Restaurant Cook resume keywords and skills

A chef hiring a cook reads for stations, volume and food safety, usually in that order. Postings name the stations they need covered, the equipment on the line and the card you must hold. Use the same station names the posting uses, since one kitchen's hot line is another's sauté. Leave out stations you have only helped on. The keywords below are grouped by how a kitchen divides the work.

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Line cooking
Grill and broiler
Sauté station
Fry station
Flat-top grill
Knife skills
Ticket times
Expediting
Plating and presentation
Standardized recipes
Portion control
ServSafe Food Handler
HACCP
Temperature logs
Allergen awareness
Kitchen sanitation
Mise en place
Stock rotation (FIFO)
Inventory and ordering
Food cost

Restaurant Cook resume keywords

The bullets are writing models, not anyone's real results. Use a keyword only when you can back it with your own work.

Stations and cooking

Line cooking: The core term in nearly every cook posting. Add the cuisine, the number of stations on the line and the covers you cooked for.; Handled line cooking for a 120-seat Italian restaurant, working sauté and grill on a five-station line.
Grill and broiler: Steakhouses and burger restaurants hire for this station by name. State the proteins you cooked and how you hit temperatures.; Ran the grill and broiler on weekend dinners, cooking 150 steaks and chops to the ordered temperature.
Sauté station: Often the hardest station on the line and a sign you can run several pans at once. Mention the pastas or pan sauces you fired to order.; Worked the sauté station on a six-burner range, firing pastas and pan sauces to order for 180 covers.
Fry station: Casual and quick-service kitchens start cooks here. Include breading and oil filtering, since those jobs come with the station.; Covered the fry station with three fryers, breading chicken to order and filtering oil at close.
Flat-top grill: Breakfast, diner and burger postings ask for it. Say what you cooked and how many orders the flat-top carried at once.; Cooked eggs, pancakes and burgers on a flat-top grill, with up to 20 orders working at a time.
Knife skills: Listed in most postings and tested in a working interview. Name the cuts you do daily and the volume, since anyone can type the phrase.; Used knife skills daily to break down 40 pounds of chicken and portion fish for the line.

Service and consistency

Ticket times: Kitchen managers track these on the screen. A target you met, such as 12 minutes for entrees, says more than the word fast.; Kept ticket times under 12 minutes for entrees during Friday and Saturday dinner rushes.
Expediting: Lead cook postings mention it. It means calling tickets, timing stations so a table's plates land together and checking each plate at the pass.; Stepped in expediting on busy nights, calling tickets and checking plates at the pass before they left the kitchen.
Plating and presentation: Full-service and fine dining kitchens want plates that match the chef's spec every time. Mention the photos or spec sheets you plated from.; Followed spec sheets for plating and presentation so each dish matched the chef's photo.
Standardized recipes: Chains and hotel kitchens rely on these for consistency and cost. Saying you follow them tells a chef you will not improvise on the line.; Prepared sauces, soups and dressings from standardized recipes in batches of up to 5 gallons.
Portion control: Tied directly to food cost. Name the tools you use, such as scales, ladles and portion scoops.; Practiced portion control with scales and portion scoops on every protein and side.

Food safety and sanitation

ServSafe Food Handler: The most common food safety card in US kitchens. Some states and counties issue their own, so use the name on your card.; Hold a current ServSafe Food Handler certificate and follow its time and temperature rules on the line.
HACCP: Hotels, hospitals and larger restaurant groups run a written HACCP plan. List it only if you have followed the plan or filled out its logs.; Followed the kitchen's HACCP plan for cooling, reheating and holding cooked foods.
Temperature logs: Health inspectors ask to see them. Mentioning logs shows you check walk-ins, hot holding and cooked proteins with a thermometer.; Recorded temperature logs for two walk-in coolers and the hot line every four hours.
Allergen awareness: Many postings name it. Describe what you do when a ticket carries an allergy, such as clean pans, fresh gloves and a separate board.; Completed allergen awareness training and cooked flagged tickets with clean pans, utensils and gloves.
Kitchen sanitation: Covers the cleaning that keeps a kitchen passing inspection. Mention sanitizer buckets, station wipe-downs and the closing clean you do.; Maintained kitchen sanitation by changing sanitizer buckets every two hours and deep cleaning the line each Sunday.

Prep and kitchen operations

Mise en place: Chefs use the phrase for having a station fully set before service. It signals you will not run out of backups mid-rush.; Set mise en place for the grill station before each service, with backups labeled and dated.
Stock rotation (FIFO): First in, first out. Postings list it with labeling and dating, so mention those together.; Rotated stock using FIFO and labeled and dated every container in the walk-in.
Inventory and ordering: Lead and sous-level postings ask for it. Say what you counted, how often and which vendors you ordered from.; Counted weekly inventory and ordered produce and dry goods from two vendors.
Food cost: Appears in lead cook and kitchen supervisor postings. Connect it to waste logs, trim use or portioning you handled.; Helped hold food cost near 30 percent by logging waste and using trim in soups and specials.

Restaurant Cook job description for a resume

Common duties written as resume bullets. Keep the ones you did and add your own numbers.

Cook menu items to order on the grill, sauté, fry and flat-top stations.
Set up the station before service with prepped ingredients, backups and clean tools.
Follow recipes, portion sizes and plating specs so each dish comes out the same.
Read tickets, time dishes with other stations and send complete orders to the pass.
Check and record food temperatures and store ingredients labeled, dated and rotated.
Handle allergy orders with clean equipment and tell the chef about any risk of cross-contact.
Clean and sanitize the station, equipment and floors during and after each shift.
Receive deliveries, check them against the invoice and put stock away.
Prep proteins, vegetables, sauces and stocks for the next service.

Restaurant Cook resume summary examples

Entry level

Culinary program graduate with a ServSafe Food Handler certificate and 6 months on the fry and pantry stations of a 90-seat restaurant. Follows standardized recipes, keeps a clean labeled station and has solid knife skills from daily prep. Looking for a line cook position with room to learn grill and sauté.

Experienced

Line cook with 7 years in full-service restaurants seating up to 200. Works grill, sauté and expo, keeps entree ticket times under 12 minutes on weekend rushes and trains new cooks on recipes and food safety. ServSafe certified. Counts inventory, places orders and helps the chef hold food cost on target.

Phrases to replace on a restaurant cook resume

Cooked food for customers
Name the station and the volume. Worked sauté for a 120-seat restaurant, firing 180 covers on Saturday nights.
Followed all safety procedures
Say which ones. Logged cooler and hot-line temperatures every four hours and labeled and dated all prep.
Works well under pressure
Give the rush and the result. Kept entree ticket times under 12 minutes during Friday dinner service.

Restaurant Cook resume examples

See these keywords in a full resume, by experience level.

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Restaurant Cook resume keywords FAQ

What keywords should a restaurant cook resume include?

Name your stations first, such as grill, sauté, fry or flat-top, then the food safety card you hold. Postings also repeat knife skills, standardized recipes, portion control, ticket times and sanitation. Pick the ones in the posting you are answering and attach each to something you did. A chef can tell quickly whether a term has work behind it.

How do I write a cook job description for a resume?

Write what you cooked, on which station, for how many covers. A line such as 'worked grill for a 150-seat steakhouse' tells a chef more than 'prepared food.' Then add prep, temperature logs and closing duties, starting each bullet with a verb. Keep to tasks you did yourself.

Should I put ServSafe on my resume?

Yes, if it is current. List the exact certificate, either ServSafe Food Handler or ServSafe Manager, with the expiration date. Many employers require a food handler card within 30 days of hire, so holding one already saves the kitchen a step. If yours expired, say you are renewing it.

How many skills should a cook list on a resume?

Eight to twelve is plenty. A short list of stations, equipment and food safety terms that match the posting reads better than thirty words pasted from a template. Put the rest of your proof in the experience bullets, where you can give covers, ticket times and the kind of kitchen you worked in.

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