Working at a deli, whether it's located in a grocery store or just in a stand-alone shop, takes a lot of patience. As a deli clerk, you'll be dealing with customers throughout your shift. It doesn't matter if they come in with a really big order that takes forever to fill or they're rude to you, your employer will be impressed as long as you wear a smile the entire time.
But good customer service isn't the end-all be-all for this position. Not every order is going to suck and not every customer is going to take patience. You might even develop a friendly relationship with those who become your "regulars." It's those orders and customers that make your job fun.
Deli clerks receive training after they're hired so that they understand how to measure deli items and price them correctly. Depending on where you're working you may even have to help customers check-out.
Deli Clerk Overview
Deli Clerk Careers
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a deli clerk. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.82 an hour? That's $30,825 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 69,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Deli Clerk Do
There are certain skills that many deli clerks have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed physical strength, listening skills and communication skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a deli clerk, we found that a lot of resumes listed 23.7% of deli clerks included deli, while 14.1% of resumes included food preparation, and 6.7% of resumes included customer service. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the deli clerk job title. But what industry to start with? Most deli clerks actually find jobs in the retail and hospitality industries.
How To Become a Deli Clerk
If you're interested in becoming a deli clerk, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 14.3% of deli clerks have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 0.8% of deli clerks have master's degrees. Even though some deli clerks have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a deli clerk. When we researched the most common majors for a deli clerk, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on deli clerk resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a deli clerk. In fact, many deli clerk jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many deli clerks also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or customer service representative.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the right jobs to get there.
Deli Clerk Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a deli clerk can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as housekeeper, progress to a title such as personal assistant and then eventually end up with the title account manager.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Deli Clerk
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
Sprouts Farmers Market Deli Clerk Deli Clerk | Sprouts Farmers Market Sprouts Farmers Market | 03/29/2021 03/29/2021 | $30,82503/29/2021 $30,825 |
Town and Country Markets Food Service Clerk-Deli Food Service Clerk-Deli | Town and Country Markets Town and Country Markets | 03/28/2021 03/28/2021 | $35,27003/28/2021 $35,270 |
Albertsons Deli Clerk Deli Clerk | Albertsons Albertsons | 03/27/2021 03/27/2021 | $25,04403/27/2021 $25,044 |
BJ's Wholesale Club Deli Clerk--. Deli Clerk--. | BJ's Wholesale Club BJ's Wholesale Club | 03/24/2021 03/24/2021 | $33,91403/24/2021 $33,914 |
PCC Natural Markets Deli Helper Clerk Deli Helper Clerk | PCC Natural Markets PCC Natural Markets | 03/24/2021 03/24/2021 | $33,39203/24/2021 $33,392 |
Calculate your salary
Use Zippia's Salary Calculator to see how your pay matches up.
Deli Clerk Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Deli Clerk. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Deli Clerk Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Deli Clerk resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Skills For a Deli Clerk
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 23.7% of deli clerks listed deli on their resume, but soft skills such as physical strength and listening skills are important as well.
- Deli, 23.7%
- Food Preparation, 14.1%
- Customer Service, 6.7%
- Communication, 6.6%
- Special Orders, 6.0%
- Other Skills, 42.9% See All Deli Clerk Skills
Best States For a Deli Clerk
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a deli clerk. The best states for people in this position are Pennsylvania, Ohio, Nevada, and Rhode Island. Deli clerks make the most in Pennsylvania with an average salary of $100,000. Whereas in Ohio and Nevada, they would average $42,664 and $32,539, respectively. While deli clerks would only make an average of $32,539 in Rhode Island, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Pennsylvania
$100,000
Avg. Salary
2. Ohio
$42,664
Avg. Salary
3. Alaska
$30,879
Avg. Salary
How Do Deli Clerk Rate Their Jobs?
Top Deli Clerk Employers
Deli Clerk Videos
