A restaurant prep cook gets the kitchen ready before the line cooks arrive, working down the day's prep list: cutting produce, portioning proteins, making sauces and stocks, and labeling every container. They also check in deliveries and rotate the walk-in so older product gets used first.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, full-service restaurants · BLS, May 2025
We're hiring Prep Cooks to get our kitchen ready before the line cooks arrive. You'll work through the daily prep list: cutting vegetables, portioning proteins, making sauces and dressings, and labeling everything. You'll also receive deliveries and keep the walk-in organized so the oldest product gets used first.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Work the daily prep list in order of priority, following standard recipes and yields.
Cut, portion and weigh proteins and produce to spec on a kitchen scale.
Make sauces, dressings, stocks and batches, and cool hot food on schedule, recording it on the two-stage cooling log.
Label and date every container, and rotate product first in, first out.
Receive deliveries: check temperatures, counts and quality against the invoice, and put product away right away.
Use slicers, mixers and food processors safely, with guards in place and a cut glove.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Go over the walk-in and the prep list with the Sous Chef at the start of the shift.
Taste batches against the recipe before they go to the line.
Clean and sanitize boards and surfaces between tasks, especially after raw proteins.
Throw out product past its use-by date and log it on the waste sheet.
Back up the line with extra prep during service.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Prep list finished before the line arrives: [your target].
Recipe yield accuracy: [your target].
Product thrown out past its date: [your target].
Labeling and dating audit results: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Basic knife skills and the ability to follow a written recipe.
Can use a kitchen scale and measure by weight and volume.
Food handler card where your state or county requires one; we'll tell you which course to take.
Can work through a long prep list on your own and ask when something isn't clear.
6. Preferred Experience
[6+] months of prep or line cook experience.
Experience receiving deliveries and rotating stock.
Culinary classes or a cooking certificate.
7. Physical Requirements
Stand at a prep table for most of an [8]-hour shift, with repetitive cutting.
Lift and carry cases of produce and proteins up to [50] pounds.
Work in walk-in coolers and freezers and around slicers and hot stoves.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Early morning and daytime shifts, including weekends.
Kitchen work with sharp tools, hot equipment and cold storage.
[Full-time or part-time] hours.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new prep cook gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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How prep work changes in a full-service restaurant
In some fast-food and cafeteria kitchens, prep means portioning food that arrives ready-made. A full-service restaurant cooks from scratch, so the prep cook makes the sauces, stocks and cut produce the line depends on. This page uses Minnesota's food code as one example of the rules; check your own county's.
The list runs in order of what the line needs
The list comes from the sous chef, built from pars, reservations and events. A good prep cook starts the slow jobs first, like a stock that simmers for hours or a braise that has to cool, then fills in the quick cuts. On a holiday weekend or before a big private party, the list gets longer and knife speed starts to matter.
Hot batches cool on a clock
Stocks, soups and braises have to cool fast. Minnesota's code gives cooked food 2 hours to drop from 135°F to 70°F, and 6 hours in all to reach 41°F or below. Prep cooks split batches into shallow pans or set them in ice baths, then write the times and temperatures on the cooling log. Source: Minnesota Rules 4626.0385: cooling requirements.
Every container gets a date
Under the same code, ready-to-eat food that needs refrigeration and is kept more than 24 hours needs a use-by date no more than 7 days out, counting the day it was made as day one. Rotating the walk-in so older containers sit in front gets them used before their date and keeps good food off the waste sheet. Source: Minnesota Rules 4626.0400: date marking ready-to-eat food.
Checking in the morning truck
Prep cooks often take the morning delivery. Minnesota's code says chilled food that can spoil should arrive at 41°F or below, with a few exceptions such as milk and shellfish. Frozen food should arrive frozen, and food showing signs it warmed up on the way shouldn't be accepted. Probe a few cases, count against the invoice, and get the chef before signing for anything short or damaged. Source: Minnesota Rules 4626.0165: food temperatures on receiving.
Slicers and mixers have an age rule
Prep stations run slicers, mixers and food processors. Under federal child labor law, anyone under 18 stays off power-driven meat slicers and commercial mixers, including setting them up and cleaning them, so prep cooks under 18 do that work by hand. For everyone else, guards stay on and a cut-resistant glove goes on before the blade gets cleaned. Source: U.S. Department of Labor: Fact Sheet #2A, child labor rules for restaurants.
How much restaurant prep cooks make
The closest BLS group for restaurant prep cooks is cooks, restaurant. Cooks, restaurant who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $17.90 an hour ($37,230 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $37,390 median for cooks, restaurant in all industries. About 1,055,820 of the 1,409,890 cooks, restaurant in that survey work for full-service restaurants.
Hourly, with overtime for long weeks. O*NET lists prep cooks under restaurant cooks, so the BLS figures here cover line cooks too; a new prep cook usually starts below that median and moves up with a station.
Full-service restaurants
$37,230$37,230 median Middle half $33,940–$44,270 10th–90th $28,690–$47,310
All industries
$37,390$37,390 median Middle half $34,010–$44,620 10th–90th $28,700–$47,900
$20k$30k$40k$50k$60k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Full-service restaurants
$28,690
$33,940
$37,230
$44,270
$47,310
All industries
$28,700
$34,010
$37,390
$44,620
$47,900
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Steady knife skills, from dicing onions to trimming proteins to spec
Follows a written recipe exactly, by weight and by volume
Works down a long list alone and asks when something is unclear
Keeps raw proteins away from ready-to-eat food and sanitizes between them
Starts the list the minute the shift begins, since the line can't open without the prep
Teach these on the job
Your recipes, yields and portion sizes
Your labels and where everything goes in the walk-in
The cooling log, ice baths and shallow pans
Checking a delivery against the invoice
Safe use and cleaning of the slicer, mixer and food processor, for cooks 18 and over
Prep cooks use chef's and paring knives, a mandoline, a kitchen scale, a food processor, a stand mixer, a meat slicer and big stockpots or a steam kettle. Date labels, a probe thermometer and the cooling log are part of every shift. Naming a steam kettle or vacuum sealer in the posting draws cooks who have run one and need less training.
Restaurant prep cook interview questions
They have their own page: 6 questions that test this job, what strong and weak answers sound like, and a work exercise to run with your finalists.
Base targets on a normal week's prep list and your recipe yields, then adjust for holiday weeks. Go over misses with the sous chef so they lead to a fix, like an earlier start or a shorter list.
Prep list finished before the line arrives
Check the list at the line's start time each day. Count the days every item was done, and note which items ran late and why.
Recipe yield accuracy
Weigh what each batch or case actually yields against the recipe's expected yield, such as portions cut from a whole salmon side, and track it item by item.
Product thrown out past its date
Add up the waste sheet's expired-product entries each week, by item, and look for over-prepping or poor rotation behind them.
Labeling and dating audit results
Spot-check the walk-in and reach-ins for containers with no label, no date or a date past its discard day, with one checklist that every auditor uses.
Career path
DishwasherLearns the kitchen's rhythm and helps with simple prep.
Prep cookWorks the prep list and keeps the walk-in in order.
Line cookMoves to a station, often starting on garde manger or fry.
Sous chefWrites the prep list instead of working it, and runs the line.
Many prep shifts end before the dinner rush. A prep cook who stays backs up the line with more cut vegetables, a fresh batch of sauce or extra portioned proteins. Some kitchens also have prep cooks plate desserts or cover the garde manger station on busy nights. If the job includes line shifts, the posting should mention it.
How much does a restaurant prep cook make?
Cooks, restaurant who work for full-service restaurants earned a median of $17.90 an hour ($37,230 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $33,940 and $44,270 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Does a prep cook need kitchen experience?
Not always. Six months or more is listed as preferred in the template, not required. A new prep cook needs basic knife skills and the ability to follow a recipe exactly, and the rest comes with shifts. Try a short, paid task in the interview, such as dicing an onion and portioning chicken, and watch how they hold the knife.
What prep work is open to 14- and 15-year-olds?
Hand prep, like washing and cutting produce, is allowed. Federal rules keep them off power-driven slicers, choppers, food processors and mixers, including cleaning them. They can't bake or cook on the stove, so stocks and sauces are out. They can't work in a freezer or meat cooler, though stepping in to grab something is fine. Their shifts also can't start before 7 a.m., which rules out a lot of early prep. Your state's law may be stricter.
How does a prep cook move up to the line?
By asking to learn a station. Many kitchens let a prep cook train on garde manger or fry, the simpler stations, before grill or sauté. Knowing every recipe from the prep side makes the jump easier. A sous chef who sees clean, accurate prep every day usually offers that cook the next opening on the line.
