What is a Kitchen Worker?
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a kitchen worker. For example, did you know that they make an average of $13.81 an hour? That's $28,720 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 69,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Kitchen Worker Do
There are certain skills that many kitchen workers 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 listening skills, physical strength and dexterity.
How To Become a Kitchen Worker
If you're interested in becoming a kitchen worker, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 26.7% of kitchen workers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.8% of kitchen workers have master's degrees. Even though some kitchen workers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Kitchen Worker 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 kitchen worker can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as warehouse worker, progress to a title such as technician and then eventually end up with the title general manager.
Average Salary for a Kitchen Worker
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Kitchen Worker
There are several types of kitchen worker, including:
Sandwich Artist
Role:
Look out Jared the Subway Guy, there's a new sandwich artist in town (we're talking about you!) This position welcomes creativity, and requires you know your way around a sandwich. I mean, you obviously want to put the lettuce first to prevent your bread from getting soggy from the sauce.
Seriously though, don't forget the sauce. No one enjoys a dry sandwich. Unless you have no tastebuds. Or are a picky child. Nonetheless, the majority of your customers are going to want a beautiful sandwich creation. From the meats to the cheeses, and even the veggies, you're allowed to be creative and show off your sandwich making skills.
The majority of sandwich artists only work part-time, but there are quite a few full-time positions open. Also, there are other sandwich places to work for, aside from Subway, so you have options. Or you could go your own route and open your own sandwich artistry shop. Or food truck. Whichever fits your creative side.
- Average Salary: $23,564
- 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
Deli Clerk
Role:
Working at a deli, whether it's located in a grocery store or just in a stand-alone shop, takes a lot of patience. As a deli clerk, you'll be dealing with customers throughout your shift. It doesn't matter if they come in with a really big order that takes forever to fill or they're rude to you, your employer will be impressed as long as you wear a smile the entire time.
But good customer service isn't the end-all be-all for this position. Not every order is going to suck and not every customer is going to take patience. You might even develop a friendly relationship with those who become your "regulars." It's those orders and customers that make your job fun.
Deli clerks receive training after they're hired so that they understand how to measure deli items and price them correctly. Depending on where you're working you may even have to help customers check-out.
- Average Salary: $32,240
- Degree: High School Diploma
States With The Most Kitchen Worker Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active kitchen worker jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where kitchen workers earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Kitchen Worker Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | 4,327 | $33,924 |
| 2 | Texas | 3,115 | $23,988 |
| 3 | Florida | 2,622 | $23,972 |
| 4 | Georgia | 1,555 | $20,896 |
| 5 | North Carolina | 1,415 | $23,012 |
| 6 | Virginia | 1,304 | $26,261 |
| 7 | Washington | 1,168 | $35,255 |
| 8 | Tennessee | 1,031 | $20,415 |
| 9 | Missouri | 924 | $22,937 |
| 10 | Colorado | 876 | $29,384 |
| 11 | Pennsylvania | 856 | $26,824 |
| 12 | Illinois | 744 | $25,150 |
| 13 | South Carolina | 741 | $25,234 |
| 14 | Michigan | 696 | $26,123 |
| 15 | Oregon | 639 | $31,039 |
| 16 | Ohio | 627 | $26,079 |
| 17 | Massachusetts | 616 | $31,436 |
| 18 | New York | 614 | $32,192 |
| 19 | Alabama | 582 | $19,336 |
| 20 | Louisiana | 531 | $18,648 |
| 21 | Connecticut | 502 | $29,962 |
| 22 | Utah | 501 | $28,408 |
| 23 | New Jersey | 440 | $26,710 |
| 24 | Indiana | 422 | $22,937 |
| 25 | Arizona | 420 | $27,145 |
| 26 | Oklahoma | 395 | $22,316 |
| 27 | Nebraska | 381 | $25,008 |
| 28 | Wisconsin | 376 | $26,723 |
| 29 | Minnesota | 326 | $30,810 |
| 30 | New Hampshire | 310 | $27,098 |
| 31 | Maryland | 299 | $29,070 |
| 32 | New Mexico | 293 | $23,278 |
| 33 | Kentucky | 266 | $24,312 |
| 34 | Idaho | 232 | $25,418 |
| 35 | Mississippi | 215 | $21,985 |
| 36 | Kansas | 202 | $23,118 |
| 37 | South Dakota | 189 | $27,101 |
| 38 | Iowa | 183 | $23,300 |
| 39 | Arkansas | 150 | $22,831 |
| 40 | Delaware | 134 | $29,035 |
| 41 | Maine | 108 | $30,504 |
| 42 | Alaska | 97 | $34,194 |
| 43 | Nevada | 95 | $25,880 |
| 44 | West Virginia | 79 | $24,073 |
| 45 | Rhode Island | 66 | $32,449 |
| 46 | Montana | 63 | $27,055 |
| 47 | Hawaii | 45 | $29,184 |
| 48 | North Dakota | 36 | $28,652 |
| 49 | Vermont | 35 | $29,922 |
| 50 | Wyoming | 33 | $24,348 |
Top Skills For a Kitchen Worker
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, 16.9% of kitchen workers listed cleanliness on their resume, but soft skills such as listening skills and physical strength are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Kitchen Worker Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Kitchen Worker templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Kitchen Worker resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Kitchen Worker diversity
Kitchen Worker Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among kitchen workers, 39.0% of them are women, while 61.0% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among kitchen workers is White, which makes up 60.0% of all kitchen workers.
- The most common foreign language among kitchen workers is Spanish at 59.5%.
Online Courses For Kitchen Worker 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. Cooking for Busy Healthy People
Cooking is one of the most powerful ways in which we can optimize our enjoyment of great quality food while protecting our health. Even on a tight budget, cooking can be a cost-effective, joyful and rewarding way to love the food that will love us back for a lifetime. In this course, you’ll learn some basic recipes from a home cook and two professional chefs who prioritize healthful eating. You’ll also learn some of the fundamentals of principle-based cooking that can help you break free from...
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 Kitchen Worker
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a kitchen worker. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Alaska, California, and Rhode Island. Kitchen workers make the most in Washington with an average salary of $35,255. Whereas in Alaska and California, they would average $34,194 and $33,924, respectively. While kitchen workers would only make an average of $32,449 in Rhode Island, 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. Washington
$35,255
Avg. Salary
2. Alaska
$34,194
Avg. Salary
3. California
$33,924
Avg. Salary
How Do Kitchen Workers Rate Their Jobs?
Top Kitchen Worker Employers
Most Common Employers For Kitchen Worker
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michigan State University | $36,784 | $17.68 | 58 |
| 2 | Kaiser Permanente | $32,473 | $15.61 | 19 |
| 3 | Hy-Vee | $31,969 | $15.37 | 36 |
| 4 | ManpowerGroup | $29,063 | $13.97 | 12 |
| 5 | Texas Roadhouse | $28,934 | $13.91 | 14 |
| 6 | State of Connecticut | $28,013 | $13.47 | 14 |
| 7 | Buffalo Wild Wings | $27,419 | $13.18 | 19 |
| 8 | Aramark | $27,226 | $13.09 | 34 |
| 9 | Casey's | $27,116 | $13.04 | 45 |
| 10 | Sonic Drive-In | $26,205 | $12.60 | 14 |
Kitchen Worker Videos
