What is a Pizza Cook?
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a pizza cook. For example, did you know that they make an average of $13.11 an hour? That's $27,278 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 282,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Pizza Cook Do
There are certain skills that many pizza cooks have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed dexterity, sense of taste and smell and business skills.
How To Become a Pizza Cook
If you're interested in becoming a pizza cook, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 15.8% of pizza cooks have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 1.1% of pizza cooks have master's degrees. Even though some pizza cooks have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Pizza Cook Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a pizza cook can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as line cook, progress to a title such as sous chef and then eventually end up with the title general manager.
Average Salary for a Pizza Cook
What Am I Worth?
Roles and Types of Pizza Cook
The role of a pizza cook includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general pizza cook responsibilities:
- Sets up and breaks down work stations maintains a clean
- Give every customer immediate and undivided attention. Surprise
- Prepares pizza dough, sauce, toppings, cheese,
There are several types of pizza cook, including:
Cook
Role:
So, get this - as a cook, you'll spend a lot of your time cooking. Crazy, we know. But that's not all you'll be doing. In addition to the food actually being cooked properly, most people like it to be seasoned. Between the preparation and seasoning, this is where you get to be creative.
When you think of a cook, you probably think of a restaurant setting but in actuality, cooks are needed in a lot of different places, this includes schools, hospitals, and even private households. One thing that is consistent is the inconsistent schedule.
Sometimes you'll work a night shift, other times you'll work super early in the morning. You may even have to work on a holiday. And don't be surprised with a weekend shift. The good news is that formal education isn't really necessary. Sometimes culinary creativity comes naturally.
- Average Salary: $31,803
- Degree: High School Diploma
Line Cook
Role:
As a sort of in-charge person, line cooks definitely have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. While you might think the head chef does most of the heavy lifting, think again. The majority of the food is prepared by the line cook.
Now, the head chef, or even the sous chef, give line cooks the direction they need to make the food. Typically, as a line cook, you'll have a particular place in the kitchen that you'll look after. Like, maybe you'll get assigned to the grill, and then you'll be in charge of everything at the grill. Or you might be assigned to the veggie prep area.
Wherever you are assigned, you should be prepared to work some crazy hours. Since you're preparing the food, you'll need at least an hour, if not two, to get everything ready. Once your line is prepped, then you're ready to take on your shift. With that extra 1-2 hours, you'll probably be working around 8-10 hours a shift.
- Average Salary: $32,894
- Degree: High School Diploma
Prep Cook
Role:
Under the direction of a head chef, you'll know exactly what to prepare for as a prep cook. It is essentially your job to make sure the food and kitchen area is prepped for the creation of delicious meals.
Typically, this is a part-time job. But you might be able to find a full-time position somewhere. In your position, you'll be working in a restaurant, hotel, or another establishment that serves food.
As a prep cook, you won't need much education to get by. In fact, the position doesn't require any formal education, but you will need to go through some training, once you're hired. And when we say training, we mean several weeks of on-the-job training. By the end of it, you'll be a sharp prep cook, ready to slice and dice.
- Average Salary: $32,292
- Degree: High School Diploma
States With The Most Pizza Cook Jobs
Mouse over a state to see the number of active pizza cook jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where pizza cooks earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.
Number Of Pizza Cook Jobs By State
| Rank | State | Number of Jobs | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Texas | 5,303 | $21,177 |
| 2 | Florida | 4,152 | $24,850 |
| 3 | California | 3,762 | $32,695 |
| 4 | Illinois | 2,059 | $31,724 |
| 5 | Ohio | 2,051 | $28,460 |
| 6 | North Carolina | 1,935 | $22,353 |
| 7 | Pennsylvania | 1,915 | $30,398 |
| 8 | Georgia | 1,707 | $23,034 |
| 9 | New York | 1,643 | $32,428 |
| 10 | Indiana | 1,594 | $26,005 |
| 11 | Tennessee | 1,573 | $23,578 |
| 12 | Missouri | 1,449 | $27,195 |
| 13 | Michigan | 1,396 | $25,310 |
| 14 | Virginia | 1,332 | $22,763 |
| 15 | Arizona | 1,299 | $30,742 |
| 16 | Massachusetts | 1,259 | $39,304 |
| 17 | Colorado | 1,193 | $34,598 |
| 18 | Minnesota | 994 | $29,605 |
| 19 | Kentucky | 988 | $21,075 |
| 20 | New Jersey | 980 | $35,096 |
| 21 | South Carolina | 917 | $24,717 |
| 22 | Oklahoma | 912 | $21,850 |
| 23 | Maryland | 851 | $26,534 |
| 24 | Louisiana | 838 | $21,581 |
| 25 | Wisconsin | 776 | $31,012 |
| 26 | Washington | 723 | $41,907 |
| 27 | Kansas | 713 | $26,420 |
| 28 | Alabama | 700 | $21,834 |
| 29 | Arkansas | 684 | $22,815 |
| 30 | Iowa | 594 | $25,108 |
| 31 | Mississippi | 583 | $20,146 |
| 32 | Utah | 545 | $27,507 |
| 33 | Oregon | 468 | $36,395 |
| 34 | Nebraska | 434 | $26,032 |
| 35 | Connecticut | 416 | $37,411 |
| 36 | Nevada | 395 | $28,865 |
| 37 | New Mexico | 359 | $23,705 |
| 38 | West Virginia | 276 | $20,813 |
| 39 | Idaho | 240 | $30,447 |
| 40 | New Hampshire | 234 | $30,486 |
| 41 | Montana | 187 | $26,005 |
| 42 | Maine | 183 | $32,807 |
| 43 | Delaware | 143 | $28,054 |
| 44 | Rhode Island | 120 | $30,787 |
| 45 | North Dakota | 115 | $31,691 |
| 46 | Alaska | 113 | $32,106 |
| 47 | South Dakota | 99 | $26,966 |
| 48 | Wyoming | 96 | $29,369 |
| 49 | Hawaii | 95 | $32,426 |
| 50 | Vermont | 58 | $33,658 |
Top Skills For a Pizza Cook
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 24.0% of pizza cooks listed food handling on their resume, but soft skills such as dexterity and sense of taste and smell are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Pizza Cook Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Pizza Cook templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Pizza Cook resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Pizza Cook diversity
Pizza Cook Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among pizza cooks, 26.5% of them are women, while 73.5% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among pizza cooks is White, which makes up 60.7% of all pizza cooks.
- The most common foreign language among pizza cooks is Spanish at 57.1%.
Online Courses For Pizza Cook That You May Like
1. Cooking for Busy Healthy People
Cooking is one of the most powerful ways in which we can optimize our enjoyment of great quality food while protecting our health. Even on a tight budget, cooking can be a cost-effective, joyful and rewarding way to love the food that will love us back for a lifetime. In this course, you’ll learn some basic recipes from a home cook and two professional chefs who prioritize healthful eating. You’ll also learn some of the fundamentals of principle-based cooking that can help you break free from...
2. Fun food safety and sanitation course
The food safety course will help prepare you for safely working in a kitchen and food handler tests like Servesafe...
3. ISO 22000:2018 - Food Safety Management System (FSMS)
The Pioneer Training Course on ISO 22000 & Food Safety Lectures on Terms, Clauses, Transition 100% Standard Coverage...
Best States For a Pizza Cook
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a pizza cook. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Oregon. Pizza cooks make the most in Washington with an average salary of $41,907. Whereas in Massachusetts and Connecticut, they would average $39,304 and $37,411, respectively. While pizza cooks would only make an average of $36,395 in Oregon, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Colorado
$34,598
Avg. Salary
2. Massachusetts
$39,304
Avg. Salary
3. Connecticut
$37,411
Avg. Salary
How Do Pizza Cooks Rate Their Jobs?
Top Pizza Cook Employers
Most Common Employers For Pizza Cook
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MOD Pizza | $32,586 | $15.67 | 78 |
| 2 | Great Wolf Resorts | $32,207 | $15.48 | 32 |
| 3 | Whole Foods Market | $32,039 | $15.40 | 16 |
| 4 | John's Incredible Pizza | $31,885 | $15.33 | 23 |
| 5 | Wegmans Food Markets | $31,770 | $15.27 | 27 |
| 6 | Old Chicago | $28,331 | $13.62 | 36 |
| 7 | Grimaldi's Pizzeria | $27,746 | $13.34 | 18 |
| 8 | Round Table Realty | $27,531 | $13.24 | 14 |
| 9 | Marco's Pizza | $26,786 | $12.88 | 13 |
| 10 | Cici Enterprises | $26,690 | $12.83 | 21 |
Pizza Cook Videos
