Institution and Cafeteria Cooks
On the Job
Institution and Cafeteria Cooks prepare and cook large amounts of food for places like schools, hospitals, or cafeterias.
Physical Demands 
This career requires time standing, walking, or running.
Typical Work Tasks
People who work in this career often:
- Inspect facilities, equipment or supplies to ensure conformance to standards.
- Monitor food services operations to ensure procedures are followed.
- Determine prices for menu items.
- Clean food preparation areas, facilities, or equipment.
- Clean tableware.
- Move equipment, supplies or food to required locations.
- Serve food or beverages.
- Cook foods.
- Cut cooked or raw foods.
- Prepare breads or doughs.
Typical Working Conditions
- Having face-to-face discussions.
- Standing.
- Working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions.
- Working with a group or team.
- Meeting strict deadlines.
- Exposure to minor burns, cuts, bites, or stings.
- Responsibility for others' health and safety.
- 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.
- Frequent decision-making.
- Exposure to sounds or noise levels that are distracting or uncomfortable.
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.
