Culinary specialist vs caterer

The differences between culinary specialists and caterers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a culinary specialist has an average salary of $37,641, which is higher than the $28,891 average annual salary of a caterer.

The top three skills for a culinary specialist include kitchen equipment, culinary and food safety. The most important skills for a caterer are food service, kitchen equipment, and food delivery.

Culinary specialist vs caterer overview

	Culinary Specialist	Caterer
Yearly salary	$37,641	$28,891
Hourly rate	$18.10	$13.89
Growth rate	15%	10%
Number of jobs	41,696	1,648
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 41%
Average age	37	37
Years of experience	-	-

Culinary specialist vs caterer salary

Culinary specialists and caterers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Culinary Specialist	Caterer
Average salary	$37,641	$28,891
Salary range	Between $23,000 And $60,000	Between $22,000 And $36,000
Highest paying City	-	Beverly, MA
Highest paying state	-	New York
Best paying company	-	The College of St. Scholastica
Best paying industry	-	Hospitality

Differences between culinary specialist and caterer education

There are a few differences between a culinary specialist and a caterer in terms of educational background:

	Culinary Specialist	Caterer
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 41%
Most common major	Culinary Arts	Business
Most common college	-	-

Culinary specialist vs caterer demographics

Here are the differences between culinary specialists' and caterers' demographics:

	Culinary Specialist	Caterer
Average age	37	37
Gender ratio	Male, 71.8% Female, 28.2%	Male, 43.0% Female, 57.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.4% Asian, 7.0% White, 57.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 10.3% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 17.7% Asian, 6.1% White, 59.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%
LGBT Percentage	10%	10%

Differences between culinary specialist and caterer duties and responsibilities

Culinary specialist example responsibilities.

Manage and lead a HACCP plan for the restaurant.
Manage user securities, roles, database backups, restore, fail-over management for SQL cluster.
Help maintain haccp records, and all sanitation rules.
Set up the batter cart, fryers, and chicken holding cabinet and collect all necessary small wares.
Design and fabricate menu items for guests with gluten sensitivitys, sulfates allergies, and low fat constraints.
Provide meals for patients with food allergies, food sensitivities, diseases and those revolving from surgical procedures, and pediatrics.

Caterer example responsibilities.

Help serve foods from buffet to ADM employees.
Plan and prepare meals for the local Headstart program.
Set up's and breaking down of parties, service, bartending
Set up tables, action stations, buffets, service carts, dessert table/carts and cordial carts.
Serve and wait on diners in traditional sit-down meal settings as well as buffets and drink bars.
Perform bartending for many events, often individually.

Culinary specialist vs caterer skills

Common culinary specialist skills

Kitchen Equipment, 16%
Culinary, 16%
Food Safety, 12%
Patients, 11%
Cleanliness, 7%
Food Storage, 4%

Common caterer skills

Food Service, 28%
Kitchen Equipment, 20%
Food Delivery, 8%
Banquet Service, 7%
Bartending, 5%
Fine Dining, 4%

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Culinary Specialist vs Caterer

Updated January 8, 2025

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