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Food Preparation Workers
Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea.
Also Known As:
Cook
Cook Aide
Deli Clerk (Delicatessen Clerk)
Diet Aide
Dietary Aide
Food Prep (Food Preparer)
Food Service Aide
Food Service Worker (FSW)
Line Cook
Nutrition Aide
Wages
Annual wages for Food Preparation Workers in United States
Job Outlook
Bright
New job opportunities are very likely in the future
United States
2034 Projected Employment
871,800
-3% Change From 2024
Explore Food Preparation Workers video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Place food trays over food warmers for immediate service, or store them in refrigerated storage cabinets.
- Package take-out foods or serve food to customers.
- Operate cash register, handle money, and give correct change.
- Scrape leftovers from dishes into garbage containers.
- Butcher and clean fowl, fish, poultry, and shellfish to prepare for cooking or serving.
- Prepare and serve a variety of beverages, such as coffee, tea, and soft drinks.
- Store food in designated containers and storage areas to prevent spoilage.
- Use manual or electric appliances to clean, peel, slice, and trim foods.
- Add cutlery, napkins, food, and other items to trays on assembly lines in hospitals, cafeterias, airline kitchens, and similar establishments.
- Clean and sanitize work areas, equipment, utensils, dishes, or silverware.
- Portion and wrap food, or place it directly on plates for service to patrons.
- Carry food supplies, equipment, and utensils to and from storage and work areas.
- Vacuum dining area and sweep and mop kitchen floor.
- Load dishes, glasses, and tableware into dishwashing machines.
- Assist cooks and kitchen staff with various tasks as needed, and provide cooks with needed items.
- Weigh or measure ingredients.
- Prepare a variety of foods, such as meats, vegetables, or desserts, according to customers' orders or supervisors' instructions, following approved procedures.
- Inform supervisors when equipment is not working properly and when food and supplies are getting low, and order needed items.
- Stock cupboards and refrigerators, and tend salad bars and buffet meals.
- Stir and strain soups and sauces.
- Mix ingredients for green salads, molded fruit salads, vegetable salads, and pasta salads.
- Distribute menus to hospital patients, collect diet sheets, and deliver food trays and snacks to nursing units or directly to patients.
- Make special dressings and sauces as condiments for sandwiches.
- Operate cash register, handle money, and give correct change.
- Distribute food to waiters and waitresses to serve to customers.
- Keep records of the quantities of food used.
- Prepare and serve a variety of beverages, such as coffee, tea, and soft drinks.
- Receive and store food supplies, equipment, and utensils in refrigerators, cupboards, and other storage areas.
- Package take-out foods or serve food to customers.
- Clean and sanitize work areas, equipment, utensils, dishes, or silverware.
- Wash, peel, and cut various foods, such as fruits and vegetables, to prepare for cooking or serving.
- Cut, slice or grind meat, poultry, and seafood to prepare for cooking.
- Take and record temperature of food and food storage areas, such as refrigerators and freezers.
- Vacuum dining area and sweep and mop kitchen floor.
- Assemble meal trays with foods in accordance with patients' diets.
- Use manual or electric appliances to clean, peel, slice, and trim foods.
- Place food trays over food warmers for immediate service, or store them in refrigerated storage cabinets.
- Remove trash and clean kitchen garbage containers.
- Stock cupboards and refrigerators, and tend salad bars and buffet meals.
- Portion and wrap food, or place it directly on plates for service to patrons.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")