How To Become A Kitchen Runner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a kitchen runner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a kitchen runner. For example, did you know that they make an average of $14.76 an hour? That's $30,693 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 2% and produce 17,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreKitchen RunnerUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,693

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

4.8

Growth rate 2%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.88%

Asian 5.20%

Black or African American 10.86%

Hispanic or Latino 28.61%

Unknown 4.65%

White 49.80%

Gender

female 39.04%

male 60.96%

Age - 34

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 34

Stress level

4.8

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.2

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.6

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a kitchen runner

Explore kitchen runner education requirements

Most common kitchen runner degrees

High School Diploma

33.9 %

Bachelor's

30.5 %

Associate

27.1 %

Start to develop specific kitchen runner skills

Skills	Percentages
Cleanliness	40.20%
BARS	16.48%
Food Safety	10.55%
Food Handling	10.00%
Customer Service	7.82%

Complete relevant kitchen runner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New kitchen runners learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a kitchen runner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real kitchen runner resumes.

Research kitchen runner duties and responsibilities

Manage tickets for kitchen, run food and intereact with customers, and bus tables
Maintain cleanliness of area as well as keeping cold items stock.
Provide dietary relate information to patients as needed.
Greet and escort VIP patrons, musicians and celebrities to VIP areas and other access areas.

Prepare your kitchen runner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your kitchen runner resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a kitchen runner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable kitchen runner resume templates

Build a professional kitchen runner resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your kitchen runner resume.