Occupation: 35-2010

Cooks, Restaurant

Statistics
National
State
City
State
City
$36,830
Median Wage (USD, 2023)
257700
Projected Job Openings (2023-2033)
17.0%
Projected Growth (2023-2033)
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.

Experience Requirements Overview

  • Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed
  • Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.
  • These occupations usually require a high school diploma.
  • Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Education, Training and Experience

Required Level of Education: High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)

Related Work Experience: N.A.

On-Site or In-Plant Training: N.A.

On-the-Job Training: Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month

Detailed Work Activities

  • Inspect facilities, equipment or supplies to ensure conformance to standards.
  • Clean food preparation areas, facilities, or equipment.
  • Assess equipment functioning.
  • Check quality of foods or supplies.
  • Maintain food, beverage, or equipment inventories.

Work Values

Achievement

Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.

Working Conditions

Recognition

Relationships

Support

Independence

Tasks

  • 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.

Work Styles

Achievement/Effort

Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.

Persistence

Initiative

Leadership

Cooperation

Concern for Others

Social Orientation

Self-Control

Stress Tolerance

Adaptability/Flexibility

Dependability

Attention to Detail

Integrity

Independence

Innovation

Analytical Thinking

Data Source: This page includes information from the O*NET 30.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. This page includes Employment Projections program, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.