How To Become A Culinary Internship: What It Is and Career Path

What is a culinary internship and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

If you want to see your cooking skills become top notch in short order, then you should definitely look into joining a culinary internship staff. This type of internship will give you the chance to fulfill a wide range of menu orders by preparing ingredients and assembling signature dishes according to a restaurant's recipes and specifications. As part of a culinary internship, you'll get a chance to assist chefs, develop recipes, measure ingredients, replenish supplies, and keep workstations clean.

If you want to excel in a culinary internship, you'll need to have thorough cooking knowledge, great stamina, and a safety conscious mindset. Typically, you'll be cooking food on a restaurant line with high temperatures and dozens of other workers around you. You'll also need to be a detail-oriented team player, who is able to work in a fast-paced environment. In order to be accepted into a culinary internship, you'll typically need an Associate's degree in culinary arts or several years' experience in an equivalent food production operation.

ScoreCulinary InternshipUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $31,368

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.2

Growth rate 16%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.00%

Asian 9.18%

Black or African American 9.32%

Hispanic or Latino 18.66%

Unknown 4.49%

White 57.33%

Gender

female 47.98%

male 52.02%

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

6.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.3

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.4

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a culinary internship

Explore culinary internship education requirements

Most common culinary internship degrees

Associate

42.0 %

Bachelor's

30.8 %

High School Diploma

14.7 %

Start to develop specific culinary internship skills

Skills	Percentages
Culinary	29.36%
Kitchen Equipment	10.84%
Food Handling	8.75%
Cleanliness	6.85%
ServSafe	5.65%

Complete relevant culinary internship training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New culinary interns 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 culinary internship based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real culinary internship resumes.

Gain additional culinary internship certifications

Culinary internship certifications can show employers you have a baseline of knowledge expected for the position. Certifications can also make you a more competitive candidate. Even if employers don't require a specific culinary internship certification, having one may help you stand out relative to other applicants.

The most common certifications for culinary interns include ServSafe Alcohol and Food Safety Manager Certification.

More About Certifications

Research culinary internship duties and responsibilities

Supervise cooks and manage the preparations, portioning, garnishing and storage of all food items.
Manage inventory and facilitate product orders of the culinary and science departments.
Manage cold kitchen production for a luxury hotel with a Michelin star restaurant
Operate ovens, stoves, grills, microwaves, and fryers.

Prepare your culinary internship resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your culinary internship 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 culinary internship resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable culinary internship resume templates

Build a professional culinary internship 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 culinary internship resume.