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Cooks, Short Order: Career Overview

Prepare and cook to order a variety of foods that require only a short preparation time. May take orders from customers and serve patrons at counters or tables.

The Daily Work of Cooks, Short Order Take On?

The day-to-day responsibilities of cooks, short order span:

• Clean food preparation equipment, work areas, and counters or tables.
• Restock kitchen supplies, rotate food, and stamp the time and date on food in coolers.
• Complete orders from steam tables, placing food on plates and serving customers at tables or counters.
• Plan work on orders so that items served together are finished at the same time.
• Grill, cook, and fry foods such as french fries, eggs, and pancakes.
• Perform food preparation tasks, such as making sandwiches, carving meats, making soups or salads, baking breads or desserts, and brewing coffee or tea.
• Perform general cleaning activities in kitchen and dining areas.
• Take orders from customers and cook foods requiring short preparation times, according to customer requirements.

Key Skills and Knowledge

Successful cooks, short order draw on a mix of skills and domain knowledge.

Top Skills

These are the skills most central to this role, rated on an importance scale of 0 to 5:

Knowledge Areas

Related Job Titles

People in this occupation may also be known by titles such as:

• Barbecue Cook
• Bed and Breakfast Cook (B&B Cook)
• Breakfast Cook
• Breakfast Line Cook
• Broiler Cook
• Chuck Wagon Cook
• Cook
• Deli Cook (Delicatessen Cook)

Employment and Demand

There are roughly 1,875,354 cooks, short order working in the United States today. Employment is projected to grow by +1.8% over the projection horizon.

Cooks, Short Order Pay

Statistic	Value
Annual median	$40,823
Hourly median	$19.63
10th percentile	$25,292
25th percentile	$33,058
75th percentile	$48,589
90th percentile	$56,354

Pay can vary substantially based on experience, location, and industry.

Pay by State

State	Annual median salary
Arizona	$46,240
Washington	$46,010
Massachusetts	$44,770
Colorado	$44,090
Hawaii	$41,100
Alaska	$39,940
Vermont	$39,140
California	$39,010
Nevada	$38,970
District of Columbia	$38,340
New Mexico	$38,130
Connecticut	$36,970
New York	$36,830
Illinois	$36,700
Utah	$36,680
Oregon	$35,620
Wyoming	$35,620
Missouri	$35,300
Maryland	$35,280
New Jersey	$35,190
North Dakota	$34,700
Rhode Island	$34,410
Florida	$34,320
Maine	$34,070
Delaware	$31,960
Iowa	$31,520
Montana	$31,490
Idaho	$31,280
Nebraska	$31,200
South Dakota	$31,160
Oklahoma	$31,040
Indiana	$30,700
Michigan	$30,670
North Carolina	$30,530
Virginia	$30,270
Arkansas	$29,410
Minnesota	$29,260
South Carolina	$29,180
Kentucky	$29,120
New Hampshire	$29,000
Tennessee	$29,000
Texas	$28,770
Ohio	$28,400
West Virginia	$27,480
Wisconsin	$27,300
Louisiana	$27,050
Kansas	$26,780
Mississippi	$25,710
Alabama	$25,340
Guam	$22,350
Georgia	$22,160
Puerto Rico	$20,200
Pennsylvania	$18,400

Pay by U.S. Region

Pay for cooks, short order vary by region. These regions lead on median pay:

Region	Median annual wage	Share of U.S. jobs	Location quotient
Rocky Mountains	$41,260	2.5%	0.60
Far Western US	$39,057	33.8%	1.86
New England	$37,814	7.6%	2.21
Plains States	$31,831	7.2%	1.90
Southwest	$30,675	5.0%	0.49
Great Lakes	$29,571	13.2%	0.95
Southeast	$27,893	23.6%	1.12
Middle Atlantic	$26,869	6.4%	0.71

Top Metro Areas

Metro area	State	Median annual wage	Employment
Kahului-Wailuku, HI	HI	$48,970	140
Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler, AZ	AZ	$48,700
Barnstable Town, MA	MA	$46,830	190
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA	WA	$46,010
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA	CA	$44,270
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO	CO	$44,090	1,160
Wenatchee-East Wenatchee, WA	WA	$43,740	50
Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH	MA	$43,610	4,070

Top Industries Employing Cooks, Short Order

The largest employers of cooks, short order are found across these industries:

Industry	Employment	Median annual wage
Accommodation and Food Services	124,350	$35,620
Retail Trade	14,940	$35,170
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation	5,670	$33,390
Manufacturing	1,360	$37,190
Other Services (except Public Administration)	1,250	$30,540
Health Care and Social Assistance	1,030	$44,430
Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services	640	$39,760
Information	360	$46,860

Below are examples of industries where cooks, short order work:

Tools and Technology

• Point of sale POS software: Aldelo Systems Aldelo for Restaurants Pro
• Point of sale POS software: Foodman Home-Delivery
• Inventory management software: Inventory control software
• Point of sale POS software: Plexis Software Plexis POS
• Point of sale POS software: Point of sale POS software
• Point of sale POS software: RestaurantPlus PRO

Work Environment

The on-the-job environment of cooks, short order reflects the following characteristics:

• Spend Time Standing
• Face-to-Face Discussions with Individuals and Within Teams
• Indoors, Environmentally Controlled
• Freedom to Make Decisions
• Physical Proximity

Getting Started in This Career

Typical cooks, short order positions require a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education. The role falls in Some Preparation Needed (Job Zone 2), signaling the level of preparation typically expected.

Related Careers

Similar Occupations

• Food Service Managers (Supplemental)
• Chefs and Head Cooks (Primary-Long)
• Cooks, Fast Food (Primary-Short)
• Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria (Primary-Short)
• Cooks, Private Household (Primary-Long)
• Cooks, Restaurant (Primary-Short)
• Food Preparation Workers (Primary-Short)
• Fast Food and Counter Workers (Primary-Long)

About the Data

This profile draws on the following authoritative sources:

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) for employment and wage data by state and industry.
• BLS Employment Projections for total employment and growth forecasts.
• O*NET (Occupational Information Network) for skills, knowledge, tasks, work activities, work context, technology, and education-zone data.

SOC code: 35-2015.00 (Cooks, Short Order).