How To Become A Cafeteria Cook: What It Is and Career Path

What is a cafeteria cook and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a cafeteria cook. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.61 an hour? That's $30,395 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 16% and produce 419,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreCafeteria CookUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,395

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.6

Growth Rate 16%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.09%

Asian 8.51%

Black or African American 10.16%

Hispanic or Latino 15.57%

Unknown 4.64%

White 60.04%

Gender

female 61.00%

male 39.00%

Age - 37

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 37

Stress Level

7.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

5.0

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.5

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a cafeteria cook

Explore cafeteria cook education requirements

Most common cafeteria cook degrees

High School Diploma

50.0 %

Associate

23.7 %

Bachelor's

9.3 %

Start to develop specific cafeteria cook skills

Skills	Percentages
Culinary	20.99%
Cleanliness	18.02%
Kitchen Equipment	14.18%
Food Service	11.53%
Food Handling	11.12%

Complete relevant cafeteria cook training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New cafeteria cooks learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a cafeteria cook based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real cafeteria cook resumes.

Research cafeteria cook duties and responsibilities

Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.
Prepare and serve nutritional meals to the before and after school kids.
Inspect equipment for cleanliness in functional operation.
Supervise the culinary arts participants in juvenile detention facility.

Prepare your cafeteria cook resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your cafeteria cook resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a cafeteria cook resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Cafeteria Cook Resume templates

Build a professional Cafeteria Cook resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Cafeteria Cook resume.

Apply for cafeteria cook jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a cafeteria cook job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams