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The differences between dietary cooks and lead cooks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a dietary cook, becoming a lead cook takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a lead cook has an average salary of $35,964, which is higher than the $27,365 average annual salary of a dietary cook.
The top three skills for a dietary cook include patients, food handling and food service. The most important skills for a lead cook are customer service, food handling, and culinary.
| Dietary Cook | Lead Cook | |
| Yearly salary | $27,365 | $35,964 |
| Hourly rate | $13.16 | $17.29 |
| Growth rate | 16% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 191,406 | 160,223 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 41% | Associate Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
A dietary cook specializes in cooking and preparing healthy meals for clients or organizations. It is their duty to follow nutritional plans and guidelines, adhere to portion and quality standards, supervise kitchen staff, and participate in delivering food to rooms or offices. They also monitor the inventory of supplies, maintain the cleanliness of different areas, and keep dishes sanitized at all times. Moreover, a dietary cook must coordinate and maintain an open communication line with fellow kitchen workers to ensure a safe and efficient workflow.
A lead cook, or lead line cook, is an individual restaurant employee who is in charge of supervising the chain of food preparation done by line cooks. Lead cooks work directly under head cooks or chefs who provide instructions in preparing meals. They are well-versed in the restaurant's food health and safety, such as regular hand washing, utensil sanitizing, and proper garbage disposal. To be a successful lead cook, they must obtain knowledge of various cooking techniques and be passionate about food.
Dietary cooks and lead cooks have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Dietary Cook | Lead Cook | |
| Average salary | $27,365 | $35,964 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $34,000 | Between $27,000 And $46,000 |
| Highest paying City | Omaha, NE | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Utah | Washington |
| Best paying company | SantaFe HealthCare | Freeport-McMoRan |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a dietary cook and a lead cook in terms of educational background:
| Dietary Cook | Lead Cook | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 41% | Associate Degree, 35% |
| Most common major | Culinary Arts | Culinary Arts |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between dietary cooks' and lead cooks' demographics:
| Dietary Cook | Lead Cook | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 35.3% Female, 64.7% | Male, 72.6% Female, 27.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 8.2% White, 61.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% | Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 9.4% White, 57.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |