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The differences between food service technicians and cooking chefs can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a cooking chef has an average salary of $34,973, which is higher than the $33,791 average annual salary of a food service technician.
The top three skills for a food service technician include patients, tray line and food handling. The most important skills for a cooking chef are food service, food handling, and kitchen equipment.
| Food Service Technician | Cooking Chef | |
| Yearly salary | $33,791 | $34,973 |
| Hourly rate | $16.25 | $16.81 |
| Growth rate | 14% | 15% |
| Number of jobs | 120,800 | 136,558 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 35% | Associate Degree, 31% |
| Average age | 23 | 42 |
| Years of experience | - | 6 |
A food technician monitors what goes in and out of a kitchen. The role entails ensuring that whatever food leaves the kitchen meets the company's standard. The role also requires them to work closely with the food service team to ensure adequate preparation, cleaning, and sanitizing of cooking equipment and work area. Food technicians are employed at hotels, restaurants, hospitals, or schools.
A cooking chef oversees all people performing kitchen duties under their mandate. These professionals oversee timeliness, sanitary issues, ingredient preparation, meal preparation, and final presentations. Besides engaging in menu planning and creating recipes, a cooking chef also performs several administrative tasks from one day to another. They place supply orders, track inventory, calculate payroll, calculate costs, and handle complaints from the employee or customer. Moreover, a cooking chef trains the kitchen staff to ensure they perform their duties correctly.
Food service technicians and cooking chefs have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Food Service Technician | Cooking Chef | |
| Average salary | $33,791 | $34,973 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $45,000 | Between $24,000 And $49,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Clara, CA | Teaneck, NJ |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Gillette | Memphis Country Club |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a food service technician and a cooking chef in terms of educational background:
| Food Service Technician | Cooking Chef | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 35% | Associate Degree, 31% |
| Most common major | Business | Culinary Arts |
| Most common college | - | Drexel University |
Here are the differences between food service technicians' and cooking chefs' demographics:
| Food Service Technician | Cooking Chef | |
| Average age | 23 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 42.7% Female, 57.3% | Male, 76.3% Female, 23.7% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.9% Asian, 12.0% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 9% |