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What does a fast food worker do?

Updated January 8, 2025
6 min read
What does a fast food worker do
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Fast food worker responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real fast food worker resumes:

  • Operate ovens, deep fryers, grills, cash registers, and other appliances.
  • Operate large-volume cooking equipment such as grills, deep-fat fryers, conventional and microwave ovens.
  • Experience at POS, always give customer satisfaction and very persuasive with sales.
  • Landscape public parks utilizing a variety of heavy machinery including weed whackers, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, and trimmers.
  • Cook foods by baking, roasting, broiling, frying, steaming and grilling.
  • Brew coffee and tea, and fill containers with request beverages.

Fast food worker skills and personality traits

We calculated that 28% of Fast Food Workers are proficient in Food Handling, Basic Math, and Drive-Thru. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Customer-service skills, and Physical strength.

We break down the percentage of Fast Food Workers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Food Handling, 28%

    Ensured appropriate food handling procedures were followed including stocking, storing, wrapping, and dating.

  • Basic Math, 17%

    Used basic mathematics to solve problems with registers and customers.

  • Drive-Thru, 9%

    Worked fast food as Drive-Thru employee where I interacted with people on a daily basis.

  • Safety Standards, 4%

    Maintained and enforced State- and OSHA-mandated health, sanitation, and safety standards.

  • Customer Service, 4%

    Preserved high principles of customer service during high-volume, fast-paced operations.

  • Drink Orders, 4%

    Obtain food and drink orders from customers and prepare and serve the food ordered to the customers.

Most fast food workers use their skills in "food handling," "basic math," and "drive-thru" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential fast food worker responsibilities here:

Communication skills. The most essential soft skill for a fast food worker to carry out their responsibilities is communication skills. This skill is important for the role because "food and beverage serving and related workers must listen carefully to their customers’ orders and relay them correctly to the kitchen staff so that the orders are prepared to the customers’ request." Additionally, a fast food worker resume shows how their duties depend on communication skills: "provided customer service through a headset at drive-thru and face to face communication produced orders to customer s specific request"

Customer-service skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling fast food worker duties is customer-service skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "food service establishments rely on good food and customer service to keep customers and succeed in a competitive industry." According to a fast food worker resume, here's how fast food workers can utilize customer-service skills in their job responsibilities: "cashier, drive-thru, side-prep, cook, sandwich prep, janitorial, customer service, trainer, and leader. "

Physical strength. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of fast food workers is physical strength. This skill is critical to many everyday fast food worker duties, as "food and beverage serving and related workers need to be able to lift and carry stock and equipment that can weigh up to 50 pounds." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "worked in extreme conditions during summer months doing physical labor such as planting trees, mowing lawns and painting. "

Most common fast food worker skills

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Compare different fast food workers

Fast food worker vs. Deli associate

A deli associate is personnel who works in grocery and deli stores and assists shoppers by responding to their inquiries and requests. He/She updates his/her product displays to ensure that new items and promotions are showcased and follow all food safety and sanitation. Aside from engaging with customers, deli associates must possess the ability to lift heavy objects and operates equipment such as cash registers and meat slicers. Also, deli associates' minimum educational requirement is a high school diploma, but experience in deli counter work is a plus.

We looked at the average fast food worker salary and compared it with the wages of a deli associate. Generally speaking, deli associates are paid $3,500 higher than fast food workers per year.Even though fast food workers and deli associates are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require food handling, basic math, and safety standards in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a fast food worker are more likely to require skills like "drive-thru," "drink orders," "food preparation," and "credit card machines." On the other hand, a job as a deli associate requires skills like "math," "food safety," "slicers," and "cold food." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.

On average, deli associates reach similar levels of education than fast food workers. Deli associates are 0.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Fast food worker vs. Crew trainer

A crew trainer is responsible for training new staff with the overall tasks to ensure the success of daily operations. Crew trainers' duties include serving customers efficiently, assisting customers with their needs and special requests, facilitating the distribution of tasks, monitoring staff performance, managing orders, and adhering to the sanitation standards and safety procedures. A crew trainer must have excellent time-management and leadership skills, as well as the ability to multi-task to perform various tasks with accuracy and efficiency.

Crew trainer positions earn higher pay than fast food worker roles. They earn a $28,268 higher salary than fast food workers per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both fast food workers and crew trainers have skills such as "drive-thru," "safety standards," and "customer service. "

Each career also uses different skills, according to real fast food worker resumes. While fast food worker responsibilities can utilize skills like "food handling," "basic math," "credit card machines," and "ice cream," crew trainers use skills like "role model," "customer orders," "customer satisfaction," and "leadership."

Crew trainers earn similar levels of education than fast food workers in general. They're 0.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Fast food worker vs. Crew member

Crew members assist in the overall daily operations of a business, including restaurants, hotels, resorts, and other industries needing a large workforce. Crew members' duties include attending on a customer's needs, processing payments, taking orders, and handling sanitation services. Crew members should have excellent time-management skills and ability to multi-task, especially for the fast-paced operations. They must also adhere to the safety standards and procedures as required by the business. Crew members should also report incidents and escalate concerns from the clients to the management as needed.

An average crew member eans a higher salary compared to the average salary of fast food workers. The difference in salaries amounts to crew members earning a $4,086 higher average salary than fast food workers.By looking over several fast food workers and crew members resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "basic math," "safety standards," and "customer service." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a fast food worker is likely to be skilled in "food handling," "drive-thru," "credit card machines," and "food service," while a typical crew member is skilled in "cleanliness," "english language," "excellent guest," and "food products."

Crew members earn the best pay in the retail industry, where they command an average salary of $30,847. Fast food workers earn the highest pay from the hospitality industry, with an average salary of $24,704.crew members typically earn similar educational levels compared to fast food workers. Specifically, they're 0.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Fast food worker vs. Crew person

A crew member is responsible for performing various support tasks in accordance with project or workplace guidelines. Although a crew member's duties vary depending on the industry or company they work for, their responsibilities often include following manager directives, completing physical tasks, keeping records, engaging with clients, and producing progress reports as necessary. In some industries, a crew member handles complaints and concerns, which they must solve promptly and courteously to keep customers satisfied. Additionally, a crew member works in a team setting, which make teamwork and good communication skills important skills for this position.

Crew people tend to earn a higher pay than fast food workers by an average of $3,051 per year.While both fast food workers and crew people complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like food handling, drive-thru, and safety standards, the two careers vary in some skills.Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A fast food worker uses "basic math," "credit card machines," "fast food restaurant," and "computer system." Crew people are more likely to have duties that require skills in "cleanliness," "clean environment," "restaurant cleanliness," and "dependability. "In general, crew people earn the most working in the government industry, with an average salary of $31,974. The highest-paying industry for a fast food worker is the hospitality industry.In general, crew people hold similar degree levels compared to fast food workers. Crew people are 2.0% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of fast food worker

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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