Foodservice assistants work in various settings, usually in large facilities where food is served to a high number of people, such as schools, hospitals, or nursing homes. Their job is to help with preparing and serving meals.
They work in the kitchen preparing ingredients, make sure working and serving areas are clean, serve food and beverages, and collect payment at the end of the service. They take on customer complaints and forward them to the manager if there is no immediate solution to the problem.
Having good customer service skills is a must here, as well as the ability to work as part of a team. If you have experience working in a food service environment, your chances might be higher for landing a job. But this is an entry-level position, so you should not worry too much about previous placements.
What is a Food Service Assistant?
What Does a Food Service Assistant Do
There are certain skills that many food service assistants have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed dexterity, listening skills and physical strength.
How To Become a Food Service Assistant
If you're interested in becoming a food service assistant, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 32.8% of food service assistants have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.2% of food service assistants have master's degrees. Even though some food service assistants have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Food Service Assistant Job Description
Food Service Assistant Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a food service assistant can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as certified nursing assistant, progress to a title such as team leader and then eventually end up with the title general manager.
Average Salary for a Food Service Assistant
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Food Service Assistant
The role of a food service assistant includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general food service assistant responsibilities:
- Assists in the preparation of food on a daily basis adheres to proper food handling procedures prep work may include but not limited to: chopping vegetables, boiling pastas, carving
- Assist in inventory control by maintaining organization of coolers, freezers,
- Requests (and conserves) food and supplies necessary to perform assigned duties. Assists in the preparation of a variety of simple food products in accordance with standardized recipes, policies,
There are several types of food service assistant, including:
Line Cook
Role:
As a sort of in-charge person, line cooks definitely have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. While you might think the head chef does most of the heavy lifting, think again. The majority of the food is prepared by the line cook.
Now, the head chef, or even the sous chef, give line cooks the direction they need to make the food. Typically, as a line cook, you'll have a particular place in the kitchen that you'll look after. Like, maybe you'll get assigned to the grill, and then you'll be in charge of everything at the grill. Or you might be assigned to the veggie prep area.
Wherever you are assigned, you should be prepared to work some crazy hours. Since you're preparing the food, you'll need at least an hour, if not two, to get everything ready. Once your line is prepped, then you're ready to take on your shift. With that extra 1-2 hours, you'll probably be working around 8-10 hours a shift.
- Average Salary: $32,894
- Degree: High School Diploma
Food Service Worker
Role:
Food service workers are employed in restaurants, cafeterias, grocery stores, and any other institution that offers dining services, such as schools, hospitals, or prisons. If you want to learn everything about food preparation and what it takes to be a restaurant manager or a top-notch chef, taking on a job as a food service worker is a great place to start.
Your job will be to assist kitchen staff in preparing meals. Your responsibilities include helping to keep the kitchen spotless, prepping ingredients, slicing, dicing, rinsing, and peeling while making sure all safety regulations are respected.
No experience is needed to be hired as a food service worker; you just have to be attentive and organized and respect the authority of your superiors, which in this case is basically everyone in the kitchen.
- Average Salary: $28,753
- Degree: High School Diploma
Food Server
Role:
The sky is the limit for food servers. In this career, there are so many opportunities that your head will be spinning from which job you decide to take. Maybe you're a high-school student looking for a reliable paycheck. You might decide to go work for a fast-food restaurant.
Or maybe you're a professional in the food industry. In this case, you might become a food server for a high-end sit-down restaurant. Whichever direction you choose to take, the tips you'll earn will be more than enough to pay the bills.
Food servers can even find work at sports arenas or through catering services. There's always a spot for a food server wherever food can be served. The best part of this job is that you'll be able to choose your hours. Whenever you want to work, you'll be able to.
- Average Salary: $25,209
- Degree: High School Diploma
States With The Most Food Service Assistant Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active food service assistant jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where food service assistants earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Food Service Assistant Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 2,743 | $31,798 |
| 2 | Texas | 2,579 | $22,963 |
| 3 | Florida | 2,204 | $23,495 |
| 4 | New York | 1,700 | $33,145 |
| 5 | Pennsylvania | 1,527 | $23,868 |
| 6 | North Carolina | 1,485 | $26,534 |
| 7 | Ohio | 1,394 | $26,334 |
| 8 | Wisconsin | 1,385 | $27,297 |
| 9 | Minnesota | 1,339 | $31,247 |
| 10 | Georgia | 1,280 | $20,580 |
| 11 | Illinois | 1,261 | $25,826 |
| 12 | New Jersey | 1,184 | $27,111 |
| 13 | Virginia | 1,174 | $24,503 |
| 14 | Michigan | 1,159 | $29,187 |
| 15 | Massachusetts | 1,108 | $33,216 |
| 16 | South Carolina | 847 | $24,910 |
| 17 | Indiana | 827 | $23,237 |
| 18 | Tennessee | 794 | $20,252 |
| 19 | Iowa | 760 | $23,881 |
| 20 | Washington | 747 | $31,428 |
| 21 | Colorado | 728 | $29,728 |
| 22 | Arizona | 708 | $26,390 |
| 23 | Maryland | 623 | $26,861 |
| 24 | Missouri | 563 | $23,045 |
| 25 | Kentucky | 493 | $24,370 |
| 26 | Alabama | 467 | $18,954 |
| 27 | Connecticut | 450 | $30,438 |
| 28 | Oregon | 393 | $29,923 |
| 29 | Utah | 391 | $28,721 |
| 30 | Louisiana | 380 | $19,138 |
| 31 | Kansas | 344 | $25,405 |
| 32 | Oklahoma | 330 | $21,981 |
| 33 | Mississippi | 326 | $21,385 |
| 34 | Nevada | 299 | $25,784 |
| 35 | Arkansas | 257 | $22,442 |
| 36 | New Hampshire | 252 | $27,657 |
| 37 | New Mexico | 247 | $22,712 |
| 38 | Nebraska | 237 | $25,454 |
| 39 | West Virginia | 235 | $24,273 |
| 40 | Idaho | 193 | $25,083 |
| 41 | Maine | 174 | $29,375 |
| 42 | South Dakota | 161 | $27,701 |
| 43 | Alaska | 153 | $27,545 |
| 44 | Montana | 150 | $26,931 |
| 45 | Delaware | 134 | $29,267 |
| 46 | Rhode Island | 119 | $33,106 |
| 47 | Hawaii | 103 | $29,291 |
| 48 | North Dakota | 96 | $28,688 |
| 49 | Wyoming | 78 | $24,669 |
| 50 | Vermont | 75 | $30,469 |
Top Skills For a Food Service Assistant
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 12.5% of food service assistants listed patients on their resume, but soft skills such as dexterity and listening skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Food Service Assistant Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Food Service Assistant templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Food Service Assistant resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Food Service Assistant diversity
Food Service Assistant Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among food service assistants, 64.1% of them are women, while 35.9% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among food service assistants is White, which makes up 55.4% of all food service assistants.
- The most common foreign language among food service assistants is Spanish at 59.7%.
Online Courses For Food Service Assistant That You May Like
1. Rebuilding Our Relationship with Food
Have you ever made a conscious effort to change the way you eat (for health or other reasons) and then felt frustrated when your plans were derailed? You’re not alone. The best laid plans are often sabotaged by a food environment that makes it increasingly hard to make healthier food choices. This can leave many people feeling mistrustful of food or feeling that our relationship with food is somehow broken. In this course, we’ll explore the history of our changing food environment, the science...
2. Introduction to Food and Our Environment
This course is designed to help learners around the world become more sustainable eaters. Course videos can be watched in any order. Feel free to explore special areas of interest by skipping ahead and coming back to less familiar topics at a later stage. Together, we’ll explore key topics, like how food production impacts the environment and why meat production and protein consumption are often at the center of the debate around sustainability. We’ll introduce the pros and cons of different...
3. Fun food safety and sanitation course
The food safety course will help prepare you for safely working in a kitchen and food handler tests like Servesafe...
Best States For a Food Service Assistant
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a food service assistant. The best states for people in this position are Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and California. Food service assistants make the most in Massachusetts with an average salary of $33,216. Whereas in New York and Rhode Island, they would average $33,145 and $33,106, respectively. While food service assistants would only make an average of $31,798 in California, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Minnesota
$31,247
Avg. Salary
2. New York
$33,145
Avg. Salary
3. Michigan
$29,187
Avg. Salary
How Do Food Service Assistants Rate Their Jobs?
Top Food Service Assistant Employers
Most Common Employers For Food Service Assistant
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Costco Wholesale | $37,061 | $17.82 | 195 |
| 2 | Target | $36,788 | $17.69 | 83 |
| 3 | University of Wisconsin System | $32,390 | $15.57 | 23 |
| 4 | Houston Methodist | $31,332 | $15.06 | 27 |
| 5 | Aurora Health Care | $31,244 | $15.02 | 39 |
| 6 | The School District of Philadelphia | $31,072 | $14.94 | 33 |
| 7 | WUSD | $30,899 | $14.86 | 22 |
| 8 | Methodist Hospital Of Henderson, Kentucky | $30,710 | $14.76 | 25 |
| 9 | PeaceHealth | $30,616 | $14.72 | 70 |
| 10 | Cobb County School District | $29,844 | $14.35 | 53 |