Combined Food Preparation and Serving Workers, Including Fast Food

Bookmark Print History Journal
x

Journal


    • Please sign in to view journal entries
x

Your Employment History in this Occupation

Please sign in to view Employment History
x
Rating
x

Please fill out the fields below to e-mail someone a link to this page

x
Please sign in to bookmark occupations

About the Job

Perform duties which combine preparing and serving food and nonalcoholic beverages.

It is also Called

  • Cafe Worker
  • Car Hop
  • Cashier
  • Caterer's Aide
  • Caterers Helper
  • Catering Assistant
  • Cook
  • Cook and Waitress/Waiter
  • Counter Attendant
  • Crew Member

What They Do

  • Accept payment from customers, and make change as necessary.
  • Serve customers in eating places that specialize in fast service and inexpensive carry-out food.
  • Request and record customer orders, and compute bills using cash registers, multicounting machines, or pencil and paper.
  • Clean and organize eating, service, and kitchen areas.
  • Notify kitchen personnel of shortages or special orders.
  • Communicate with customers regarding orders, comments, and complaints.
  • Prepare daily food items, and cook simple foods and beverages, such as sandwiches, salads, soups, pizza, or coffee using proper safety precautions and sanitary measures.
  • Select food items from serving or storage areas and place them in dishes, on serving trays, or in takeout bags.
  • Relay food orders to cooks.
  • Prepare and serve cold drinks, or frozen milk drinks or desserts, using drink-dispensing, milkshake, or frozen custard machines.

Interests

People who work in this occupation generally have the interest code: CRE.

This means people who work in this occupation generally have Conventional interests, but also prefer Realistic and Enterprising environments.

Work Values

People who work in this occupation generally prize Relationships, but also value Support and Working Conditions in their jobs.

Things They Need to Know

  • Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
  • English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
  • Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
  • Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
  • Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

Things They Need to Be Able to Do

  • Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
  • Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  • Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
  • Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
  • Instructing - Teaching others how to do something.

Education Required

Some of these occupations may require a high school diploma or GED certificate.

Wages

In 2012, the average annual wage in California was $20,400.00 with most people making between $17,310.00 and $27,380.00

Outlook

2.74%
avg. annual growth

During 2010, this occupation employed approximately 267,900 people in California. It is projected that there will be 341,300 employed in 2020.

This occupation will have about 7,330 openings due to growth and about 7,480 replacement openings for approximately 14,810 total annual openings.



California Career Resource Network