Chefs and Head Cooks
On the Job
Chefs and Head Cooks prepare food such as salads, soups, fish, meats, vegetables, or desserts. They may plan and price menu items. They may order supplies or keep accounts. They may also supervise the work of other cooks.
Physical Demands 
This career requires time standing, walking, or running.
Typical Work Tasks
People who work in this career often:
- Train food preparation or food service personnel.
- Create new recipes or food presentations.
- Plan menu options.
- Determine prices for menu items.
- Estimate supplies, ingredients, or staff requirements for food preparation activities.
- Plan special events.
- Coordinate activities of food service staff.
- Coordinate timing of food production activities.
- Manage food service operations or parts of operations.
- Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
Typical Working Conditions
- Having face-to-face discussions.
- Meeting strict deadlines.
- Standing.
- Working with a group or team.
- Frequent decision-making.
- Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings.
- Responsibility for others' health and safety.
- Close physical proximity with other people.
- Working in very hot or cold temperatures.
- High levels of competition.
- The importance of being accurate or exact.
- Wearing common protective or safety equipment such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, hard hats, or life jackets.
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people.
This page includes information from the O*NET 24.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Source: You can learn about our data sources in the About Us section.
