Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between kitchen supervisors and lead cooks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a kitchen supervisor has an average salary of $40,520, which is higher than the $35,964 average annual salary of a lead cook.
The top three skills for a kitchen supervisor include culinary, cleanliness and food service. The most important skills for a lead cook are customer service, food handling, and culinary.
| Kitchen Supervisor | Lead Cook | |
| Yearly salary | $40,520 | $35,964 |
| Hourly rate | $19.48 | $17.29 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 66,303 | 160,223 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 34% | Associate Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 37 | 38 |
| Years of experience | - | 4 |
A kitchen supervisor is responsible for managing the overall kitchen operations, ensuring that the kitchen employees follow sanitary procedures while doing their high-quality and maximum productivity tasks. Kitchen supervisors manage inventories, checking the adequacy of food supplies and kitchen equipment, and negotiating contracts with suppliers and third-party vendors. They also help develop marketing strategies, research the latest food trends, update menus, and create financial reports and expense forecasting. A kitchen supervisor must have excellent communication and leadership skills, especially with responding to customers' inquiries and concerns and resolving complaints.
A lead cook, or lead line cook, is an individual restaurant employee who is in charge of supervising the chain of food preparation done by line cooks. Lead cooks work directly under head cooks or chefs who provide instructions in preparing meals. They are well-versed in the restaurant's food health and safety, such as regular hand washing, utensil sanitizing, and proper garbage disposal. To be a successful lead cook, they must obtain knowledge of various cooking techniques and be passionate about food.
Kitchen supervisors and lead cooks have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Kitchen Supervisor | Lead Cook | |
| Average salary | $40,520 | $35,964 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $58,000 | Between $27,000 And $46,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Washington |
| Best paying company | GoodCents | Freeport-McMoRan |
| Best paying industry | Start-up | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a kitchen supervisor and a lead cook in terms of educational background:
| Kitchen Supervisor | Lead Cook | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 34% | Associate Degree, 35% |
| Most common major | Culinary Arts | Culinary Arts |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between kitchen supervisors' and lead cooks' demographics:
| Kitchen Supervisor | Lead Cook | |
| Average age | 37 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 65.0% Female, 35.0% | Male, 72.6% Female, 27.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 17.4% Asian, 6.8% White, 60.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9% | Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 9.4% White, 57.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 6% |