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The differences between cooking chefs and food service workers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a cooking chef has an average salary of $34,973, which is higher than the $28,753 average annual salary of a food service worker.
The top three skills for a cooking chef include food service, food handling and kitchen equipment. The most important skills for a food service worker are food handling, safety standards, and customer service.
| Cooking Chef | Food Service Worker | |
| Yearly salary | $34,973 | $28,753 |
| Hourly rate | $16.81 | $13.82 |
| Growth rate | 15% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 136,558 | 169,323 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 31% | High School Diploma, 44% |
| Average age | 42 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 6 | - |
A cooking chef oversees all people performing kitchen duties under their mandate. These professionals oversee timeliness, sanitary issues, ingredient preparation, meal preparation, and final presentations. Besides engaging in menu planning and creating recipes, a cooking chef also performs several administrative tasks from one day to another. They place supply orders, track inventory, calculate payroll, calculate costs, and handle complaints from the employee or customer. Moreover, a cooking chef trains the kitchen staff to ensure they perform their duties correctly.
Foodservice workers are employees at restaurants, food trucks, or any outlet that provides food to customers. They may be assigned to welcome customers, take food orders, prepare food orders in the kitchen, serve food, handle customer payments, clean up the tables once the guests leave, or maintain the whole store's cleanliness. They may also be assigned to manage inventories, handle stocks and deliveries, and other activities related to the restaurant's successful operations. Foodservice workers must always be hygienic and maintain the sanitation of the area to ensure food safety.
Cooking chefs and food service workers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Cooking Chef | Food Service Worker | |
| Average salary | $34,973 | $28,753 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $49,000 | Between $22,000 And $36,000 |
| Highest paying City | Teaneck, NJ | Urban Honolulu, HI |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | Memphis Country Club | University of California, Berkeley |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Retail |
There are a few differences between a cooking chef and a food service worker in terms of educational background:
| Cooking Chef | Food Service Worker | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 31% | High School Diploma, 44% |
| Most common major | Culinary Arts | Business |
| Most common college | Drexel University | - |
Here are the differences between cooking chefs' and food service workers' demographics:
| Cooking Chef | Food Service Worker | |
| Average age | 42 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 76.3% Female, 23.7% | Male, 36.6% Female, 63.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.9% Asian, 12.0% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 12.3% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 7.1% White, 58.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 6% |