Skip navigation

Cooks

Cooks prepare, season and cook food, often using pre-prepared ingredients, in clubs, private households, fast food outlets, shops selling food cooked on the premises and the catering departments and canteens of other establishments.

Wages

New workers
AVERAGE
Experienced
£8,000
£16,313
£25,273

New workers start around £8,000. Normal pay is £16,313 per year.
Highly experienced workers can earn up to £25,273.

Available jobs

In the past year there were 84,274 vacancies for this type of job

4.65%

Projected job growth over the next 8 years

Related courses

People work towards these careers by taking these courses at college and uni.

What they do most days?

  • Plans and co-ordinates kitchen work such as fetching, clearing and cleaning of equipment and utensils.

  • Cooks and sells a range of meals, such as fish and chips, over the counter.

  • Plans meals, prepares, seasons and cooks foodstuffs.

  • Requisitions or purchases foodstuffs and checks quality.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific, learnable, measurable, often industry or occupation-specific abilities related to a position.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Food Safety And Sanitation

  • Cooking

  • Food Preparation

  • Restaurant Operation

  • Meal Planning And Preparation

  • Recipes

  • Control Of Substances Hazardous To Health (COSHH)

  • Stock Control

  • Hazard Analysis And Critical Control Points (HACCP)

  • Menu Planning

Soft Skills

Soft skills can be self-taught and usually do not necessitate a certain completed level of education.

Skills are ranked based on the number of job adverts that list them as required skills.

  • Communication

  • Cleanliness

  • Customer Service

  • Detail Oriented

  • Management

  • Planning

  • Operations

  • Organizational Skills

  • Teamwork

  • Time Management

How do I get a job like this?

People in these types of job started their career paths after studying courses like the ones below.

Routes to this career

See all