Food service
Cooks, restaurant
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.
Median pay
$37,390
Growth to 2035
+12%
faster than average
Openings a year
218,600
Time to qualify*
2.5 years
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Cooks, restaurant
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- No formal educational credential
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
- Prior experience
- Less than 5 years
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time standing
Outdoors in all weather
Hazardous conditions
Cooks, restaurant: 15% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core 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.
- 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.
Also called: Back Line Cook · Banquet Cook · Breakfast Cook · Cook · Fry Cook · Grill Cook · Line Cook · Prep Cook (Preparation Cook)
Outlook and AI
Cooks, restaurant held 1,417,500 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 1,588,800 by 2035 (+12%, faster than average; all jobs: +3.5%).
Demand change - share increases as consumers demand more high-quality food options.
Compare with
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- Cooks, restaurant vs. Food batchmaker