What does a Food Preparation Worker do?

Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea. Day to day that includes work like clean and sanitize work areas, equipment, utensils, dishes, or silverware and Assist cooks and kitchen staff with various tasks as needed, and provide cooks with needed items.

What skills should a Food Preparation Worker put on a resume?

O*NET rates Active Listening, Service Orientation, and Time Management among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.

What software should a Food Preparation Worker list?

Software recorded for this occupation includes Barrington Software CookenPro Commercial, CBORD Foodservice Suite, CBORD NetRecipe, Culinary Software Services ChefTec, and EGS CALCMENU. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.

What other job titles cover Food Preparation Worker work?

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Cook, Deli Clerk, Delicatessen Clerk, and Dietary Aide. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

What qualifications does a Food Preparation Worker need?

In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 69% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

Will this resume pass an ATS for a Food Preparation Worker role?

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Food Preparation Worker resume example

A resume for a Food Preparation Worker needs to show the work itself: perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea. Day to day that means work like this: clean and sanitize work areas, equipment, utensils, dishes, or silverware; assist cooks and kitchen staff with various tasks as needed, and provide cooks with needed items. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

Cook
Deli Clerk
Delicatessen Clerk
Dietary Aide
Food Service Worker
FSW
Cook Aide
Diet Aide
Food Prep
Food Preparer
Food Service Aide
Line Cook
Nutrition Aide
Deli Slicer
Expo
Food Expo
Food Order Expo
Food Prep Kitchen Aide

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What people in this job call themselves

Titles reported by people actually doing this work, which is often not the title on the job posting.

Deli Clerk (Delicatessen Clerk)
Food Prep (Food Preparer)
Food Service Worker (FSW)

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

Clean and sanitize work areas, equipment, utensils, dishes, or silverware.
Assist cooks and kitchen staff with various tasks as needed, and provide cooks with needed items.
Take and record temperature of food and food storage areas, such as refrigerators and freezers.
Carry food supplies, equipment, and utensils to and from storage and work areas.
Remove trash and clean kitchen garbage containers.
Store food in designated containers and storage areas to prevent spoilage.
Weigh or measure ingredients.
Vacuum dining area and sweep and mop kitchen floor.
Inform supervisors when equipment is not working properly and when food and supplies are getting low, and order needed items.
Wash, peel, and cut various foods, such as fruits and vegetables, to prepare for cooking or serving.
Prepare a variety of foods, such as meats, vegetables, or desserts, according to customers' orders or supervisors' instructions, following approved procedures.
Assemble meal trays with foods in accordance with patients' diets.

31 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

Clean and sanitize work areas, equipment, utensils, dishes, or silverware, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Assist cooks and kitchen staff with various tasks as needed, and provide cooks with needed items, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Take and record temperature of food and food storage areas, such as refrigerators and freezers, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
Carry food supplies, equipment, and utensils to and from storage and work areas, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

Barrington Software CookenPro Commercial
CBORD Foodservice Suite
CBORD NetRecipe
Culinary Software Services ChefTec
EGS CALCMENU
iPro
Master Cook Deluxe Professional Cook
Mealmaster Cookbook Wizard
MicroBlast Recipe Wizard for Windows
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Office software
Quizlet
Recipe software
ValuSoft MasterCook

15 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

Belt conveyors
Blenders
Bread slicers
Brick ovens
Cappuccino machines
Charbroilers
Choppers
Coffee brewing machines
Coffee grinders
Combination slicers/electronic portion scales
Commercial cooking ovens
Commercial dishwashers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

cook foods
clean tableware

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

01Active Listening
02Service Orientation
03Time Management

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

Customer and Personal Service

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

69%High School Diploma, or the equivalent
22%Some College Courses
4%Doctoral Degree

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Some Preparation Needed”. These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.

Common questions

What does a Food Preparation Worker do?: Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea. Day to day that includes work like clean and sanitize work areas, equipment, utensils, dishes, or silverware and Assist cooks and kitchen staff with various tasks as needed, and provide cooks with needed items.
What skills should a Food Preparation Worker put on a resume?: O*NET rates Active Listening, Service Orientation, and Time Management among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Food Preparation Worker list?: Software recorded for this occupation includes Barrington Software CookenPro Commercial, CBORD Foodservice Suite, CBORD NetRecipe, Culinary Software Services ChefTec, and EGS CALCMENU. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Food Preparation Worker work?: O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including Cook, Deli Clerk, Delicatessen Clerk, and Dietary Aide. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Food Preparation Worker need?: In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 69% reported their level of education as "High School Diploma, or the equivalent". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Food Preparation Worker role?: No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.