How To Become A Salad Chef: What It Is and Career Path

What is a salad chef and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Patti Stobaugh

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a salad chef. For example, did you know that they make an average of $17.63 an hour? That's $36,674 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 15% and produce 23,600 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a salad chef?

Patti Stobaugh

Owner, PattiCakes Bakery and Stoby's Restaurant

Being humble and willing to learn will take you far in your career, not just in the beginning. If you have the desire to open your own food service business, go to work for a business that has a great reputation. That will give you the opportunity to learn so much.

ScoreSalad ChefUS Average

Salary

2.9

Avg. Salary $36,674

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.2

Growth rate 15%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.65%

Asian 10.11%

Black or African American 10.45%

Hispanic or Latino 17.41%

Unknown 5.15%

White 56.23%

Gender

female 45.61%

male 54.39%

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 salad chef

Explore salad chef education requirements

Most common salad chef degrees

High School Diploma

33.6 %

Bachelor's

32.4 %

Associate

20.2 %

Start to develop specific salad chef skills

Skills	Percentages
Salad Station	37.36%
Cleanliness	22.27%
Customer Service	21.87%
Food Products	10.41%
Prep Food	1.86%

Complete relevant salad chef training and internships

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

Research salad chef duties and responsibilities

Used strong organizational skills to manage steamers efficiently for both eat-in and take-out services.
Handle cash, checks and cards, while using the POS system.
Perform maintenance and cleanliness operations.
Detail cleanliness and sanitation regulations to follow.

Prepare your salad chef resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable salad chef resume templates

Build a professional salad chef 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 salad chef resume.

Apply for salad chef jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a salad chef job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do salad chefs rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Salad chef reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2020

Pros

Design & creating food making customer happy cooking every area as line, prep, steam, broil, grill, creating comfort food desserts and catering. Ordering and managing a kitchen

Cons

Nothing to complain about love being a chef

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020