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How to become Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in 2024

Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria Prepare and cook large quantities of food for institutions, such as schools, hospitals, or cafeterias.

Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria is Also Know as

In different settings, Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria is titled as

  • Cafeteria Cook
  • Chef
  • Cook
  • Dietary Cook
  • Dinner Cook
  • Food Service Specialist
  • Food Service Worker
  • Prep Cook (Preparatory Cook)
  • School Cook
  • Sous Chef

Education and Training of Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

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

Education Required for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

Training Required for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria in different industries are

What Do Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria do?

  • Clean and inspect galley equipment, kitchen appliances, and work areas to ensure cleanliness and functional operation.
  • Apportion and serve food to facility residents, employees, or patrons.
  • Cook foodstuffs according to menus, special dietary or nutritional restrictions, or numbers of portions to be served.
  • Clean, cut, and cook meat, fish, or poultry.
  • Monitor use of government food commodities to ensure that proper procedures are followed.
  • Wash pots, pans, dishes, utensils, or other cooking equipment.
  • Compile and maintain records of food use and expenditures.
  • Direct activities of one or more workers who assist in preparing and serving meals.
  • Bake breads, rolls, or other pastries.
  • Train new employees.
  • Take inventory of supplies and equipment.
  • Monitor menus and spending to ensure that meals are prepared economically.
  • Plan menus that are varied, nutritionally balanced, and appetizing, taking advantage of foods in season and local availability.
  • Requisition food supplies, kitchen equipment, and appliances, based on estimates of future needs.
  • Determine meal prices, based on calculations of ingredient prices.
  • Monitor and record food temperatures to ensure food safety.
  • Rotate and store food supplies.

Qualities of Good Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • 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.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • 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 that there is a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • 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).
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • 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.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.

Tools Used by Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

  • Apple corers
  • Blast chillers
  • Blenders
  • Bone saws
  • Box graters
  • Braziers
  • Bread slicers
  • Broilers
  • Cappuccino makers
  • Carbonated beverage dispensers
  • Cash registers
  • Chefs' knives
  • Commercial coffee grinders
  • Commercial coffeemakers
  • Commercial dishwashers
  • Commercial ice cream machines
  • Commercial kitchen convection ovens
  • Commercial kitchen steamers
  • Commercial microwave ovens
  • Commercial stand mixers
  • Commercial use combination ovens
  • Convection ovens
  • Conveyor ovens
  • Cream whippers
  • Desktop computers
  • Disposal units
  • Double boilers
  • Electric deep-fat fryers
  • Electric stoves
  • Fire suppression blankets
  • Food dicers
  • Food processors
  • Food shredders
  • Food slicers
  • Garbage compactors
  • Gas stoves
  • Gas-powered deep-fat fryers
  • Griddles
  • Grills
  • Hot dog cookers
  • Ice shaving or crushing equipment
  • Ice-making machines
  • Infrared heat lamps
  • Juice dispensers
  • Juice extractors
  • Kitchen fire extinguishers
  • Kitchen shears
  • Kitchen tongs
  • Knife sharpeners
  • Mandolines
  • Meat grinders
  • Meat thermometers
  • Mixers
  • Oyster knives
  • Paring knives
  • Parisian cutters
  • Pasta machines
  • Personal computers
  • Pizza ovens
  • Point of sale POS computer terminals
  • Portion scales
  • Pressurized steam cookers
  • Refrigerator thermometers
  • Rice cookers
  • Rotisserie ovens
  • Salamanders
  • Serrated blade knives
  • Sieves
  • Sifters
  • Steam kettles
  • Steam tables
  • Strainers
  • Tilt skillets
  • Toasters
  • Touch screen monitors
  • Waffle makers
  • Woks

Technology Skills required for Cooks, Institution and Cafeteria

  • GNOME Gnutrition
  • IBM Lotus 1-2-3
  • Meals Plus
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Word
  • PCS Revenue Control Systems FASTRAK School Meal Software
  • Point of sale POS software
  • Spreadsheet software
  • Word processing software