Line Cook Jobs: Salary and Career Facts
Explore the career requirements for line cooks. Get the facts about education requirements, employment outlook and salary to determine if this is the right career for you.
What Does a Line Cook Do?
A line cook is a type of entry-level culinary professional who prepares food at a specific station within the kitchen of a restaurant or other dining establishment. They are experts in the preparation of the food at their station, and they respond to customer orders and follow instructions from chefs and sous chefs. In addition, they are expected to carefully follow safety and sanitation standards and to make sure that all of the equipment they need is functioning properly.
In the table below, you can learn about the common skills and training needed, along with the employment outlook and potential salary.
<table border="1"><tr><td><b>Education Required</b> </td><td> High school diploma</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Key Skills </b></td><td> Communication, sense of taste and smell, physical stamina, time management</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Job Growth (2020-2030)</b></td><td> 26% (<i>for all cooks</i>)*</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Median Hourly Salary (2022)</b></td><td> $30,503 (<i>for all line cooks</i>)**</td></tr>
</table><p><i>Sources: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, **PayScale.com</i>
</p><h3 id="section---WhatIsALineCook">What Is a Line Cook?</h3><p>Cooks prepare and cook up entrées, appetizers, side dishes, salads and more in the kitchens of restaurants, cafeterias and limited-serving dining establishments. Bigger restaurants may need to hire line cooks and assistant cooks to make sure a large volume of food can be prepared and served each night. When you work as a line cook, you typically hold down one cooking station in a large kitchen area. For example, you might work the grill or the stove for an entire evening. You might also hold a position working with certain ingredients, chopping meat or creating sauces.
</p><p>When working as a line cook, it's important that you communicate with fellow line cooks and take direct orders from a kitchen's head cook. On busy nights, you'll need to work together as a team to make sure that several different orders can be prepared simultaneously. You may also be responsible for stocking and cleaning your kitchen station.
</p><h3 id="section---WhatEducationAndTrainingMightINeed">What Education and Training Might I Need?</h3><p>You could potentially find a line cook position with little experience and no education beyond a high school diploma. Many restaurants provide on-the-job training for line cooks and assistant cooks. While completing such training, you'll learn how to cook and prepare certain types of foods, follow the chain of command in a kitchen and adhere to food and worker safety regulations.
</p><p>Some community colleges, trade schools and industry associations also offer vocational training programs in cooking. You might consider enrolling in such a certificate program to learn the basics of nutrition, kitchen sanitation, food safety, grilling techniques, cooking techniques and food handling processes.
</p><h3 id="section---WhatIsTheOutlookForTheCareer">What Is the Outlook for the Career?</h3><p>The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated that the job turnover rate for cooks, in general, is relatively high, which bodes well for individuals looking to get into the field as line cooks. However, the employment of cooks was predicted to increase by four percent between 2014 and 2024, which is slower than the average for all occupations. Job opportunities will vary by specialty area.
</p><h3 id="section---WhatSalaryCouldIExpectToMake">What Salary Could I Expect to Make?</h3><p>According to the BLS, cooks as a whole held about 2.28 million jobs in 2020 (<i>www.bls.gov</i>). As of 2020, about 1.15 million of these workers were employed by restaurants, while others were employed by fast food chains, cafeterias and private households. According to <i>PayScale.com</i>, the median wage of line cooks was $30,503, as of January 2022. The annual pay for those workers ranged between $20,000 and $44,000, which factors in bonuses, tips, overtime and profit sharing.
</p><h3 id="section---WhatAreSomeRelatedAlternativeCareers">What Are Some Related Alternative Careers?</h3><p>A closely related job option for individuals who are interested in food preparation is a job as a baker. Like cooks, you need no formal training for this job, but completing an apprenticeship or postsecondary culinary arts program can help improve your job prospects. If you're looking to advance to a higher level position in the field, you could become a chef. For that job, you need at least a high school diploma and work experience in the field, since you would play a managerial role in the kitchen in addition to preparing food. A postsecondary certificate or degree can also boost your job prospects.</p>