Deli cook vs deli clerk

The differences between deli cooks and deli clerks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a deli clerk has an average salary of $32,240, which is higher than the $32,062 average annual salary of a deli cook.

The top three skills for a deli cook include food handling, basic math and cleanliness. The most important skills for a deli clerk are help support, basic math, and excellent guest.

Deli cook vs deli clerk overview

	Deli Cook	Deli Clerk
Yearly salary	$32,062	$32,240
Hourly rate	$15.41	$15.50
Growth rate	16%	2%
Number of jobs	169,287	69,311
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 48%	High School Diploma, 47%
Average age	38	37
Years of experience	4	-

Deli cook vs deli clerk salary

Deli cooks and deli clerks have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Deli Cook	Deli Clerk
Average salary	$32,062	$32,240
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $42,000	Between $24,000 And $43,000
Highest paying City	Beaverton, OR	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Oregon	Washington
Best paying company	Kohler Co.	United Natural Foods
Best paying industry	Hospitality	Retail

Differences between deli cook and deli clerk education

There are a few differences between a deli cook and a deli clerk in terms of educational background:

	Deli Cook	Deli Clerk
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 48%	High School Diploma, 47%
Most common major	Culinary Arts	Business
Most common college	-	-

Deli cook vs deli clerk demographics

Here are the differences between deli cooks' and deli clerks' demographics:

	Deli Cook	Deli Clerk
Average age	38	37
Gender ratio	Male, 40.2% Female, 59.8%	Male, 39.6% Female, 60.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% Asian, 8.5% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%	Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 17.8% Asian, 6.5% White, 58.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between deli cook and deli clerk duties and responsibilities

Deli cook example responsibilities.

Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.
Clean, operate cash register, dismantle and clean equipment, slicers, fryers, rotisserie ovens and reassemble.
Maintain department cleanliness, and provide customer service.
Slice meats & cheeses with rotary blade slicers, size the slices, weigh and wrap foods according to customers satisfaction.
Package meats; grind beef, frozen hamburger patties, chicken fryers, cut up meats, and conduct food inventory.
Maintain cleanliness and preparedness of deli.

Deli clerk example responsibilities.

Open and close deli; schedule work hour coverage; manage and monitor deli cleanliness code; customer service.
Break down pallets in freeze and take seafood orders from customers to be either season or weight up.
Handle equipment such as fryers and slicers as well as used store intercoms to announce weekly / daily specials and promotions.
Operate automatic and manual meat/cheese slicers to customer request.
Break down heavy pallets of cases, boxes and bags.
Work with equipment such as balers, pallet jacks, slicers, ovens.

Deli cook vs deli clerk skills

Common deli cook skills

Food Handling, 21%
Basic Math, 19%
Cleanliness, 10%
Kitchen Equipment, 7%
Slicers, 5%
Customer Service, 5%

Common deli clerk skills

Help Support, 24%
Basic Math, 22%
Excellent Guest, 9%
Slicers, 7%
Hot Food, 4%
Deli Meats, 4%

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Deli Cook vs Deli Clerk

Updated January 8, 2025

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