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The major responsibility of food prep is to ensure kitchen care and prepare food under the guidance of supervisors, chefs, or cooks. As a food prep, you can work in numerous companies or firms that are associated with food.

In addition to your responsibilities, you will largely concentrate on doing easy to modest tasks such as tidying up the kitchen, disinfecting the appliances, making ready the needed ingredients, and confirming their Integrity and quantity. You will also need to oversee food preservation, assist by carrying out simple cooking jobs, closely observe checkout stations for proper employment, and make sure enough money is available.

As a food prep, you must have good communication and customer service skills and physical strength. You don't necessarily need to have a college education, but you must possess at most a high school diploma or at least a bachelor's degree. A food prep earns an average yearly salary of $23,694 or $11.39 per hour.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a food prep. For example, did you know that they make an average of $12.32 an hour? That's $25,627 a year!

Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 14% and produce 775,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

What Does a Food Prep Do

There are certain skills that many food preps have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, customer-service skills and physical strength.

Learn more about what a Food Prep does

How To Become a Food Prep

If you're interested in becoming a food prep, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 16.5% of food preps have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 0.9% of food preps have master's degrees. Even though some food preps have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a food prep. When we researched the most common majors for a food prep, we found that they most commonly earn high school diploma degrees or bachelor's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on food prep resumes include associate degree degrees or diploma degrees.

You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a food prep. In fact, many food prep jobs require experience in a role such as cashier. Meanwhile, many food preps also have previous career experience in roles such as sales associate or customer service representative.

Food Prep Career Paths

Average Salary for a Food Prep

Food Preps in America make an average salary of $25,627 per year or $12 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $34,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $19,000 per year.
Average Food Prep Salary
$25,627 Yearly
$12.32 hourly
$19,000
10 %
$25,000
Median
$34,000
90 %

What Am I Worth?

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Food Prep Education

Food Prep Majors

17.5 %

Food Prep Degrees

High School Diploma

48.4 %

Bachelors

16.5 %

Associate

16.4 %

Top Skills For a Food Prep

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 20.6% of food preps listed food service on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and customer-service skills are important as well.

  • Food Service, 20.6%
  • Communication, 9.8%
  • Food Preparation, 8.0%
  • Positive Attitude, 5.1%
  • Kitchen Equipment, 4.4%
  • Other Skills, 52.1%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Food Prep Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Food Prep templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Food Prep resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Food Prep Demographics

Food Prep Gender Distribution

Male
Male
51%
Female
Female
49%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among food preps, 48.9% of them are women, while 51.1% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among food preps is White, which makes up 61.4% of all food preps.

  • The most common foreign language among food preps is Spanish at 69.4%.

Online Courses For Food Prep That You May Like

Advertising Disclosure  The courses listed below are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the course, we may receive a commission.
Nutrition and Health: Food Safety
edX (Global)

Everyday reports of food scandals and recalls are published. One day it’s scary bacteria in meat, and another day it’s dangerous pesticides in fruits. According to some, meat needs to be cooked well to prevent food-borne illness while others warn not to heat food to prevent the formation of poisonous substances. Many consumers worry about the conflicting and confusing messages about food hazards. This nutrition and health course will teach you about the risk factors associated with food and...

Basic Food Photography
udemy
4.2
(1,219)

Learn how to take delicious food photos from scratch...

Sustainable Food Security: Food Access
edX (Global)

Food access: Learn about food supply and food security Have you ever considered that you’re not the only one who decides what food ends up on your plate? In this environmental studies course, you’ll explore how key actors at household, local, national and international levels negotiate and make choices on access to food. You will understand why the choices you make have been predestined. And you will learn what it takes to provide access to a safe and nutritious food supply every day. For whom?...

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Best States For a Food Prep

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a food prep. The best states for people in this position are California, Maine, Oregon, and Vermont. Food preps make the most in California with an average salary of $37,644. Whereas in Maine and Oregon, they would average $35,096 and $34,469, respectively. While food preps would only make an average of $34,459 in Vermont, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Maine

Total Food Prep Jobs:
173
Highest 10% Earn:
$45,000
Location Quotient:
0.97 Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here

2. Arizona

Total Food Prep Jobs:
855
Highest 10% Earn:
$40,000
Location Quotient:
1.08 Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here

3. California

Total Food Prep Jobs:
3,657
Highest 10% Earn:
$51,000
Location Quotient:
0.93 Location Quotient is a measure used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) to determine how concentrated a certain industry is in a single state compared to the nation as a whole. You can read more about how BLS calculates location quotients here
Full List Of Best States For Food Preps

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Top Food Prep Employers

Most Common Employers For Food Prep

Rank  Company  Average Salary  Hourly Rate  Job Openings  
1Aramark$31,343$15.07367
2Whole Foods Market$25,666$12.34118
3Pizza Hut$25,627$12.32775
4Panera Bread$25,627$12.32265
5Chipotle Mexican Grill$25,006$12.02284
6Six Flags$22,646$10.89116
7Little Caesars$22,442$10.79254
8Wendy's$22,299$10.72415
9Chick-fil-A$22,266$10.70189
10Domino's Pizza$22,211$10.68155

Food Prep Videos

Becoming a Food Prep FAQs

How long does it take to become a Food Prep?

It takes one year or less to become a food prep. That is the time it takes to learn specific food prep skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education.

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