Fast food cook vs line cook

The differences between fast food cooks and line cooks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a fast food cook and a line cook. Additionally, a line cook has an average salary of $32,894, 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 line cook are culinary, sanitation standards, and food handling.

Fast food cook vs line cook overview

	Fast Food Cook	Line Cook
Yearly salary	$26,093	$32,894
Hourly rate	$12.54	$15.81
Growth rate	16%	16%
Number of jobs	275,335	168,993
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 51%	High School Diploma, 36%
Average age	38	38
Years of experience	4	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 line cook do?

Line cooks are responsible for preparing meals for guests or employers. The term line cook brings to mind an assembly line. This is apt because line cooks are usually assigned to a specific station to work on a specific part of a meal or a preparation process. They are part of a bigger group of cooks in the restaurant. This is done so that meal preparation is more efficient. Line cooks are responsible for preparing ingredients, ensuring that the pantry is well-stocked, and doing their assigned activity in the line. They are expected to be good team players, have experience as a cook, and be able to follow recipes and provide alternatives when necessary.

Fast food cook vs line cook salary

Fast food cooks and line cooks have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Fast Food Cook	Line Cook
Average salary	$26,093	$32,894
Salary range	Between $19,000 And $34,000	Between $26,000 And $40,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Hawaii
Best paying company	Dell	Gate City Bank
Best paying industry	Hospitality	Hospitality

Differences between fast food cook and line cook education

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

	Fast Food Cook	Line Cook
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 51%	High School Diploma, 36%
Most common major	Business	Culinary Arts
Most common college	-	-

Fast food cook vs line cook demographics

Here are the differences between fast food cooks' and line cooks' demographics:

	Fast Food Cook	Line Cook
Average age	38	38
Gender ratio	Male, 74.2% Female, 25.8%	Male, 73.1% Female, 26.9%
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, 9.4% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 8.9% White, 57.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between fast food cook and line cook 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.

Line cook example responsibilities.

Used strong organizational skills to manage steamers efficiently for both eat-in and take-out services.
Supervise cooks and manage the preparation, portioning, garnishing, and storage of all food items, cutting meat size.
Manage the POS system (adding/deleting specials, editing prices, viewing server appetizer/dessert sales and their server report information).
Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.
Used equipment such as meat slicers, salamanders and steamers.
Develop food preparation skills and knowledge of tools involve; such as proper use of knives and automate slicers.

Fast food cook vs line cook skills

Common fast food cook skills

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

Common line cook skills

Culinary, 12%
Sanitation Standards, 11%
Food Handling, 11%
Team Work, 9%
Kitchen Equipment, 8%
Cleanliness, 8%

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Fast Food Cook vs Line Cook

Updated January 8, 2025

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