How To Become A Menu Planner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a menu planner 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 menu planner. For example, did you know that they make an average of $32.22 an hour? That's $67,011 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 15% and produce 23,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreMenu PlannerUS Average

Salary

5.2

Avg. Salary $67,011

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.2

Growth rate 15%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.62%

Asian 9.79%

Black or African American 11.91%

Hispanic or Latino 16.62%

Unknown 5.13%

White 55.93%

Gender

female 54.90%

male 45.10%

Age - 41

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 - 41

Stress level

9.2

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

0.2

Work life balance is

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a menu planner

Explore menu planner education requirements

Most common menu planner degrees

Bachelor's

50.0 %

High School Diploma

20.0 %

Associate

16.7 %

Start to develop specific menu planner skills

Skills	Percentages
Plan Menus	100.00%

Complete relevant menu planner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New menu planners 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 menu planner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real menu planner resumes.

Research menu planner duties and responsibilities

Guide production planning activities ranging from developing and revising production schedules, forecasting trends and customer demand, and managing logistics.
Develop variety of menu items catering to food allergies and diet restrictions (gluten-free, vegan, etc . )
Create the LLC and obtain all necessary food and operating licenses.
Direct inbound or outbound logistics operations, such as transportation or warehouse activities, safety performance, or logistics quality management.

Prepare your menu planner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your menu planner 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 menu planner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable menu planner resume templates

Build a professional menu planner 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 menu planner resume.