Lead cook vs co-leader

The differences between lead cooks and co-leaders can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a lead cook and a co-leader. Additionally, a co-leader has an average salary of $120,244, which is higher than the $35,964 average annual salary of a lead cook.

The top three skills for a lead cook include customer service, food handling and culinary. The most important skills for a co-leader are sap fi, CPR, and mental health.

Lead cook vs co-leader overview

	Lead Cook	Co-Leader
Yearly salary	$35,964	$120,244
Hourly rate	$17.29	$57.81
Growth rate	16%	10%
Number of jobs	160,223	20,786
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 35%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Average age	38	42
Years of experience	4	4

Lead cook vs co-leader salary

Lead cooks and co-leaders have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Lead Cook	Co-Leader
Average salary	$35,964	$120,244
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $46,000	Between $60,000 And $238,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	New York, NY
Highest paying state	Washington	Maine
Best paying company	Freeport-McMoRan	Sanofi US
Best paying industry	Health Care	-

Differences between lead cook and co-leader education

There are a few differences between a lead cook and a co-leader in terms of educational background:

	Lead Cook	Co-Leader
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 35%	Bachelor's Degree, 66%
Most common major	Culinary Arts	Psychology
Most common college	-	Northwestern University

Lead cook vs co-leader demographics

Here are the differences between lead cooks' and co-leaders' demographics:

	Lead Cook	Co-Leader
Average age	38	42
Gender ratio	Male, 72.6% Female, 27.4%	Male, 36.4% Female, 63.6%
Race ratio	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%	Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.8% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 5.2% White, 60.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	8%

Differences between lead cook and co-leader duties and responsibilities

Lead cook example responsibilities.

Manage food expo; facilitate food temp logs; creation of menu specials; management and supervision of production staff
Manage inventory and purchasing of groceries.
Operate standard cooking equipment including slicers, food choppers, fryers, refrigerators, ovens and stoves.
Operate ovens, stoves, grills, microwaves, turbo chefs, and fryers.
Use and clean commercial ovens, meat slicers, steamers, combination ovens and steam kettles.
Operate ovens, stoves, grills, microwaves, kettles, and tilt skillet.

Co-leader example responsibilities.

Manage and provide performance and career counseling regarding leadership, academics and physical training to strength personnel in their professional development.
Train in child and infant CPR with a
Re-Launch Facebook page and engage members online.
Design, prepare and present seminars and webinars using PowerPoint and Exel.
Facilitate Facebook group/recruit new members.
Provide academic support to a variety of classes, including advance mathematics

Lead cook vs co-leader skills

Common lead cook skills

Customer Service, 14%
Food Handling, 14%
Culinary, 11%
Food Service, 11%
Kitchen Equipment, 7%
Math, 5%

Common co-leader skills

Sap Fi, 18%
CPR, 6%
Mental Health, 5%
BI, 5%
Master Data, 4%
Business Process, 4%

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Food Preparation and Restaurant Industry
Lead Cook
Lead Cook vs Co-Leader

Updated January 8, 2025

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