National
| Median wages (2008) |
$7.90 hourly, $16,430 annual |
| Employment (2006) |
2,503,000 employees |
| Projected growth (2006-2016) |
Faster than average (14% to 20%)
|
| Projected need (2006-2016) |
927,000 additional employees |
35-3021.00 - Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food
Perform duties which combine both food preparation and food service.
Sample of reported job titles:
Deli Clerk (Delicatessen Clerk), Dietary Aide, School Cafeteria Cook, Car Hop, Deli Worker (Delicatessen Worker), Food Service Worker, Prep Cook (Preparation Cook), Deli Manager (Delicatessen Manager), Drive Thru Window Order Taker, Front Line Worker
Tasks
- Accept payment from customers, and make change as necessary.
- Request and record customer orders, and compute bills using cash registers, multicounting machines, or pencil and paper.
- Clean and organize eating and service areas.
- Serve customers in eating places that specialize in fast service and inexpensive carry-out food.
- Prepare and serve cold drinks, or frozen milk drinks or desserts, using drink-dispensing, milkshake, or frozen custard machines.
- Select food items from serving or storage areas and place them in dishes, on serving trays, or in takeout bags.
- Prepare simple foods and beverages such as sandwiches, salads, and coffee.
- Notify kitchen personnel of shortages or special orders.
- Cook or re-heat food items such as french fries.
- Wash dishes, glassware, and silverware after meals.
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Tools & Technology
Tools used in this occupation:
| Bar code reader equipment — Barcode scanners; Linear imaging scanners; Long range charged coupled device CCD barcode scanners; Point of service scanners |
| Belt conveyors — Food conveyor belts |
| Carts — Motorized food transportation carts |
| Commercial use deep fryers — Deep fat fryers; Deep wells; Fryers |
| Commercial use food choppers or cubers or dicers — Automatic dicers; Food choppers |
| Commercial use food slicers — Automatic slicers; Vertical cutters |
| Commercial use food warmers — Electric warming tables; Steam counters; Steam tables |
| Point of sale POS terminal — Point of service workstations; Point of service/sale POS terminals and interfaces |
Technology used in this occupation:
| Data base user interface and query software — Menu and nutrition database software |
| Point of sale POS software — ICVERIFY software; Intuit QuickBooks Point of Sale; NCR Advanced Checkout Solution; The General Store software |
