How to hire an institutional cook

How to hire an institutional cook, step by step

Here's a step-by-step institutional cook hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write an institutional cook job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new institutional cook
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

Post an institutional cook job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   The institutional cook hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect institutional cook also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list shows salaries for various types of institutional cooks.

   Type of Institutional Cook	Description	Hourly rate
   Institutional Cook	Cooks prepare, season, and cook a wide range of foods, which may include soups, salads, entrees, and desserts.	$11-17
   Cook/Dietary Aide	A cook/dietary aide is an individual who works along with the dietary managers, cooks, and dieticians. Dietary aides prepare meals, beverages, and snacks... Show more	$10-16
   Cook	Cooks are responsible for preparing meals for guests or employers. They must be knowledgeable about the different recipes and ingredients needed... Show more	$12-19

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Food Handling
   • Kitchen Equipment
   • Culinary
   • Slicers
   • Mixers
   • Broilers
   • Fryers
   • Kitchen Appliances
   • Food Preparation Equipment
   • Dishwashers
   • Meal Preparation
   • Food Preparation
   • Clean Kitchen
   • Steamers

   Responsibilities:

   • Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.
   • Ensure customers convenience are met/exceed by accommodating and notifying customers of ingredients that may trigger food allergies or intolerance.
   • Provide leadership that promotes and exemplifies excellent customer service.

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the institutional cook job description is a good way to get more applicants. An institutional cook salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for an institutional cook in Missouri may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level institutional cook. Additionally, an institutional cook with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average institutional cook salary

   $14.62hourly

   $30,403 yearly

   ---

   Entry-level institutional cook salary

   $24,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 13, 2025

   Average institutional cook salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$44,663	$21
   2	Alaska	$37,966	$18
   3	Hawaii	$37,370	$18
   4	New York	$33,002	$16
   5	Pennsylvania	$31,502	$15

   Average institutional cook salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Compass Group USA	$33,199	$15.96	2,999
   2	Orange County	$32,491	$15.62	3
   3	Iowa Department of Transportation	$31,987	$15.38
   4	NANA	$31,082	$14.94	29
   5	Wisconsin	$31,047	$14.93
   6	Sodexo Management, Inc.	$31,022	$14.91	445
   7	Nana Management Services, LLC	$30,495	$14.66	19
   8	Aramark	$30,019	$14.43	717

4. Writing an institutional cook job description

   A good institutional cook job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of an institutional cook job description:

   Institutional cook job description example

   The Cook position is responsible for the preparation, production, and presentation of a variety of foods, completion of production sheets and with other associated food service activities\.
   Essential Duties and Responsibilities
   
   + Performs all main line food production duties with specific items determined by assigned shift\.
   
   + Reviews the needs of the day with assigned supervisor\(s\), completes production sheets, reviews maintenance reports, and verifies supply needs and availability\.
   
   + Prepare foods from scratch for up to 90 people including baked goods\.
   
   + Follows standardized recipes accurately and consistently\.
   
   + Assist with serving patient dining meals as required\.
   
   + Assists assigned supervisors with menu and recipe development as needed\.
   
   + Is responsible for quantity and quality control in food production as well as overall sanitation of assigned areas\.
   
   + Assists in the supervision and training of food service personnel\.
   
   + May instruct and train others as well as handle multiple tasks occurring at the same time\.
   
   + Verifies and oversees hot food service lines making sure they are properly stocked\.
   
   + Using a working knowledge of all general food service area positions, this position "fills in" for any one of these positions at a moment's notice\.
   
   + Maintains food production equipment and storage areas following proper sanitation, FIFO, safety, and operational procedures\.
   
   + Must be able to abide by NMS and HACCP standards\.
   
   + Adheres to all sanitation regulations set by Federal, State, and local municipalities\.
   
   + May assist other food service personnel at any given time\.
   
   + This position is not responsible for the supervision of staff\.
   
   + Other duties that are pertinent to the department or unit's success also may be assigned\.
   
   **Qualifications**
   
   Minimum Requirements
   
   + High School Diploma or GED equivalent\.
   
   + Municipality of Anchorage Food Handlers' Card or ServSafe contingent upon 30 days\.
   
   + Must have one \(1\) year minimum of scratch cooking experience\.
   
   + Contract requires employees to speak, understand, read and write English\.
   
   + This work location requires COVID\-19 vaccination\.
   
   Preferred Qualifications
   
   + At least three \(3\) years of directly related food preparation experience\.
   
   **Working Conditions and Physical Requirements**
   
   Weather: Indoors, environmentally controlled\.
   
   Noise level: The noise level in the work environment is usually mild
   
   Description of environment: This is an industrial kitchen located in a health care setting\.
   
   Physical requirements: Frequently required to stand, walk, use hands/fingers to handle or feel, stoop, kneel, talk/hear, see, taste/smell, and carry weight/lift\. Infrequently required to sit, crouch or crawl\. Must frequently lift and/or move up to 50lbs\.
   
   Competencies
   
   **NMS Core Values**
   
   Safety guides our behavior\.
   
   Honesty and integrity govern our activities\.
   
   Commitments made will be fulfilled\.
   
   All individuals are treated with dignity and respect\.
   
   The environment will be protected and sustained\.
   
   **Organization:** Food and Facilities Management
   
   **Job:** Food Preparation & Service
   
   **Primary Location:** US\-AK\-Anchorage
   
   **Shift:** Day Job

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find institutional cooks for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any institutional cooks they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level institutional cooks with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your institutional cook job on Zippia to find and recruit institutional cook candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with institutional cook candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match your ideal candidate profile. If you think a candidate is good enough for the next step, you can move on to the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new institutional cook

   Once you've found the institutional cook candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire an institutional cook?