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The differences between pastry chefs and pastry cooks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a pastry chef, becoming a pastry cook takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a pastry chef has an average salary of $44,879, which is higher than the $34,858 average annual salary of a pastry cook.
The top three skills for a pastry chef include culinary, food handling and customer service. The most important skills for a pastry cook are culinary, cleanliness, and food handling.
| Pastry Chef | Pastry Cook | |
| Yearly salary | $44,879 | $34,858 |
| Hourly rate | $21.58 | $16.76 |
| Growth rate | 15% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 18,844 | 136,754 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 49% | Associate Degree, 51% |
| Average age | 42 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
Pastry chefs are culinary artists specializing in the creation of desserts, bread, and sweets. They order supplies and ingredients for the restaurant, aside from creating, decorating, and presenting pastries. They are in charge of recruiting employees to aid in pastry goods production and other enterprise aspects. The skills required for this job are attention to detail, experience as a baker or any relevant role, knowledge about sanitation principles, creativity, and leadership skills.
The Pastry Cook's responsibilities include preparing quality pastry items such as breakfast items, desserts, breads, ice creams, creams, simple syrups, amenities, and others. They are also responsible for minimizing waste and maintaining control to attain forecasted food cost.
Pastry chefs and pastry cooks have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Pastry Chef | Pastry Cook | |
| Average salary | $44,879 | $34,858 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $78,000 | Between $27,000 And $44,000 |
| Highest paying City | Urban Honolulu, HI | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | The Culinary Institute of America | Sailfish Club of Florida |
| Best paying industry | Media | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between a pastry chef and a pastry cook in terms of educational background:
| Pastry Chef | Pastry Cook | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 49% | Associate Degree, 51% |
| Most common major | Culinary Arts | Culinary Arts |
| Most common college | Drexel University | Cornell University |
Here are the differences between pastry chefs' and pastry cooks' demographics:
| Pastry Chef | Pastry Cook | |
| Average age | 42 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 35.7% Female, 64.3% | Male, 29.8% Female, 70.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 10.7% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 22.5% Asian, 9.6% White, 51.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 6% |