What does a pastry cook do?
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 cook responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real pastry cook resumes:
- Manage cold kitchen production for a luxury hotel with a Michelin star restaurant
- Clean steamers, hot @ cold line.
- Serve customers ordering at the bistro.
- Work in dining room during Sunday brunch and buffets serving desserts.
- Engage in meetings including an annual board presentation of USDA budget.
- Focuse on maintaining budget while meeting USDA and BSA nutrition requirements.
- Set up buffets and other stations all while maintaining and taking care of the guests.
- Design and execute new menus monthly ensuring a fresh and modern take on bistro style food.
- Participate in food, beverage and wine weekly training to gain and update food and beverage knowledge.
- Adjust thermostat controls to regulate temperature of ovens, broilers, grills, roasters and steam kettles.
- General kitchen maintenance and repairs including cleaning cooking surfaces, fryers, floors, sinks, and refrigeration.
- Clean and maintain machines, including but not limit to freezers, fryers, ovens, and drink coolers.
- Train under Michelin recognize chefs.
- Prepare individually make chocolate garnishes for finishing of desserts.
- Orchestrate and participate in high-volume culinary and pastry banquet plate-ups.
Pastry cook skills and personality traits
We calculated that 17% of Pastry Cooks are proficient in Culinary, Cleanliness, and Food Handling. They’re also known for soft skills such as Sense of taste and smell, Dexterity, and Business skills.
We break down the percentage of Pastry Cooks that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Culinary, 17%
Started in breakfast pastry production upon graduation from Seattle Culinary Academy baking program and ended as assistant pastry chef.
- Cleanliness, 10%
Follow cleanliness and sanitation guidelines according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
- Food Handling, 10%
Interpreted and followed appropriate food handling techniques, practices and guidelines
- Quality Standards, 7%
Maintained daily quality standards for restaurant plated dessert menu.
- Fine Dining, 6%
Produced all pastry items for banquets up to 1,500, as well as for the hotel's fine dining restaurant.
- Food Safety, 6%
Managed and trained interns on various kitchen functions, inventory control, time management and food safety.
Common skills that a pastry cook uses to do their job include "culinary," "cleanliness," and "food handling." You can find details on the most important pastry cook responsibilities below.
Sense of taste and smell. One of the key soft skills for a pastry cook to have is sense of taste and smell. You can see how this relates to what pastry cooks do because "cooks must have a keen sense of taste and smell to prepare meals that customers enjoy." Additionally, a pastry cook resume shows how pastry cooks use sense of taste and smell: "assist in creating new menu items and specials in compliance with forbes 4-star and aaa 4-diamond standards. "
Dexterity. Another essential skill to perform pastry cook duties is dexterity. Pastry cooks responsibilities require that "cooks should have excellent hand–eye coordination." Pastry cooks also use dexterity in their role according to a real resume snippet: "augmented culinary skills, and gained hands-on business experiences to advance professional career in culinary arts and hospitality. "
The three companies that hire the most pastry cooks are:
- Marriott International72 pastry cooks jobs
- Hilton47 pastry cooks jobs
- North Italia32 pastry cooks jobs
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Compare different pastry cooks
Pastry cook vs. Chef/owner
A Chef/Owner is the owner of a restaurant who also manages the restaurant's kitchen through coordinating the food preparation team, deciding what dishes to serve, and adjusting orders to meet guests' requests. They also prepare budgets, manage and implement new menus and operational ideas.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a pastry cook are more likely to require skills like "culinary," "cleanliness," "food handling," and "quality standards." On the other hand, a job as a chef/owner requires skills like "cuisine," "payroll," "event planning," and "bistro." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
On average, chef/owners reach similar levels of education than pastry cooks. Chef/owners are 2.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.6% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Pastry cook vs. Food service associate
A food service associate performs fundamental functions in the food industry. Food service associates prepare and serve food items. They cater to special events, which involve facility preparation, food presentation maintenance, and setting up tables. Their duties include cleaning preparation and service equipment. They restock the work stations for the essential supplies. The skills they need to perform their job include customer service, teamwork, work with diverse cultural, ethnic, and academic backgrounds, and learn safety and health regulations.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that pastry cook responsibilities requires skills like "food safety," "wine," "banquet events," and "executive pastry chef." But a food service associate might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "patients," "excellent interpersonal," "math," and "basic math."
On average, food service associates earn a lower salary than pastry cooks. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, food service associates earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $33,477. Whereas pastry cooks have higher pay in the hospitality industry, with an average salary of $36,443.food service associates earn similar levels of education than pastry cooks in general. They're 0.8% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Pastry cook vs. Chef
A chef is the master of the kitchen--someone who is creative and innovative with food. Chefs are the pride and reputation of each restaurant or dining establishments. They make sure every meal served is fresh and oversees the kitchen operation. They also create recipes, study menus, and prepare significant-high-quality dishes that represent the restaurant. They say academic requirements aren't needed, but anyone who has a passion for food and cooking can be a chef.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, pastry cooks are more likely to have skills like "food safety," "wine," "banquet events," and "executive pastry chef." But a chef is more likely to have skills like "food service," "kitchen operations," "quality food," and "chefs."
Chefs make a very good living in the health care industry with an average annual salary of $46,349. On the other hand, pastry cooks are paid the highest salary in the hospitality industry, with average annual pay of $36,443.chefs typically earn similar educational levels compared to pastry cooks. Specifically, they're 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Pastry cook vs. Chef de cuisine
A chef de cuisine, also known as an executive chef, oversees a kitchen's daily operations in public and private establishments to ensure food quality and efficient services. Their duties require cooking and leadership skills because they involve leading menu development and meal preparation, coordinating staff, delegating responsibilities, selecting and sourcing ingredients, and handling customer issues and concerns promptly and professionally. Moreover, a chef de cuisine leads and empowers staff to reach the kitchen's daily goals while implementing health standards and regulations.
Types of pastry cook
Updated January 8, 2025
