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Lunch cook education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
2 min read
Usually, lunch cooks don't need a college education. The most common degree for lunch cooks is associate degree with 36% graduates, with only 31% lunch cook graduates earning high school diploma. Lunch cooks who decided to graduate from college often finish Johnson & Wales University or Vincennes University. Some good skills to have in this position include kitchen equipment, culinary and food handling.

What education do you need to become a lunch cook?

What degree do you need to be a lunch cook?

The most common degree for lunch cooks is associate degree, with 36% of lunch cooks earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are high school diploma degree at 31% and high school diploma degree at 18%.
  • Associate, 36%
  • High School Diploma, 31%
  • Bachelor's, 18%
  • Diploma, 10%
  • Other Degrees, 5%

What should I major in to become a lunch cook?

You should major in culinary arts to become a lunch cook. 45% of lunch cooks major in culinary arts. Other common majors for a lunch cook include business and health care administration.

Best majors for lunch cooks

RankMajorPercentages
1Culinary Arts45.0%
2Business10.7%
3Health Care Administration4.1%
4History3.0%
5Management3.0%

20 best online courses for lunch cooks

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1. Cooking for Busy Healthy People

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4. Customer Service Mastery: Delight Every Customer

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Master Customer Service using this practical customer care course...

5. SAP Customer Service (CS/SM) - Service Management module

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Real World SAP CS and SD, Repair Orders, Service Orders, Service Contracts...

6. Customer Service & Support For Customer Service Executives

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Learn Customer Service Skills & Provide Excellent Customer Support, Customer Experience & How To Manage Upset Customers...

7. Customer Service, Customer Support, And Customer Experience

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Customer service, customer support, and customer experience training. Loyal clients through world-class customer service...

8. Fundamentals of Logistics, Supply Chain & Customer Service

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Learn Logistics, Supply Chain and Customer Service. 3 Courses in 1...

9. Customer Service: 6 Keys To Exceptional Customer Service

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Master Customer Satisfaction & Astonish Your Customers With A+ Customer Service...

10. Customer Service Basics: Improve your Service now

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The basic golden rules to kickstart your service...

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12. Your Customer Service Toolbox: Best Practices for Beginners

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13. The Customer: Build a Customer Service Strategy (BITE SIZE)

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For you and your team to be successful in providing great customer service, start by putting your customer first...

14. Customer Service

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How to Approach New Customers and Maintain Existing Ones...

15. Customer Service Success: Take Your Skills to the Next Level

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3-in-1 Customer Service Training: Levels 1, 2, 3 Improve Your Soft Communication Skills, Customer Support & Experience...

16. Fun food safety and sanitation course

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The food safety course will help prepare you for safely working in a kitchen and food handler tests like Servesafe...

17. Brilliant Customer Service: How to Impress your Customers!

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Enhance your customer support and truly differentiate yourself from your competition!...

18. Vegan Nutrition: Build Your Plant Based Diet & Meal Plan

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Learn How To Set Up A Vegan Diet For Weight Loss, Building Muscle, Healthy Eating, Meal Planning & Vegan Bodybuilding...

19. Windows Service Programming, Debugging, Installing in C#.Net

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Windows Service Tutorial: How to Create Windows Services in C# .Net/Visual Studio, Windows Service debugging techniques...

20. ISO 22000:2018. Food Safety Management System

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4.4
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Understand the requirements for a food safety management system applicable for any organization in the food chain...

Average lunch cook salary by education level

According to our data, lunch cooks with a Bachelor's degree earn the highest average salary, at $34,739 annually. Lunch cooks with a Associate degree earn an average annual salary of $34,016.
Lunch cook education levelLunch cook salary
High School Diploma or Less$33,342
Bachelor's Degree$34,739
No Education$32,992
Some College/ Associate Degree$34,016

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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