What does a dietary cook do?
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.
Dietary cook responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real dietary cook resumes:
- Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.
- Provide attention and compassion to all resident's.
- Train with culinary chefs and staff members on dinning facility services and organization.
- Utilize a broad range of culinary skills to include grill and saute as well as salad and deserts.
- Make sure food is prepared within the guidelines of ServSafe and residents' with special needs are tend to.
- Prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner for residents according to SERVSAFE and HAACP procedures and standards on a daily basis.
- Instruct and supervise other workers in the preparation, cooking, garnishing, presenting, and coordinating of food and activities.
- Instruct cooks and other workers in the preparation process, cooking, garnishing, and specialize in large quantities of food.
- Frequent interaction with patients to understand dietary requests and ensure overall comfort.
- Interview patients and family members according to nutrition care plan under supervision of dietitian or non-commission officer.
- Assist with food preparation and serving, assist with kitchen clean-up and groceries.
- Prepare food for the line during downtime, and do saute and expo when the rush hits.
- Lead line cook, expo, fry to grill and floater as needed if over staff for the day/night.
- Create pizzas for customers as listed or request and run a large pizza oven.
Dietary cook skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of Dietary Cooks are proficient in Patients, Food Handling, and Food Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Sense of taste and smell, Dexterity, and Physical stamina.
We break down the percentage of Dietary Cooks that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 16%
Interviewed patients and family members according to nutrition care plan under supervision of dietitian or non-commissioned officer.
- Food Handling, 16%
Followed sanitary food handling procedures when preparing food.
- Food Service, 13%
Maintained a sanitary food service environment.
- Kitchen Equipment, 9%
Maintained and recorded temperatures for all kitchen equipment.
- Meal Service, 7%
Observed strict dietary regulations and critical time-management skills in order to provide timely meal service.
- Rehabilitation, 6%
Position required supervising approximately 13 other employees within kitchen area of rehabilitation center.
Most dietary cooks use their skills in "patients," "food handling," and "food service" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential dietary cook responsibilities here:
Sense of taste and smell. One of the key soft skills for a dietary cook to have is sense of taste and smell. You can see how this relates to what dietary cooks do because "cooks must have a keen sense of taste and smell to prepare meals that customers enjoy." Additionally, a dietary cook resume shows how dietary cooks use sense of taste and smell: "prepared nutritious meals and snacks for the elderly. "
Dexterity. Another essential skill to perform dietary cook duties is dexterity. Dietary cooks responsibilities require that "cooks should have excellent hand–eye coordination." Dietary cooks also use dexterity in their role according to a real resume snippet: "wash dishes, pots and silverware using dishwasher and/or hands. "
Physical stamina. This is an important skill for dietary cooks to perform their duties. For an example of how dietary cook responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "cooks spend a lot of time standing in one place, cooking food over hot stoves, and cleaning work areas." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a dietary cook: "responded appropriately to the physical, emotional and development needs of patients. ".
The three companies that hire the most dietary cooks are:
- Petersen Health Care33 dietary cooks jobs
- North Shore Healthcare23 dietary cooks jobs
- RWJBarnabas Health14 dietary cooks jobs
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Compare different dietary cooks
Dietary cook vs. Cook chill technician
Cooks/servers are employees who take on the dual role of being a cook and a server in the restaurant. They are usually trained cooks who are in charge of preparing meals for the guests. They prepare ingredients, cook them according to the recipe, and serve them to guests. They are responsible for ensuring that the food is prepared and served to guests within the promised time. They are in charge of managing the pantry, ensuring that the stock is fresh, and checking whether the stock is low. They are expected to have culinary skills, precision, and time management skills.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a dietary cook are more likely to require skills like "patients," "food handling," "food service," and "meal service." On the other hand, a job as a cook chill technician requires skills like "haccp," "cooling towers," "chill," and "safety issues." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that cook chill technicians earn slightly differ from dietary cooks. In particular, cook chill technicians are 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a dietary cook. Additionally, they're 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Dietary cook vs. Cook/server
A line cook/prep cook is responsible for assisting with food preparations, ensuring that all ingredients are readily available and stored safely. Line cook/prep cook tasks also include reviewing and updating menus to keep the customers' patronization. Their duties also include researching the current food industry trends, managing customers' inquiries, resolving serving complaints, monitoring food supplies and inventories, and complying with sanitary regulations. A line cook/prep cook must have excellent time-management and multi-tasking skills to perform various tasks under strict time demands and a fast-paced environment.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real dietary cook resumes. While dietary cook responsibilities can utilize skills like "patients," "food handling," "food service," and "meal service," cook/servers use skills like "customer orders," "pos," "drink orders," and "mathematics."
Cook/servers earn a higher average salary than dietary cooks. But cook/servers earn the highest pay in the retail industry, with an average salary of $29,014. Additionally, dietary cooks earn the highest salaries in the manufacturing with average pay of $28,299 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Cook/servers tend to reach similar levels of education than dietary cooks. In fact, they're 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Dietary cook vs. Cook/baker
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from dietary cook resumes include skills like "meal service," "rehabilitation," "diet orders," and "compassion," whereas a cook/baker is more likely to list skills in "math," "safety regulations," "haccp," and "cafeterias. "
Cook/bakers earn the highest salary when working in the hospitality industry, where they receive an average salary of $32,857. Comparatively, dietary cooks have the highest earning potential in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $28,299.When it comes to education, cook/bakers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to dietary cooks. In fact, they're 0.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Dietary cook vs. Line cook, prep cook
Even though a few skill sets overlap between dietary cooks and line cooks, prep cook, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a dietary cook might have more use for skills like "patients," "food service," "meal service," and "rehabilitation." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of line cooks, prep cook require skills like "salad station," "line cooks," "exceptional dining," and "roasting. "
In general, line cooks, prep cook earn the most working in the retail industry, with an average salary of $33,354. The highest-paying industry for a dietary cook is the manufacturing industry.In general, line cooks, prep cook hold similar degree levels compared to dietary cooks. Line cooks, prep cook are 0.1% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of dietary cook
Updated January 8, 2025
