Dietary worker vs catering assistant

The differences between dietary workers and catering assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a catering assistant has an average salary of $32,101, which is higher than the $27,601 average annual salary of a dietary worker.

The top three skills for a dietary worker include patients, food service and customer service. The most important skills for a catering assistant are patients, food service, and customer service.

Dietary worker vs catering assistant overview

	Dietary Worker	Catering Assistant
Yearly salary	$27,601	$32,101
Hourly rate	$13.27	$15.43
Growth rate	2%	2%
Number of jobs	44,736	10,042
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Average age	37	37
Years of experience	-	-

Dietary worker vs catering assistant salary

Dietary workers and catering assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Dietary Worker	Catering Assistant
Average salary	$27,601	$32,101
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $35,000	Between $26,000 And $38,000
Highest paying City	-	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	-	Hawaii
Best paying company	-	Massachusetts General Hospital
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between dietary worker and catering assistant education

There are a few differences between a dietary worker and a catering assistant in terms of educational background:

	Dietary Worker	Catering Assistant
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 45%	Bachelor's Degree, 45%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Dietary worker vs catering assistant demographics

Here are the differences between dietary workers' and catering assistants' demographics:

	Dietary Worker	Catering Assistant
Average age	37	37
Gender ratio	Male, 44.3% Female, 55.7%	Male, 32.2% Female, 67.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.0% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 15.5% Asian, 6.4% White, 60.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%	Black or African American, 12.3% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 18.0% Asian, 7.2% White, 56.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between dietary worker and catering assistant duties and responsibilities

Dietary worker example responsibilities.

Job duties consist of delivering food trays to patients, maintaining a clean and sanitary work space, and restocking products.
Prepare and provide healthy meal to patients according to their nutritional requirement.
Assist with planning and directing food preparation and culinary activities along with safely handling and storing all products appropriately.
Experience in operating a heavy duty dishwasher
Stack washable items for dishwasher and operate dishwasher according to department guidelines.
Distribute meals, help with cleanup and adhere to hospital sanitation policies.

Catering assistant example responsibilities.

Manage and prioritize restaurant reservations.
Monitor patients who cannot receive anything by mouth (NPO) or on liquid diets.
Assist dieticians with monitoring of patients who are NPO, on liquid diets or need to have intake record.
Run POS for student payments, including meal cards and cash.
Comply with regulator agency standards, including federal, state and JCAHO.
Adhere to HIPAA guidelines while processing menu orders with the patient information.

Dietary worker vs catering assistant skills

Common dietary worker skills

Patients, 16%
Food Service, 15%
Customer Service, 13%
Dishes, 9%
Phone Calls, 9%
Patient Orders, 6%

Common catering assistant skills

Patients, 25%
Food Service, 21%
Customer Service, 12%
Food Safety, 7%
Food Delivery, 6%
Beverage Service, 4%

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Food Preparation and Restaurant Industry
Dietary Worker
Dietary Worker vs Catering Assistant

Updated January 8, 2025

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