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The differences between fast food cooks and prep 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 prep cook. Additionally, a prep cook has an average salary of $32,292, 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 prep cook are food handling, culinary, and sanitation standards.
| Fast Food Cook | Prep Cook | |
| Yearly salary | $26,093 | $32,292 |
| Hourly rate | $12.54 | $15.53 |
| Growth rate | 16% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 275,335 | 168,265 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 51% | High School Diploma, 48% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
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.
Prep cooks are responsible for preparing ingredients. They are usually part of an assembly line-like structure in the kitchen. They are often the first station in this assembly line. Prep cooks are in charge of thawing, skinning, cutting, mincing, slicing, and chopping ingredients so that the line cooks can just get these ingredients for their own stations. Prep cooks may also start doing some of the initial activities in the cooking process, such as preparing water for boiling, laying out ingredients, and ensuring that the stoves are clear.
Fast food cooks and prep cooks have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Fast Food Cook | Prep Cook | |
| Average salary | $26,093 | $32,292 |
| Salary range | Between $19,000 And $34,000 | Between $25,000 And $40,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Washington |
| Best paying company | Dell | Kemps |
| Best paying industry | Hospitality | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a fast food cook and a prep cook in terms of educational background:
| Fast Food Cook | Prep Cook | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 51% | High School Diploma, 48% |
| Most common major | Business | Culinary Arts |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between fast food cooks' and prep cooks' demographics:
| Fast Food Cook | Prep Cook | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 74.2% Female, 25.8% | Male, 61.3% Female, 38.7% |
| 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, 9.5% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.2% Asian, 8.6% White, 57.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |