Professional Cook Resume Examples & Skills for 2024

Cooks are known for their ability to transform ingredients into culinary masterpieces. And if your dream is to be the next Guy Fieri, you need hands-on experience. How to get it?

By writing a cook's resume that restaurant managers crave. Follow our guide, and see that writing such a resume is as easy as cooking a frozen lasagna.

This guide will show you:

• A cook resume sample worth at least one Michelin star.
• How to write the perfect cook job description for a resume.
• Which cook resume skills will get you hired.
• Expert tips to boost your chances of landing a cook job.

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Looking for something similar to a cook resume guide? See our other guides:

• Barista Resume Examples
• Chef Resume Guide
• Fast Food Resume Samples
• McDonald’s Resume Example
• Restaurant Manager Resume
• Resume for Food Service
• Server Resume Examples
• Sous Chef Resume Sample
• Starbucks’s Resume Examples
• Waiter/Waitress Resume Guide

Cook Resume Example

Cooks are culinary professionals who go beyond simply preparing and cooking food. They deliver exceptional service and satisfaction to customers. Cooks contribute to the success of culinary establishments. They provide delicious and appealing meals while maintaining a clean kitchen environment.

Now, here’s how to write a juicy cook resume:

1. Start With an Appealing Cook Resume Format

You start eating with your eyes.

You may have the best-tasting dish right in front of you. But if it looks like something that would give Gordon Ramsay a heart attack, you may not even decide to try it.

The same rule applies to your cook resume and to hiring managers (in your case, most likely restaurant owners). When they see a resume format that’s as sophisticated as a cheese sandwich, they won’t even bother going through it.

So show them a cook's resume that makes their eyes shine like a rainbow terrine.

Here’s how to apply the best resume format:

• Use the chronological resume format to organize your cook resume.
• Pick a nice-looking resume font like Cambria in 10–12pt.
• Apply 1-inch resume margins, and leave some white space showing to not crowd the page.

• Submit a one-page-long resume. You don't need more unless you have Jamie Oliver's experience.

• Add these resume sections: Header, Profile, Experience, Education, Skills, and “Additional.”

• Save the resume in DOC or PDF? We recommend you always go for a PDF resume, unless the job ad asks otherwise.

2. Write a Salivating Cook Resume Objective or Summary

When browsing a menu, you usually stop on specific items that catch your eye. Recruiters do the same thing. And on top of that, they are very picky.

So how do you become an attention magnet? By adding a professional cook resume profile.

If you already have some experience as a cook, opt for a cook resume summary.

Use:

1. One adjective (efficient, reliable, motivated)
2. Job title (Cook)
3. Years of experience (2+, 5+)
4. How you’ll help (contribute to a dynamic kitchen environment)
5. Nicest 1–3 achievements (consistently achieving high customer satisfaction ratings of 95%+)

These cook resume summary examples show how:

Cook Resume Summary Sample

Highly motivated cook with 2 years of experience in fast food establishments. Dedicated to delivering exceptional culinary experiences, maintaining food quality, and providing excellent customer service. Met daily production targets, consistently achieving high customer satisfaction ratings of 95%+. Seeking an opportunity with Super Meat Bros to utilize cooking to contribute to a dynamic kitchen environment.

Skilled Cook with a few years of experience in fast food establishments. Dedicated to maintaining food quality and providing excellent customer service. Seeking an opportunity to utilize my cooking expertise and contribute to a dynamic kitchen environment.

See that?

These two summaries come from the same candidate. But the difference is that of a finely dry-aged steak and a raw slab of frozen beef.

The second example doesn’t give any concrete achievements or show a specific number of years of experience. And the result?

The recruiter will choose the first of these cook resume examples.

But what if you want to start working as a cook, but your previous jobs didn’t pay you to handle a skillet?

Don’t worry.

That’s where a resume objective comes in. It will help you present skills and achievements from other jobs on your cook resume.

Cook Resume Objective Example

Efficient home cook with a foundation in the restaurant industry. Previously worked as a restaurant waitress for 3 years. Proficient in working during rush hours. Won third place award for the best steak at a local city competition. Seeking to leverage industry knowledge, teamwork skills, and cooking expertise to become a new cook at Super Meat Bros.

Experienced waitress seeking to change careers into a cook. No professional experience, but prepares daily meals for the entire family.

None of these two examples shows a candidate who’s a career chef. But the first cook resume example belongs to someone who won’t crumble under pressure and who has already proved their cooking prowess.

Expert Hint: Want a quick way to season your resume profile professionally? Use resume action verbs to make your application 10x better.

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3. Bake the Perfect Cook Job Description

The restaurant wants a cook so good they would survive in Hell’s Kitchen. And you’ve already been through hell and back. Rush hours, angry clients—you’ve seen it all!

So use your cook resume work history section to show them you’ve handled everything.

Cook job description for resume guideline:

1. Take your time, carefully reading the job ad.
2. Spot the cook's skills and duties in it.
3. Think of times you’ve used those skills in your previous job.
4. Write resume bullets that show those things, and back them up with numbers.

These cook job description resume examples show how:

Cook Job Description for a Resume

Fast Food Cook

KFC, Tampa, FL

December 2021–Current

• Maintained a 100% compliance rate with food safety and sanitation standards, as audited by health inspectors.
• Met daily production targets, consistently achieving high customer satisfaction ratings of 95%+
• Consistently achieved the speed of service goals, delivering orders within an average of 3 minutes and meeting company standards.
• Prepared and cooked a variety of fast food items with precision and efficiency, serving an average of 500 customers daily.
• Successfully handled and resolved challenging customer situations, resulting in positive reviews and repeat business.
• Trained 3 new kitchen staff on food preparation techniques and adherence to safety protocols.

Fast Food Cook

KFC, Tampa, FL

December 2021–Current

• Prepared food items in a fast-paced environment.
• Maintained cleanliness and sanitation standards in the kitchen.
• Collaborated with team members to ensure smooth operation of the kitchen.
• Assisted with inventory management and restocking supplies.
• Handled cash transactions and provided customer service.

That second example is just the list of responsibilities…, so all you show is that you did your job.

The first candidate, on the other hand, did her job exceptionally well. And with all that relevant work experience, she will be the one to have her cook resume accepted.

4. Marinate Your Cook Resume With the Best Cook Skills

The more cook resume skills you show, the better, right?

Well, not necessarily. It’s like saying the more you season your steak, the better it becomes. But it’s so easy to add too much and overwhelm the taste of meat.

So, how should you write this section if you apply the same rule to your cook resume skills?

The answer is: Add 5-10 cook skills to your cook resume. It’s a great middle ground. Not too much, not too little. Make sure that all your listed cook skills are relevant to the job ad by creating a targeted resume. If you’re applying as a cook at a vegan restaurant, your expertise in cutting meat won’t improve your resume.

Cook Resume Skills

• Culinary Techniques
• Food Preparation
• Knife Skills
• Menu Planning
• Recipe Development
• Food Safety and Sanitation
• Ingredient Selection and Quality Control
• Cooking Methods (Grilling, Baking, Frying, etc.)
• Taste and Flavor Profiling
• Plating and Presentation
• Time Management
• Organization and Efficiency
• Menu Adaptation for Dietary Restrictions
• Inventory Management
• Team Working
• Communication Skills
• Multitasking
• Adaptability
• Attention to Detail
• Management Skills
• Problem Solving
• Customer Service
• Leadership

Expert Hint: When applying for a cook position, you might want to drop your resumes directly at each restaurant. If you do so, remember to print them on proper resume paper.

5. Sprinkle Some Care on Your Cook Resume Education

You don’t need a college degree to be a cook. But that doesn’t mean you can omit the resume education section from your application, especially since a well-written education section will make your cook's resume much more desirable.

You absolutely have to list your school name, degree, and graduation date (or estimated graduation date if you haven’t finished school yet.)

And to spice things up, provide additional bullet points that prove your key skills outside your work experience.

Just like in this cook resume sample:

Cook Resume Education Example

Education

Associates Degree in Culinary Arts

Art Institutes, Tampa, Florida

August 2021–May 2023

• Pursued relevant coursework: Meat identification, fabrication, and utilization, Ingredients and techniques of fabrication, Advanced cooking: farm to table.
• Participated as a school’s representative chef at 4 food festivals.

You can smell the professionalism coming from this one. And if you’re short on cooking experience, you can work more on your cook education on your resume. Include more projects and accomplishments that paint you in the best way possible.

6. Garnish Your Cook Resume With Added Sections

Time for the cherry on top:

Most resumes for cook jobs stop with experience, education, and skills. They’re as plain as pasta without sauce. And you wouldn’t like that. So, here’s the fix. Add 1-2 bonus resume sections:

• Additional Activities
• Foreign Languages
• Classes Taken
• Awards
• Hobbies and Interests
• Volunteering
• Certifications
• Professional References

These two cook resume examples show yes vs. no:

Cook Resume Sample—Extra Sections

Additional Activities

• Running a personal steak-oriented culinary blog with over 5,000 followers across all social media channels.
• Grillmaster at the semiannual Tampa Fundraising Fair.

Certifications

• Puppet Labs Puppet Developer Certification, February 2022
• Cloudera Certified Software Developer for Apache Hadoop (CCDH), August 2021
• Oracle Java Certifications Associate Professional, March 2018

Look, there is nothing wrong with these certifications. That is if you’re applying to be a software engineer, not a cook. Remember, relevance is key, and the first sample shows your love for food and proves your grilling skills.

Participating in food-oriented fairs and festivals is a fantastic way to gain some experience if you’re lacking in that department. So make sure you find and volunteer at your local event if you need an experience boost. You can start by looking into your university’s festivals, like this volunteer event by FIU.

Expert Hint: Nearly 60% of hiring managers don’t read cover letters. And you can probably extrapolate that metric to restaurant owners as well. But that still leaves 40%. So, learn how to write a cover letter and boost your job search efforts by 40%.

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Key Points

For a cook resume that puts you behind the grill:

• Use the cook resume template up top. It works like a fine recipe.
• Put cook achievementsin your summary, job description, education, and other sections to show restaurant owners you’ve got what they need.

• Pick perfectly tailored cook skills. That means looking through the cook job ad to learn what they want.

• Write a cook cover letter. It’ll work like a fine dessert to your resume main course.

Are you hungry after reading this cook resume guide? Got questions on how to write a great resume for cook jobs? Not sure how to show a cook job description on a resume? Leave a comment. We’ll be happy to reply.

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