About This Career

Prepares, seasons, and cooks dishes such as soups, meats, vegetables, or desserts in restaurants. May order supplies, keep records and accounts, price items on menu, or plan menu.

This career is part of the Hospitality and Tourism cluster Restaurants and Food/Beverage Services pathway.

A person in this career:

• Inspects and cleans food preparation areas, such as equipment and work surfaces, or serving areas to ensure safe and sanitary food-handling practices.
• Ensures freshness of food and ingredients by checking for quality, keeping track of old and new items, and rotating stock.
• Ensures food is stored and cooked at correct temperature by regulating temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, and roasters.
• Seasons and cooks food according to recipes or personal judgment and experience.
• Turns or stirs foods to ensure even cooking.
• Observes and tests foods to determine if they have been cooked sufficiently, using methods such as tasting, smelling, or piercing them with utensils.
• Portions, arranges, and garnishes food, and serves food to waiters or patrons.
• Weighs, measures, and mixes ingredients according to recipes or personal judgment, using various kitchen utensils and equipment.
• Bakes, roasts, broils, and steams meats, fish, vegetables, and other foods.
• Washes, peels, cuts, and seeds fruits and vegetables to prepare them for consumption.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 20 lbs., sometimes up to 50 lbs. You might do a lot of lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling.
• Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
• Conditions are very hot (above 90 F) or very cold (under 32 F)
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
• Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves standing more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves walking or running more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Identifying color and seeing differences in color, including shades and brightness
• Seeing clearly up close
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
• Using abdominal and lower back muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring

Work Hours and Travel

• Irregular hours
• Weekend work