Short order cook vs crew member

The differences between short order cooks and crew members can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a short order cook has an average salary of $30,734, which is higher than the $28,946 average annual salary of a crew member.

The top three skills for a short order cook include food handling, customer service and food preparation equipment. The most important skills for a crew member are cleanliness, basic math, and english language.

Short order cook vs crew member overview

	Short Order Cook	Crew Member
Yearly salary	$30,734	$28,946
Hourly rate	$14.78	$13.92
Growth rate	16%	14%
Number of jobs	176,187	239,413
Job satisfaction	-	4
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 43%	High School Diploma, 51%
Average age	38	23
Years of experience	4	-

What does a short order cook do?

A short-order cook takes responsibility for preparing foods in cafes and restaurants. Usually, they fry eggs, cook fries, and prepare sandwiches. Short order cooks work alongside line chefs in the foodservice market. Their manner of preparing food is quick, easy, and simple. They plan and handle work orders ensuring that all orders are complete and served on time. Strong communication, customer service, a good sense of taste, and the ability to work efficiently are necessary requirements for the job.

What does a crew member do?

Crew members assist in the overall daily operations of a business, including restaurants, hotels, resorts, and other industries needing a large workforce. Crew members' duties include attending on a customer's needs, processing payments, taking orders, and handling sanitation services. Crew members should have excellent time-management skills and ability to multi-task, especially for the fast-paced operations. They must also adhere to the safety standards and procedures as required by the business. Crew members should also report incidents and escalate concerns from the clients to the management as needed.

Short order cook vs crew member salary

Short order cooks and crew members have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Short Order Cook	Crew Member
Average salary	$30,734	$28,946
Salary range	Between $24,000 And $38,000	Between $22,000 And $37,000
Highest paying City	Anaheim, CA	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	Washington	Alaska
Best paying company	Columbia University in the City of New York	University of California, Berkeley
Best paying industry	Health Care	Retail

Differences between short order cook and crew member education

There are a few differences between a short order cook and a crew member in terms of educational background:

	Short Order Cook	Crew Member
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 43%	High School Diploma, 51%
Most common major	Culinary Arts	Business
Most common college	-	-

Short order cook vs crew member demographics

Here are the differences between short order cooks' and crew members' demographics:

	Short Order Cook	Crew Member
Average age	38	23
Gender ratio	Male, 65.1% Female, 34.9%	Male, 48.4% Female, 51.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.3% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.7% Asian, 8.1% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%	Black or African American, 9.6% Unknown, 6.9% Hispanic or Latino, 18.6% Asian, 6.5% White, 57.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	6%	8%

Differences between short order cook and crew member duties and responsibilities

Short order cook example responsibilities.

Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.
Ensure that ovens and stoves remain at appropriate temperatures.
Clean kitchen including wiping down grills, slicers and deep-frying equipment.
Develop teamwork skills with cooks, dishwashers and wait staff, through efficient clean up and preparation of food.
Prepare guest food orders as they are either transmit via the POS system or orally convey at the counter.
Cook foods on the grill station, oven, barbecue grill, deep fryers, and other industrial cooking apparatus.

Crew member example responsibilities.

Manage food preparation, maintain cleanliness and punctuality while effectively support customers in daily transactions with suggestive selling methods.
Dig and fill holes, using shovels and rakes.
Cashier, server, greeter, order taker, sandwich maker, computer skil, math skil, customer service
Demonstrate excellent customer service in dealing with concerns and special food orders which include allergies and other customer wishes.
Cashier experience, service and enter orders into POS system; conduct inventory; and perform cash handling and food handling.
Use POS system to record order, compute bill, collect payments and make change while following all cash handling procedures.

Short order cook vs crew member skills

Common short order cook skills

Food Handling, 20%
Customer Service, 14%
Food Preparation Equipment, 11%
Kitchen Equipment, 9%
Food Service, 7%
Safety Standards, 7%

Common crew member skills

Cleanliness, 19%
Basic Math, 13%
English Language, 10%
Excellent Guest, 7%
Safety Standards, 7%
Food Products, 5%

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Short Order Cook vs Crew Member

Updated January 8, 2025

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