |
| Guam | $22,900 |
Pay by U.S. Region
Compensation for cooks, restaurant vary by region. Top regions by median wage:
| Region | Median annual wage | Share of U.S. jobs | Location quotient |
|---|---|---|---|
| Far Western US | $43,157 | 17.4% | 1.10 |
| New England | $42,908 | 4.6% | 0.97 |
| Middle Atlantic | $38,088 | 12.3% | 0.83 |
| Rocky Mountains | $37,739 | 4.5% | 1.18 |
| Plains States | $36,198 | 6.3% | 0.94 |
| Great Lakes | $35,970 | 13.8% | 0.97 |
| Southeast | $34,761 | 27.5% | 1.16 |
| Southwest | $34,428 | 12.9% | 1.03 |
Where the Jobs Cluster
| Metro area | State | Median annual wage | Employment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kahului-Wailuku, HI | HI | $48,320 | 1,840 |
| Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH | MA | $46,970 | 24,410 |
| Portland-South Portland, ME | ME | $46,960 | 2,590 |
| San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA | CA | $46,960 | 8,460 |
| Napa, CA | CA | $46,270 | 1,350 |
| Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA | WA | $46,180 | 19,820 |
| Barnstable Town, MA | MA | $45,920 | 1,890 |
| Burlington-South Burlington, VT | VT | $45,450 | 1,020 |
Which Industries Hire Cooks, Restaurant
The bulk of cooks, restaurant work in these industries:
| Industry | Employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Accommodation and Food Services | 1,356,300 | $36,750 |
| Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation | 49,840 | $39,320 |
| Retail Trade | 13,000 | $37,470 |
| Manufacturing | 9,490 | $36,960 |
| Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services | 9,260 | $38,600 |
| Other Services (except Public Administration) | 7,250 | $36,900 |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | 2,000 | $37,520 |
| Real Estate and Rental and Leasing | 1,520 | $38,680 |
Below are examples of industries where cooks, restaurant work:
Tools and Technology
- Web page creation and editing software: Facebook (hot technology)
- Spreadsheet software: Microsoft Excel (hot technology)
- Office suite software: Microsoft Office software (hot technology)
- Electronic mail software: Microsoft Outlook (hot technology)
- Word processing software: Microsoft Word (hot technology)
Work Environment
Daily working conditions for cooks, restaurant reflects the following characteristics:
- Wear Common Protective or Safety Equipment such as Safety Shoes, Glasses, Gloves, Hearing Protection, Hard Hats, or Life Jackets
- Spend Time Standing
- Indoors, Environmentally Controlled
- Spend Time Using Your Hands to Handle, Control, or Feel Objects, Tools, or Controls
- Contact With Others
Getting Started in This Career
Most cooks, restaurant positions require a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education. The role falls in Some Preparation Needed (Job Zone 2), reflecting the level of preparation typically expected.
Related Careers
Similar Occupations
- Food Service Managers (Supplemental)
- Chefs and Head Cooks (Primary-Long)
- First-Line Supervisors of Food Preparation and Serving Workers (Supplemental)
- Cooks, Fast Food (Primary-Short)
- Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria (Primary-Short)
- Cooks, Private Household (Primary-Long)
- Cooks, Short Order (Primary-Short)
- Food Preparation Workers (Primary-Short)
Top Programs to Study For This Career
Students preparing for cooks, restaurant often complete programs in:
Personal and Culinary Services
2 programs across 1 majors
Sources
Data on this page comes from the following authoritative sources:
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
- BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
- O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.
SOC code: 35-2014.00 (Cooks, Restaurant).
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