Cook chill technician vs lead cook

The differences between cook chill technicians and lead cooks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a cook chill technician, becoming a lead cook takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a lead cook has an average salary of $35,964, which is higher than the $35,351 average annual salary of a cook chill technician.

The top three skills for a cook chill technician include HACCP, kitchen equipment and fryers. The most important skills for a lead cook are customer service, food handling, and culinary.

Cook chill technician vs lead cook overview

	Cook Chill Technician	Lead Cook
Yearly salary	$35,351	$35,964
Hourly rate	$17.00	$17.29
Growth rate	16%	16%
Number of jobs	13,633	160,223
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 39%	Associate Degree, 35%
Average age	38	38
Years of experience	2	4

Cook chill technician vs lead cook salary

Cook chill technicians and lead cooks have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Cook Chill Technician	Lead Cook
Average salary	$35,351	$35,964
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $48,000	Between $27,000 And $46,000
Highest paying City	-	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	Freeport-McMoRan
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between cook chill technician and lead cook education

There are a few differences between a cook chill technician and a lead cook in terms of educational background:

	Cook Chill Technician	Lead Cook
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 39%	Associate Degree, 35%
Most common major	Computer Science	Culinary Arts
Most common college	-	-

Cook chill technician vs lead cook demographics

Here are the differences between cook chill technicians' and lead cooks' demographics:

	Cook Chill Technician	Lead Cook
Average age	38	38
Gender ratio	Male, 73.2% Female, 26.8%	Male, 72.6% Female, 27.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 20.4% Asian, 7.0% White, 57.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 9.4% White, 57.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between cook chill technician and lead cook duties and responsibilities

Cook chill technician example responsibilities.

Advance to increasingly responsible positions, culminating in management role with oversight for a full-service pizzeria.
Check food temperatures as well as coolers, freezer, and dishwasher to ensure that kitchen is within health guidelines.

Lead cook example responsibilities.

Manage food expo; facilitate food temp logs; creation of menu specials; management and supervision of production staff
Manage inventory and purchasing of groceries.
Operate standard cooking equipment including slicers, food choppers, fryers, refrigerators, ovens and stoves.
Operate ovens, stoves, grills, microwaves, turbo chefs, and fryers.
Use and clean commercial ovens, meat slicers, steamers, combination ovens and steam kettles.
Operate ovens, stoves, grills, microwaves, kettles, and tilt skillet.

Cook chill technician vs lead cook skills

Common cook chill technician skills

HACCP, 34%
Kitchen Equipment, 25%
Fryers, 14%
Chill, 12%
Culinary, 7%
Product Quality, 2%

Common lead cook skills

Customer Service, 14%
Food Handling, 14%
Culinary, 11%
Food Service, 11%
Kitchen Equipment, 7%
Math, 5%

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Food Preparation and Restaurant Industry
Cook Chill Technician
Cook Chill Technician vs Lead Cook

Updated January 8, 2025

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