How To Become A Dietary Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a dietary assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

The world of food preparation goes beyond just restaurants and food trucks. Places like hospitals and assisted living facilities also need people to prepare food for patients and residents. These people are often called dietary assistants or dietary aides.

In some ways, the job of a dietary assistant is similar to that of a restaurant worker. They prepare food, clean dishes, and follow health and safety regulations. However, the dietary assistant often works closely with a dietician to develop special meal plans for visitors that need them. Sometimes, a dietary assistant will visit the home of a person who cannot cook for themselves and prepare their meals.

Dietary assistants need to know a lot about food preparation and dietary needs, but they often pick up these skills on the job instead of in a classroom setting. They also need to have excellent physical stamina in order to be on their feet in the kitchen all day and flexibility. Dietary assistants often work long hours, weekends, and holidays, whenever people need food.

ScoreDietary AssistantUS Average

Salary

2.2

Avg. Salary $28,234

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.8

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.2

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.92%

Asian 7.37%

Black or African American 11.35%

Hispanic or Latino 14.54%

Unknown 4.78%

White 61.04%

Gender

female 70.61%

male 29.39%

Age - 34

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 - 34

Stress level

4.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.2

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a dietary assistant

Explore dietary assistant education requirements

Most common dietary assistant degrees

High School Diploma

38.9 %

Bachelor's

26.0 %

Associate

20.8 %

Start to develop specific dietary assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	15.20%
Food Service	10.76%
Meal Trays	8.66%
Food Handling	8.25%
Food Preparation	6.95%

Complete relevant dietary assistant training and internships

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

Research dietary assistant duties and responsibilities

Prepare trays for patients within the hospital's care, taking into consideration dietary requirements and allergies.
Enhance communication skills by providing assistance, companionship and compassion to patients.
Prepare and serve food to visitors and staff upholding HACCP standards.
Insure that patient s food allergies, and intolerance are taken care of and note.

Prepare your dietary assistant resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable dietary assistant resume templates

Build a professional dietary assistant 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 dietary assistant resume.

Apply for dietary assistant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a dietary assistant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do dietary assistants rate their job?

-/5

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Dietary assistant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020

Pros

It’s an honest day’s work. Lots of lifting and walking around. Pots and pans to scrub, pantries to organize. You won’t be bored for a second, there’s always something to do.

Cons

At the end of the day, you’re body is so tired. From doing this much heavy work you’d expect a decent pay check. You won’t make enough to rent an apartment with this job.