How To Become A Specialty Foods Cook: What It Is and Career Path

What is a specialty foods cook and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a specialty foods cook. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.14 an hour? That's $31,497 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 16% and produce 419,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreSpecialty Foods CookUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $31,497

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.2

Growth rate 16%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.17%

Asian 6.99%

Black or African American 9.94%

Hispanic or Latino 18.45%

Unknown 4.78%

White 58.66%

Gender

female 27.31%

male 72.69%

Age - 37

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 - 37

Stress level

6.2

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

4.3

Complexity level is basic

7 - challenging

Work life balance

7.4

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a specialty foods cook

Explore specialty foods cook education requirements

Most common specialty foods cook degrees

High School Diploma

50.1 %

Associate

16.3 %

Bachelor's

13.9 %

Start to develop specific specialty foods cook skills

Skills	Percentages
Food Handling	44.77%
Basic Math	34.84%
Dishes	4.79%
Food Service	3.58%
Safety Standards	2.67%

Complete relevant specialty foods cook training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New specialty foods cooks 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 specialty foods cook based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real specialty foods cook resumes.

Research specialty foods cook duties and responsibilities

Develop ability to manage multiple stations simultaneously while maintaining high levels of culinary excellence.
Operate a large volume of cooking equipment such as grills, deep fryers, and griddles.
Collect orders from customers, clean dining room, wash dishes, safely cook food to customer liking.
Ensure food are stored and cook at correct temperatures by regulating temperature of oven, broilers, grills and roasters.

Prepare your specialty foods cook resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable specialty foods cook resume templates

Build a professional specialty foods cook 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 specialty foods cook resume.