Fast food cook vs cook/server

The differences between fast food cooks and cook/servers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a cook/server has an average salary of $29,716, which is higher than the $26,093 average annual salary of a fast food cook.

The top three skills for a fast food cook include food handling, safety standards and customer service. The most important skills for a cook/server are customer service, customer orders, and safety standards.

Fast food cook vs cook/server overview

	Fast Food Cook	Cook/Server
Yearly salary	$26,093	$29,716
Hourly rate	$12.54	$14.29
Growth rate	16%	14%
Number of jobs	275,335	257,582
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 51%	High School Diploma, 52%
Average age	38	23
Years of experience	4	-

What does a fast food cook do?

Fast-food cooks maintain utensils, food preparation areas, and cooking surfaces. Besides cooking and serving beverages, fast food cooks also perform their daily duties as per the safety standards and health standards. Their other duties include ordering and taking supply deliveries, cleaning, preparing meals ingredients, and running cooking equipment such as griddles, deep fat fryers, or grills.

What does a cook/server do?

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.

Fast food cook vs cook/server salary

Fast food cooks and cook/servers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Fast Food Cook	Cook/Server
Average salary	$26,093	$29,716
Salary range	Between $19,000 And $34,000	Between $23,000 And $37,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	Bellingham, WA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Alaska
Best paying company	Dell	The Harley School
Best paying industry	Hospitality	Retail

Differences between fast food cook and cook/server education

There are a few differences between a fast food cook and a cook/server in terms of educational background:

	Fast Food Cook	Cook/Server
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 51%	High School Diploma, 52%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	-

Fast food cook vs cook/server demographics

Here are the differences between fast food cooks' and cook/servers' demographics:

	Fast Food Cook	Cook/Server
Average age	38	23
Gender ratio	Male, 74.2% Female, 25.8%	Male, 45.9% Female, 54.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.5% Asian, 8.6% White, 56.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 6.9% Hispanic or Latino, 18.6% Asian, 6.5% White, 57.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	6%	8%

Differences between fast food cook and cook/server duties and responsibilities

Fast food cook example responsibilities.

Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.
Execute daily operations of filtering of the fryers.
Leverage teamwork to fully utilize kitchen staff to generate remarkable food and service to ensure customer satisfaction.
Can make and food at mcdonalds.

Cook/server example responsibilities.

Develop ability to manage multiple stations simultaneously while maintaining high levels of culinary excellence.
Assist customers, bag groceries, replenish carts, and clean store.
Pay close attention to detail while multitasking between communicating over the intercom, utilizing the POS, and order placing.
Make smoothies, coffee, customer service, cashier, fill bakery cooler, inventory, stock, and clean!
Operate the filtration system used for the fryers to keep all sanitation guidelines up to standards as per the health department.
Operate, and maintain clean and safe cooking equipment like pressure cooker deep fryers, plate grills, and deep fryers.

Fast food cook vs cook/server skills

Common fast food cook skills

Food Handling, 18%
Safety Standards, 17%
Customer Service, 10%
Grills, 6%
Kitchen Equipment, 5%
Culinary, 4%

Common cook/server skills

Customer Service, 41%
Customer Orders, 8%
Safety Standards, 6%
Food Preparation, 5%
Kitchen Equipment, 4%
POS, 4%

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Fast Food Cook vs Cook/Server

Updated January 8, 2025

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