Food Preparation Workers
Perform a variety of food preparation duties other than cooking, such as preparing cold foods and shellfish, slicing meat, and brewing coffee or tea.
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Food Preparation Workers. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Annual wage thresholds
USD per year
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | $25,810 | $12.41 |
| 25th | $29,950 | $14.40 |
| 50th · Median | $35,320 | $16.98 |
| 75th | $38,550 | $18.53 |
| 90th | $45,340 | $21.80 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
Where does your number sit?
Compare an entered wage with the published thresholds for United States. Your entry stays on this page.
This compares wage amounts to published percentile thresholds. It does not estimate your personal percentile, adjust for your experience, or compare total compensation. Match the wage definition and occupation group before using the result.
What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Expand more title examples (48)
Typical tasks
- 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.
Expand more tasks (25)
- 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.
- Stock cupboards and refrigerators, and tend salad bars and buffet meals.
- Use manual or electric appliances to clean, peel, slice, and trim foods.
- Load dishes, glasses, and tableware into dishwashing machines.
- Portion and wrap food, or place it directly on plates for service to patrons.
- Add cutlery, napkins, food, and other items to trays on assembly lines in hospitals, cafeterias, airline kitchens, and similar establishments.
- Place food trays over food warmers for immediate service, or store them in refrigerated storage cabinets.
- Prepare and serve a variety of beverages, such as coffee, tea, and soft drinks.
- Mix ingredients for green salads, molded fruit salads, vegetable salads, and pasta salads.
- Receive and store food supplies, equipment, and utensils in refrigerators, cupboards, and other storage areas.
- Stir and strain soups and sauces.
- Make special dressings and sauces as condiments for sandwiches.
- Scrape leftovers from dishes into garbage containers.
- Distribute food to waiters and waitresses to serve to customers.
- Operate cash register, handle money, and give correct change.
- Distribute menus to hospital patients, collect diet sheets, and deliver food trays and snacks to nursing units or directly to patients.
- Package take-out foods or serve food to customers.
- Cut, slice or grind meat, poultry, and seafood to prepare for cooking.
- Butcher and clean fowl, fish, poultry, and shellfish to prepare for cooking or serving.
- Keep records of the quantities of food used.
Skills used in this work
- 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.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
Expand more skills (29)
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
Explore wages by location.
0 retained state and local wage references are available. Start with these selected locations, or search the full market directory for this career.
Local wage references are not retained for this occupation. The national view and employer evidence may still help.
Available links reflect retained source coverage for this career.
Find the next step that fits.
Look at current disclosed job ranges, explore supported employer salary evidence, or build a proposed hiring range with your own assumptions.