Cook
Cook
Career Overview
Cooks prepare, season, and cook meals in restaurants, hotels, hospitals, schools, catering companies, and other food-service settings. They work with recipes, ingredients, specialized kitchen equipment, and increasingly digital tools for ordering, inventory, temperature control, and kitchen management. Career Growth: With experience and additional training, Cooks can move into roles such as Chef, Head Chef, or Executive Chef, where earning potential can be significantly higher.
Education
A high school diploma is usually required. You can enter the career through a Cook apprenticeship, a college or culinary program in cooking or food safety, or commercial cooking experience. Trade certification is available, and qualified cooks can earn a Red Seal endorsement.
Future Outlook
Cooks will continue to be needed in restaurants, healthcare, schools, hotels, catering, and other food-service operations. Technology is changing how kitchens operate, but skilled cooks are still needed to prepare food, manage quality, and adapt to different menus and customer needs. Population and income growth are expected to result in greater consumer demand for food at a variety of dining places.
Work Environment
Cooks work in busy kitchens, where teamwork, timing, and attention to detail are important. The work can involve long periods on your feet, heat, and fast-paced service, with shifts that may include evenings, weekends, and holidays. Modern kitchens may also use automated cooking equipment, digital ordering systems, and food-production technology.
Recommended High School Courses
- Chemistry
- Math
- Business
- Culinary courses
- English
- Computer Studies
- Food & Nutrition
- Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- 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.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Finger Dexterity - The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Manual Dexterity - The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Perceptual Speed - The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
- Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Trunk Strength - The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without 'giving out' or fatiguing.
- Visual Color Discrimination - The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Clean food preparation areas, facilities, or equipment.
- Inspect facilities, equipment or supplies to ensure conformance to standards.
- Cook foods.
- Check quality of foods or supplies.
- Assess equipment functioning.
- Maintain food, beverage, or equipment inventories.
- Arrange food for serving.
- Serve food or beverages.
- Measure ingredients.
- Mix ingredients.
- Prepare foods for cooking or serving.
- Coordinate activities of food service staff.
- Estimate supplies, ingredients, or staff requirements for food preparation activities.
- Order materials, supplies, or equipment.
- Assist chefs or caterers with food or drink preparation.
- Cut cooked or raw foods.
- Plan menu options.
- Record operational or production data.
- Prepare breads or doughs.
- Determine prices for menu items.
Schools
Potential Scholarships
Approx Salary Expectation
References
Trend Analysis - Explorer the Market, Labour Market Information, Government of Canada https://www.jobbank.gc.ca/trend-analysis.
O*NET OnLine, National Center for O*NET Development, https://www.onetonline.org/.