ascx-begin clientid=ctl73 path=/Career/CareerProfile/CareerProfile.ascx
What They Do
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, work surfaces, and 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
Specialty and Similar Careers
Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:
- Back Line Cook
- Banquet Cook
- Breakfast Cook
- Cook — Prepares and cooks a wide variety of foods in restaurants, hotels, hospitals and other health care institutions, central food commissaries, educational institutions and other establishments.
- Fry Cook — Prepares hamburgers and other fast food meals.
- Grill Cook
- Line Cook — Holds down one station on a restaurant line and can be expected to perform a range of duties related to the station.
- Prep Cook (Preparation Cook) — Assists in the preparation of meals by chopping vegetables, making salads, and putting together entrees.
- Appetizer Preparer
- Broil Cook
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts national surveys of wage data by occupation in every state and in all industry divisions. These surveys are conducted through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
The statistics collected for one year are published the next fall. For example, 2013 wage information was published in the fall of 2014.
There are over 800 occupations in the surveys, and these occupations cover the entire U.S. labor market. The surveys ask for reports in a scale of ranges for both hourly wages and annual wages.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics for a broad category, be aware that the salary data for a specific career may differ.
For more details about how wage information is collected and calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts a national survey of over 400,000
employers in every state and in all industry divisions. This survey is conducted
through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Every other year the
department publishes outlook information based on these surveys.
Each outlook period covers 10 years. For example, in 2003 the outlook information
was published for 2004-2014. Employers are asked to report the number of employees
in about 770 different occupations that cover the entire U.S. labor market.
From this information, staffing patterns for different industries are established.
Industry growth is projected into the future based on past trends and current economic
conditions. Industry staffing patterns are then applied to the industry projections
to obtain occupational projections.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties
of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational
category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics
for a broad category, be aware that the employment data for a specific field may
differ.
For more details about how employment information is collected and calculated by
the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
ascx-end /Career/CareerProfile/CareerProfile.ascx