Mexican food cook vs lead cook

The differences between mexican food cooks and lead cooks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a mexican food cook and a lead cook. Additionally, a lead cook has an average salary of $35,964, which is higher than the $31,039 average annual salary of a mexican food cook.

The top three skills for a mexican food cook include food handling, patients and food service. The most important skills for a lead cook are customer service, food handling, and culinary.

Mexican food cook vs lead cook overview

	Mexican Food Cook	Lead Cook
Yearly salary	$31,039	$35,964
Hourly rate	$14.92	$17.29
Growth rate	16%	16%
Number of jobs	275,588	160,223
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 43%	Associate Degree, 35%
Average age	38	38
Years of experience	4	4

What does a mexican food cook do?

A Mexican Food Cook works at restaurants or similar establishments that specialize in Mexican cuisine. Their responsibilities revolve around cutting meat and vegetable in portions, cooking and preparing according to company menu and guidelines, monitoring the supply of ingredients, and maintaining the cleanliness of work areas. There are also instances where they must delegate tasks among staff, coordinate with managers, and resolve order problems. Mexican Food Cooks must work while adhering to the company and the government's health and safety regulations and standards.

What does a lead cook do?

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.

Mexican food cook vs lead cook salary

Mexican food cooks and lead cooks have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Mexican Food Cook	Lead Cook
Average salary	$31,039	$35,964
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $38,000	Between $27,000 And $46,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Massachusetts	Washington
Best paying company	Ncar - The National Center For Atmospheric Research	Freeport-McMoRan
Best paying industry	Retail	Health Care

Differences between mexican food cook and lead cook education

There are a few differences between a mexican food cook and a lead cook in terms of educational background:

	Mexican Food Cook	Lead Cook
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 43%	Associate Degree, 35%
Most common major	Culinary Arts	Culinary Arts
Most common college	-	-

Mexican food cook vs lead cook demographics

Here are the differences between mexican food cooks' and lead cooks' demographics:

	Mexican Food Cook	Lead Cook
Average age	38	38
Gender ratio	Male, 62.6% Female, 37.4%	Male, 72.6% Female, 27.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.7% Asian, 8.0% White, 58.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%	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	6%	6%

Differences between mexican food cook and lead cook duties and responsibilities

Mexican food cook example responsibilities.

Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.
Clean, stock, and restock workstations.
Clean, stock and organize workstations in addition to maintaining sanitation and health standards.
Expect to know how to operate large volume cooking equipment like burger grills, fryers, and/or griddles.
Operate large volume cooking equipment such as grills, deep fryers and griddles, steamer, meat slicer.
Clean and inspect galley equipment, kitchen appliances, and work areas in order to ensure cleanliness and functional operation.

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.

Mexican food cook vs lead cook skills

Common mexican food cook skills

Food Handling, 13%
Patients, 12%
Food Service, 11%
Kitchen Equipment, 8%
Slicers, 5%
Mixers, 5%

Common lead cook skills

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

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Food Preparation and Restaurant Industry
Mexican Food Cook
Mexican Food Cook vs Lead Cook

Updated January 8, 2025

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