Smoker vs grill cook

The differences between smokers and grill cooks can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a grill cook has an average salary of $31,895, which is higher than the $28,798 average annual salary of a smoker.

The top three skills for a smoker include smokehouse, and . The most important skills for a grill cook are sanitation standards, kitchen equipment, and safety standards.

Smoker vs grill cook overview

	Smoker	Grill Cook
Yearly salary	$28,798	$31,895
Hourly rate	$13.85	$15.33
Growth rate	4%	16%
Number of jobs	148	184,603
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 48%	High School Diploma, 48%
Average age	41	38
Years of experience	-	4

Smoker vs grill cook salary

Smokers and grill cooks have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Smoker	Grill Cook
Average salary	$28,798	$31,895
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $38,000	Between $25,000 And $39,000
Highest paying City	-	Seattle, WA
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	St. Petersburg Yacht Club
Best paying industry	-	Hospitality

Differences between smoker and grill cook education

There are a few differences between a smoker and a grill cook in terms of educational background:

	Smoker	Grill Cook
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 48%	High School Diploma, 48%
Most common major	Culinary Arts	Culinary Arts
Most common college	-	-

Smoker vs grill cook demographics

Here are the differences between smokers' and grill cooks' demographics:

	Smoker	Grill Cook
Average age	41	38
Gender ratio	Male, 83.3% Female, 16.7%	Male, 76.9% Female, 23.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 13.9% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.8% Asian, 8.5% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.7%	Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 8.5% White, 58.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage	9%	6%

Differences between smoker and grill cook duties and responsibilities

Smoker example responsibilities.

Put food products into big smokehouse ovens to be cook properly.
Monitor bacon temperatures and cooking equipment.
Work in the smokehouse, smoking just every meat and vegetable there are.
Move uncook and cook meat to and from the cooler to the oven and back per USDA rules.
Ensure proper operation of HTST pasteurizer, monitoring time and temperatures to assure levels meet requirements for legally pasteurize products.
Execute daily operations of following all USDA regulations.

Grill cook example responsibilities.

Manage portions of grill food items and garnish them, regulate temperature of broilers, grills and roasters.
Operate mixers and manage ingredients to meet product quality and uniformity standards.
Utilize for relief management, new hire training, inventory control and profitable aspects of people and service.
Maintain station clean food preparation areas; operate large volume cooking equipment such as grills, deep fryers, or griddles.
High-Pace business catering to the consumer needs using hospitality and culinary expertise to provide proper customer satisfaction.
Cook foods by baking, roasting, broiling, frying, saut? ing, steaming and grilling.

Smoker vs grill cook skills

Common smoker skills

Smokehouse, 100%

Common grill cook skills

Sanitation Standards, 16%
Kitchen Equipment, 14%
Safety Standards, 13%
Food Handling, 9%
Math, 7%
Dexterity, 5%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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