What does a Cook/Server do?
Cooks/servers are employees who take on the dual role of being a cook and a server in the restaurant. They are usually trained cooks who are in charge of preparing meals for the guests. They prepare ingredients, cook them according to the recipe, and serve them to guests. They are responsible for ensuring that the food is prepared and served to guests within the promised time. They are in charge of managing the pantry, ensuring that the stock is fresh, and checking whether the stock is low. They are expected to have culinary skills, precision, and time management skills.
Cook/server responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real cook/server resumes:
- Develop ability to manage multiple stations simultaneously while maintaining high levels of culinary excellence.
- Assist customers, bag groceries, replenish carts, and clean store.
- Pay close attention to detail while multitasking between communicating over the intercom, utilizing the POS, and order placing.
- Make smoothies, coffee, customer service, cashier, fill bakery cooler, inventory, stock, and clean!
- Operate the filtration system used for the fryers to keep all sanitation guidelines up to standards as per the health department.
- Operate, and maintain clean and safe cooking equipment like pressure cooker deep fryers, plate grills, and deep fryers.
- Ensure foods are store and cook at proper temperature by regulating temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, and roasters.
- Maintain dining room area, as well as food preparation stations to standards set forth by Wendy's rules and regulations.
- Preform equipment maintenance to ensure proper tolerances for precise mowing conditions.
- Leverage teamwork to fully utilize kitchen staff to generate remarkable food and service to ensure customer satisfaction.
- Maintain strict sanitation on locations, verifying cooler and warmer temperatures, FIFO and HAACP.
- Maintain dry food storage areas: inventory, FIFO rotation, par supply levels, ordering.
- Cook food for all of McDonalds during breakfast and lunch rush hours.
- Prepare sandwiches, salads, wraps, smoothies, and other beverages.
Cook/server skills and personality traits
We calculated that 41% of Cook/Servers are proficient in Customer Service, Customer Orders, and Safety Standards. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Customer-service skills, and Physical strength.
We break down the percentage of Cook/Servers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 41%
Maintained high standards of customer service during high-volume, fast-paced operations, communicated clearly and positively with coworkers and management.
- Customer Orders, 8%
Received customer orders and depressed keys of computerized cash register to simultaneously record order and compute bill.
- Safety Standards, 6%
Operated cash register/Greeted customers/Prepared kitchen/Maintained clean work station/Maintained sanitation, health and safety standards in work areas/Read food order slips
- Food Preparation, 5%
Provide customer service in food preparation and safety while interesting customers in additional items to increase sales.
- Kitchen Equipment, 4%
Operated kitchen equipment, handled ingredients, organized inventory, and performed general housekeeping duties.
- POS, 4%
Operated Point of Sale (POS) cash register, processed cash and credit card purchases, prepared daily deposits.
"customer service," "customer orders," and "safety standards" are among the most common skills that cook/servers use at work. You can find even more cook/server responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a cook/server to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "food and beverage serving and related workers must listen carefully to their customers’ orders and relay them correctly to the kitchen staff so that the orders are prepared to the customers’ request." Additionally, a cook/server resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "take food and drink orders and receive payment from customers accomplishmentshappy customers, received raisesskills usedcommunicationculinary artsspeedy preparation as well as accuracyself-control"
Customer-service skills. Another essential skill to perform cook/server duties is customer-service skills. Cook/servers responsibilities require that "food service establishments rely on good food and customer service to keep customers and succeed in a competitive industry." Cook/servers also use customer-service skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "greet customers upon entrance * receive payment s by cash, check, credit cards, vouchers, or automatic debits. "
Physical strength. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of cook/servers is physical strength. This skill is critical to many everyday cook/server duties, as "food and beverage serving and related workers need to be able to lift and carry stock and equipment that can weigh up to 50 pounds." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "learned how to work with a lot of peopleskills usedcooking, strength, math, speech. "
Physical stamina. cook/server responsibilities often require "physical stamina." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "food and beverage serving and related workers spend most of their work time standing, carrying heavy trays, cleaning work areas, and attending to customers’ needs." This resume example shows what cook/servers do with physical stamina on a typical day: "cooked and clean.accomplishmentsn/askills usedphysical, mental, math, patience, coordination. "
The three companies that hire the most cook/servers are:
- SSodexo Management, Inc.74 cook/servers jobs
- MMcDonald's57 cook/servers jobs
- MMohawk Valley Health System47 cook/servers jobs
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Compare different cook/servers
Cook/server vs. Crew member
Crew members assist in the overall daily operations of a business, including restaurants, hotels, resorts, and other industries needing a large workforce. Crew members' duties include attending on a customer's needs, processing payments, taking orders, and handling sanitation services. Crew members should have excellent time-management skills and ability to multi-task, especially for the fast-paced operations. They must also adhere to the safety standards and procedures as required by the business. Crew members should also report incidents and escalate concerns from the clients to the management as needed.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between cook/servers and crew member. For instance, cook/server responsibilities require skills such as "kitchen equipment," "allergies," "mathematics," and "stoves." Whereas a crew member is skilled in "cleanliness," "basic math," "english language," and "excellent guest." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Crew members earn the highest salaries when working in the retail industry, with an average yearly salary of $30,847. On the other hand, cook/servers are paid more in the retail industry with an average salary of $29,014.On average, crew members reach similar levels of education than cook/servers. Crew members are 0.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Cook/server vs. Mexican food cook
A Mexican Food Cook works at restaurants or similar establishments that specialize in Mexican cuisine. Their responsibilities revolve around cutting meat and vegetable in portions, cooking and preparing according to company menu and guidelines, monitoring the supply of ingredients, and maintaining the cleanliness of work areas. There are also instances where they must delegate tasks among staff, coordinate with managers, and resolve order problems. Mexican Food Cooks must work while adhering to the company and the government's health and safety regulations and standards.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that cook/server responsibilities requires skills like "pos," "mathematics," "customer complaints," and "quality food." But a mexican food cook might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "food handling," "patients," "food service," and "mixers."
Mexican food cooks may earn a higher salary than cook/servers, but mexican food cooks earn the most pay in the retail industry with an average salary of $31,722. On the other hand, cook/servers receive higher pay in the retail industry, where they earn an average salary of $29,014.mexican food cooks earn similar levels of education than cook/servers in general. They're 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Cook/server vs. Cinder crew worker
A kitchen cook prepares food for customers. Kitchen cooks help devise new menu items and methods of cooking. Their duties are to prepare food before the arrival of guests, manage employees in the kitchen, and season food according to recipe needs. They assist other cooks during the food assembly process, estimate food consumption, and organize preparation. They keep records and accounts of food purchases, prepare any necessary sauce before the meal service begins, and so on. As kitchen cooks, they must excel in organizational skills, verbal communication, culinary arts, and kitchen equipment. They should be equipped with knowledge of international cuisines, butchering, and basic computational skills.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a cook/server is likely to be skilled in "kitchen equipment," "allergies," "cooking food," and "quality food," while a typical cinder crew worker is skilled in "hand tools," "drive-thru," "tongs," and "mowing."
Cinder crew workers earn the highest salary when working in the government industry, where they receive an average salary of $28,139. Comparatively, cook/servers have the highest earning potential in the retail industry, with an average salary of $29,014.When it comes to education, cinder crew workers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to cook/servers. In fact, they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Cook/server vs. Kitchen cook
Types of cook/server
Updated January 8, 2025
